1959: a bad year for Charles Van Doren and US

quiz show scandals

...the year, 1959.


When allegations of cheating were first circulated, Van Doren repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying "It's silly and distressing to think that people don't have more faith in quiz shows." Finally, on November 2, 1959, he admitted to the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight, a United States Congress subcommittee, chaired by Arkansas Democrat Owen Harris, that he had been given questions and answers in advance of the show. "I was involved, deeply involved, in a deception...I have deceived my friends - and I had millions of them," Van Doren testified.

US, the World...and quite a pilaf, too. Idolatrous.