CNN Founder Ted Turner "Did Stick With the Classics" After College

Ted Turner (November 19, 1938 -- May 6, 2026) (Photo from TCM)

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As I prepare for my journey to the small elite Williams College -- where I read Plato's Republic -- for my 50th reunion, the insights of titan Ted Turner on his "inspirational" education at the Ivy League Brown University, where he studied the Classics, resonate with me.

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner realized his audacious vision of 24-hours news in the creation of CNN (Cable News Network). He sought the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons ("It's like having dynamite in your basement," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in a 2015 interview.). Also a philanthropist and conservation advocate, he bought a ranch near Yellowstone National Park, sold off its cattle and filled it with American bison, owning, at one time, 11 percent of the world's bison, according to the National Buffalo Foundation.

The Cincinnati native died, at the age of 87, on May 6, at his home in Lamont, Florida.

Eleven years ago, Turner told journalist Amanpour at his Montana ranch that it was the "grandiose" nature of the Classics which inspired him -- "Horatio at the bridge".

"What if you had stuck with the Classics? Would there be CNN? Would there be a Nuclear Threat Initiative? Would there be the Goodwill Games (founded in response to political boycotts of the Olympics)?"

"I did stick with the Classics. I stuck with the Classics. They were with me."

The Classics is the academic discipline, which primarily focuses on the ancient languages, literature, history, philosophy, art, and archaeology of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It is considered the foundation of the humanities and, traditionally, has been the cornerstone of an elite higher education.

I would argue that any civilization's body of knowledge which draws on its history, whether it be Mayan, Islamic, Chinese or African, grounds the student with a crucial perspective in understanding the present and formulating the future.

Decrease in Interest in Humanities

My alma mater, Williams College, and other schools have been reckoning with a decrease of interest in the humanities, reported The Williams Record (April 12, 2023).

For example, art history courses, which were once taken by 65 percent of the student body, now reach less than 40 percent.

"The audience we've lost is those biology, economics and history majors who believe they need some basic cultural literacy before they become doctors, bankers and lawyers," said Professor of Art History, Michael J. Lewis. "We've lost that audience."

The number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors has more than doubled since 1993, the number of languages and arts majors has declined and the number of social sciences majors has remained roughly steady.

"The surge of interest in STEM is not unique to Williams. Across the country, institutions of higher education have struggled to adjust to sky-high demand for STEM courses and weakening interest in the humanities. Williams -- with its $3.5 billion endowment and traditional focus on the liberal arts -- has been relatively insulated. But the College is not immune, prompting academic departments on both sides of Route 2 to consider their circumstances and what the future might hold."

Why the Change in Interests?

Increased financial insecurity among students in the wake of the 2008 recession and displacement caused by new departments and programs have much to do with the change, said Chair of the English Department Bernard J. Rhie.

Also, increasing numbers of graduates are leaving the Berkshire's Purple Valley for California's Silicon Valley, where they work as programmers and data scientists.

Fifteen students majored in computer science in 2002. The number hovers around 50 today. Over the same period, annual enrollment has climbed from about 300 to 720.

"It's the new liberal arts," said Chair of the Mathematics and Statistics Richard De Veaux, who joined the College in 1994 as its first statistics professor, and said that "we're victims of our own success".

Unlike many schools, where professors pass some of the work to teaching assistants, the College's small size of about 2,000 students and the nature of the school's mission require professors to teach every class and grade 85 percent of coursework, reported The Williams Record (April 12, 2023) . The student-faculty ratio is 7:1, according to Williams.

According to the Williams Record, Professor and Chair of Economics Jon Bakija, who arrived at the College in 1999 and now heads its most popular department, said: "The career center has this mantra (that) 'major does not equal career' -- but major is correlated with career, especially in certain types of career."

"I Didn't Plan to Study the Classics."

In the case of Ted Turner, the Classics informed his life's work.

"My father wanted me to go to an Ivy League school. I didn't plan to study the Classics. I didn't know what I wanted to study. I ended up going that way because it was inspirational for me."

His father later wrote him a letter in which he said that he was appalled, even horrified, by his son's choice of studies: "I almost puked on my way home."

Turner told Amanpour that his father's reaction "amused" him more than anything because "I saw the value in the Classics".

In the interview, the businessman declaimed often-quoted lines of Horatius, the first poem of the Lays of Ancient Rome (1842), a collection of narrative poems, by Thomas Babington Macaulay.

Horatius and two companions hold the Sublican Bridge, the only span crossing the Tiber at Rome, against the Etruscan army. The three are willing to die for the cause. As the span becomes unstable, Horatius urges the other two to retreat, and they reach safety on the Roman side. Then the bridge collapses, and Horatius leaps into the river, fully armored. He also manages the Roman shore with mythic status for his bravery.

Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate:

"To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,

For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods."

"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, with all the speed ye may!

I, with two more to help me, will hold the foe in play.

In yon strait path, a thousand may well be stopped by three.

Now, who will stand on either hand and keep the bridge with me?"

"I was inspired to stand at the bridge," Turner told Amanpour.