Return to Transcripts main page
Amanpour
Amazing Lives: Ted Turner; Imagine a World. Aired 2-2:30p ET
Aired July 31, 2015 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
[14:00:00]
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight: a special presentation of "Amazing Lives."
Ted Turner, the Mouth of the South, Captain Outrageous, "Time's" "Man of the Year," the iconoclast who lives by the macho "Lead, follow or get
out of the way," at 76, having long ago lost CNN, the network he founded and still loves, he is still plotting the way forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
AMANPOUR: I'm Christiane Amanpour in Montana and welcome to the Flying D Ranch, Ted Turner country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): He collects land more than anyone else here in the United States but he doesn't want to develop; he wants to conserve.
Ted Turner has been at the cutting edge of every major movement of our time: the environment, giving away $1 billion, securing loose nukes and,
of course, he was cable before cable was cool --
TED TURNER, ENTREPRENEUR AND CNN FOUNDER: On the air at 6 o'clock as predicted.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): -- founding the world's first-ever 24/7 television news network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): But how Ted Turner deals with failure just as much as success is what has set him apart. Courage, daring to go where no
one has gone before him, has been the hallmark of his amazing life.
As for his ambition, saving the planet is about as big as it gets, as we see, driving around some of the 2 million acres that Ted has saved
across several states, where he's also amassed the biggest private bison herd in the whole world.
AMANPOUR: What made you single-handedly decide to replenish America's bison herd?
TURNER: Save everything.
Remember, I'm supposed to be shooting for something that's impossible to have happen in my lifetime.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): And he has done the impossible many times, like the 1979 Fastnet race off the coast of England, a massive storm
whipped up winds and waves that left 15 sailors dead. To this day, it's considered the most dangerous ocean race ever.
And Ted didn't just survive; he won. And that's where we started our conversation about his amazing life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Was there ever a moment that you thought you wouldn't make it?
TURNER: No. But I didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about not making it. I was trying to figure out how to keep going.
AMANPOUR: Were you afraid?
TURNER: No.
AMANPOUR: Did you ever think of not going through with the race?
Was it ever a --
TURNER: Dropping out?
(LAUGHTER)
TURNER: No way. That would have been like dropping out with CNN.
AMANPOUR: You went to Brown University to study the classics.
TURNER: No.
AMANPOUR: No?
TURNER: I went there because my father wanted me to go to an Ivy League school and I got in there.
[14:05:00]
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: Your father wanted you to go to an Ivy League school and you got in, that's why you went?
TURNER: I didn't plan to study the classics when I first went to Brown. I didn't know what I was going to study.
AMANPOUR: You did study the classics, right?
TURNER: I ended up going that way because it was inspirational for me.
AMANPOUR: In what way?
TURNER: Well, the grandiose plans of the classics, Horatio at the bridge.
"Then stepped forward Horatius, the captain of the gate. He said to every man of woman born, death cometh soon or late. And how can man die
better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and a temple for his gods.
"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, with all the speed ye may, I, with but two beside me, will hold the foe in play. On yon narrow span a
thousand might well be stopped by three. Now who will stand on either hand, and guard the bridge with me?"
I like that.
AMANPOUR: I like that, too.
TURNER: I signed up for classics. And here I am, hew down the bridge.
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: But you had to -- you had to fight your father --
TURNER: Getting rid of nuclear weapons is a goal like that.
AMANPOUR: This letter from your dad, when you declared classics your major, he said, "My dear son, I'm appalled."
TURNER: I know.
AMANPOUR: He was horrified that you'd adopted classics as a major.
TURNER: I know.
AMANPOUR: "As a matter of fact, I almost puked."
TURNER: "On the way home today."
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: You remember the letter.
"I think you're --"
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: Of course I remember.
AMANPOUR: "-- rapidly becoming a..."
TURNER: "An asshole."
AMANPOUR: No, it was a jackass.
TURNER: "Damn it, I sent you there."
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: What did you think when you got that letter from your own dad?
TURNER: I was more amused than anything, because I saw the value in classics.
AMANPOUR: And CNN was also a major challenge. I mean it wasn't -- it wasn't an easy thing to start, right?
TURNER: No, everybody -- just about everybody that had an opinion didn't think we could do it.
AMANPOUR: And did you ever feel that if all these experts are telling me I can't do it, well, maybe there's something to it?
TURNER: It didn't bother me at all.
AMANPOUR: Were you trying to create a revolution with 24/7 news or were you just trying to find another brilliant business opportunity?
TURNER: Both. I thought it through very carefully. That's what I did. I studied the situation and I knew I knew what I was doing. At least
I felt like I knew what I was doing. And it turned out that I did.
AMANPOUR: Do you remember what it was like when you were shut out, when CNN was shut out of the White House, for instance?
TURNER: It wasn't for very long. We sued the president.
AMANPOUR: You sued the president?
TURNER: And the government.
AMANPOUR: So then CNN cameras could go and cover the White House like everybody else.
TURNER: Right. That's all we were asking, was equal access.
AMANPOUR: You've said that of all the things you've done, and you've done a lot, that CNN is the business achievement of which you are the most
proud.
TURNER: Yes, to create CNN.
AMANPOUR: Ten years later was the Gulf War, when CNN really exploded into the international consciousness, into the global --
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: We were the only ones who was covering the war live from behind the lines.
AMANPOUR: Do you remember all the pushback you got, from the president of the United States, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Ted,
get your people out of Baghdad?
Did you ever think of obeying those orders?
TURNER: I couldn't do it because it was too important. And I said as long as we have people that volunteer to stay -- and Peter Arnett
volunteered.
AMANPOUR: You know, fast forward all these years to now, there's a lot of politics that's involved, even in news coverage. And people can
criticize. They can say, well, you know, we were on the side of the Iraqis, why weren't you, you know, patriotic Americans?
What were you doing in the enemy camp?
Why were you behind enemy lines?
What do you say today to people who still ask that question -- ?
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: They don't ask it.
AMANPOUR: Not just about this story --
TURNER: It's -- we changed the way things were done.
It wasn't...
We weren't anti-American, we were just pro-truth.
AMANPOUR: You are somebody who's known for your phenomenal success.
How much do you look at success in context with failure?
TURNER: I knew I didn't have enough money to get CNN to break even, but I figured, I said --
[14:10:00]
TURNER: -- how am I going to get around it?
I thought it -- I thought it through real carefully and I figured if I get on the air and people see just how helpful it's going to be, I'll be
able to raise the money later on. And I was able to do just exactly that.
It was hard. The first year, the budget -- we were 100 percent over the budget on expenses. It cost us twice as much to run as we had
projected. And the income was half as much as we predicted.
The bankers just said, Ted, we're sorry, this is not a bankable deal. You've got to give us our money back.
I said, give me a little time to get somebody else to lend it to me.
It was really fun. I mean it -- and it was scary. It was just as scary or scarier than the wind in the Fastnet race.
But all storms have a lot in common, you know. You're in danger. You've got to be a cool head.
Timing is important in everything that you do.
AMANPOUR: Have you come to terms with losing CNN?
TURNER: No. You know, I'll be sorry about it. I didn't have -- I didn't want to lose it. I thought with 10 percent of the stock in AOL Time
Warner that I was pretty safe.
But when we merged with -- merged with AOL, I went down to 3 percent and then I didn't have enough voting power to control the company anymore.
So that's when it happened.
AMANPOUR: The company is called Turner and they got rid of Turner.
Did you ever imagine in your wildest dreams that that would happen?
TURNER: No. No. That's the mistake I made.
AMANPOUR: Will you ever get over it?
TURNER: No. I don't have to get over it. I live with it. You know, at least I haven't had a serious bout of cancer. I've got a little skin
cancer, but, you know, you've got to be -- you've got to be able to take some disappointment in life, too. Not always is everything going to go
well. So you just have to roll with the punches when adversity hits you.
AMANPOUR: Can I ask you about how you're feeling?
TURNER: I'm feeling tired. But I'm working on it.
AMANPOUR: Do you feel you don't have the same energy that you used to?
TURNER: Oh, no question about it. I've got atrial fibrillation. It's in remission right now.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): But he's still the classic all-American, a cowboy at heart, who even loves to croon a little, "Home on the Range."
TURNER: (Singing "Home on the Range.")
AMANPOUR: Beautiful. Very beautiful. Thank you.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): And after a break, tackling climate change, nuclear weapons and the legacy he wants to leave.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program. "Amazing Lives" in Montana, here at home with Ted Turner, mogul and planetary missionary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): But first, understanding your enemies, traveling to Havana to meet Fidel Castro. And taking his Goodwill Games to
the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: When you took up the invitation from Fidel Castro decades ago to actually go to Cuba and see what this guy was all about, what made
you go there?
Was that about pro --
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: Curiosity. That's what makes us go everywhere. That's what people watch the news for, because they're curious about what's going on.
He had a lot of courage to tackle the United States.
AMANPOUR: Did you change your opinion at all when you got down there?
I mean you father was very strongly anti-Communist, like most Americans.
TURNER: I was, too. You don't have to agree with somebody politically.
AMANPOUR: And you also said, "After this eye-opening trip to Cuba, I flew home with a whole new desire to understand more about other cultures
and political systems and to do what I could to increase communication and dialogue between nations."
TURNER: Yes.
What's wrong with that?
AMANPOUR: Nothing. But it doesn't happen very much.
Do you think people are still that committed to doing precisely that?
TURNER: Maybe not quite as committed as I was. AMANPOUR: Fast forward all these years later, and President Obama is the first president in more than 50 years to restore diplomatic ties with
Cuba. The Castros are still there. The political situation hasn't changed.
What do you think of that? And what do you think might be the result --
TURNER: Well, the situation has changed. Fidel's retired. It's something wrong with him. Probably he's got Parkinson's. But he's not
running things anymore.
But I think it's great that we're restoring normal relations. And I think it's great what's happened -- that what's happened in Iran. I think
it's a positive step.
AMANPOUR: I mean, your whole ethos was about trying to build bridges between nations, especially with the Goodwill Games, when you tried to
build bridges between then Soviet Union and the United States.
TURNER: Yes. During in the 20 years of the Goodwill Games, we never had better relations with Russia.
AMANPOUR: And just remind me, who was your guide then?
Wasn't it the young Vladimir Putin?
TURNER: Yes, vice mayor of St. Petersburg. We had the games there.
AMANPOUR: What did you think of him at that point?
TURNER: He seemed like a pretty capable, competent guy.
AMANPOUR: So during this crisis between Russia and Ukraine and the raid against the West, something that I thought was unthinkable happened.
President Putin has, one way or another, raised the specter of quote, unquote, "the nuclear option."
And you, who've spent so much of your life trying to secure nuclear weapons with the Nuclear Threat Initiative, can you believe that this is
actually happening.
TURNER: It's hard. It's hard to believe, but we're both guilty. The only thing that we can do is to have total nuclear disarmament. Either we
all have nuclear weapons or we all don't have them. And I'm in real favor of not having them.
We don't want to destroy the world. And we've got thousands of them on hair trigger alert.
AMANPOUR: Do you worry that there could be an accident?
TURNER: Yes. There have been numerous accidents. But fortunately, none have triggered an explosion yet. But it could happen at any time.
Just look at our -- how we deal with airline travel. We've worked so hard all over the world to make our planes safe. And even with that, every
month, one crashes somewhere.
If that can happen with our airlines, it could sure happen with our nuclear weapons. We've got to get rid of them. It's just like having
dynamite in your basement.
AMANPOUR: Today, more than 35 years later, the U.S. and Iran have, incredibly, struck a deal to contain Iran's nuclear program. That must
feel very good for somebody like you who believes in engagement, and particularly in reducing the nuclear threat.
Do you think this reduces the nuclear threat?
TURNER: A little bit. It doesn't get rid of nuclear weapons. But it restrains their growth somewhat. The world will be a little safer if this
works.
And who knows, once we get started going in the right direction --
[14:20:00]
TURNER: -- you know, you got momentum going to the right direction or going to the wrong direction. And what you want to do is focus your
energies into going in the right direction. That's what the Goodwill Games was. That was the right direction. And this accord between Iran and the
United States is in the right direction, no question about it.
A more peaceful, friendly, cooperative world. We've got plenty of things to work on. We still haven't eliminated poverty. We've got to work
on the things that make our lives better, not the things that make our lives worse.
We've made enough progress to where we can say goodbye to war and say hello to cooperation and working together.
AMANPOUR: Well, you can say that because you're 76 years old and you have been fighting for this --
TURNER: I've been saying it all my life, too.
AMANPOUR: Precisely.
TURNER: I haven't changed. I was saying this 50 years ago.
AMANPOUR: What advice would you give to the young entrepreneurs of today, who are wondering where to invest their energy, where to put their
creativity?
You seized cable before cable was cool, as the ad went.
What would you say to people today?
What is the most important area of business endeavor?
TURNER: Well, a chance to make a fortune, energy. Clean, renewable energy is the biggest single project, because most of the people in the
world don't have clean, renewable energy.
AMANPOUR: What would you say to the skeptics who say there may be some climate change going on but, A, it's got nothing to do with us and, B,
trying to fix it with alternative energy is just economically not viable?
TURNER: I'd say, I hate to say this, but I think you're wrong.
I just got back from two weeks in Iceland and Greenland. And they are -- 100 percent of their electricity is generated by geothermal. And
they're completely clean.
They're still driving cars with gasoline, but that's coming to an end, too. Electric power will be powering our automobiles in 20 years or 10
years, all of them in 20.
AMANPOUR: Bill Gates just doubled his investment into alternative energies from $1 billion to $2 billion.
TURNER: He's pretty smart.
AMANPOUR: When you were very young, your father told you to be sure to set your goals so high that you can't possibly accomplish them in one
lifetime. That way you'll always have something ahead of you.
Did you set your goals high enough?
Most people would say yes, and you've accomplished --
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: Yes.
AMANPOUR: -- them all.
TURNER: Well, I haven't accomplished them all. We haven't gotten rid of nuclear weapons. We're headed in the right direction. But we haven't
gotten far enough along with fighting global climate change. That, after nuclear weapons, is the greatest danger that we face.
And it's preventable. That's the good thing, is almost everything is preventable. The bad things, all you've got to do is just do them.
AMANPOUR: What grade would you give the state of the world right now? What's the report card as far as you can see?
TURNER: I'd give us a C.
AMANPOUR: Some people worry, some scientists worry that it's almost too late.
TURNER: That's why it's a C. If it was not almost too late, I'd give us a B. And if we were right on top of everything, I'd give us a A.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): When we come back, studying Greek and getting philosophical.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
AMANPOUR: And finally tonight --
[14:25:00]
AMANPOUR: -- imagine a world full of ancient wisdom and honor, studying the classics was a lifelong lesson for Ted Turner, despite his
father's fierce and funny letters of disapproval.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: I practically wept laughing when I read this little -- this little bit in that letter.
Basically, you know, complaining that you wanted to study Greek.
So your father said --
TURNER: It would have been very helpful this year.
AMANPOUR: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: It would have been very helpful this year.
TURNER: To be fluent in Greek.
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: It would have been very helpful this year.
Not many of us speak Greek, but we're trying to figure out the Greek crisis.
But what would have happened had you stuck with the classics?
Would there have been a CNN?
Would there have been a Nuclear Threat Initiative?
Would there have been a Goodwill Games?
TURNER: I did stick with the classics. I stuck with the classics and they were with me. I was inspired to stand at that bridge.
AMANPOUR: Can you do Shakespeare?
TURNER: A little bit.
AMANPOUR: Do you have anything you would like to declaim?
TURNER: "On Honor."
This is, I think, Richard III, anyway, it's one of the Richards.
"Oh, my honor is my life, we live in one. Take honor from me and my life is done. Then pray, my liege, my honor, let me try, for that I live
and for that will I die."
And I've lived with that. There's not one blemish on my honor in my entire 76-year career, not once. How many times have you heard protesters
saying, get rid of Turner's, you know, corruption?
I never paid anybody off. I never -- and in the news business, there were times when putting a little money on the table would get you some
access that you wouldn't get otherwise.
It's very easy to slip into a lot of corruption. Very easy. But I resisted it all the way along, not one time.
Look at Bill Cosby.
Who would have ever thought -- I mean is this -- you know...
AMANPOUR: It's pretty sickening.
TURNER: Yes. And he was one of our heroes. He was one of mine.
I thought he was great. He was a big family man.
(LAUGHTER)
AMANPOUR: What do you most want to be remembered for?
TURNER: The good things I've done.
AMANPOUR: What's your proudest achievement?
TURNER: My family first and outside my family, CNN.
AMANPOUR: And what advice would you have for any young person who came to say, Ted, you've done it all, what can you tell me?
TURNER: Clean energy.
AMANPOUR: Ted Turner, thank you very much.
TURNER: You're quite welcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And that's it for this edition of "Amazing Lives." Remember you can always watch our whole show online at amanpour.com and
follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for watching and goodbye from Montana.
END
