The Perfect Moment

The CNN host that afternoon in 1990 expected a debate, not a fistfight. On one side was John Frohnmayer, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a mild WASP greeted by President Bush like an old fraternity brother. His opponent, Donald Wildmon, had a doughy face with a faint impression of a smirk, as if somebody tried to draw a Looney Tunes antagonist but gave up halfway through. Frohnmayer accused Wildmon’s American Family Association of slandering the NEA as a pornographer. The reverend duly opened his briefcase and waved around photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and David Wojnarowicz, which were curling at the corners from overexposure. Wildmon also had a copy of a private letter Frohnmayer sent to Reader’s Digest, and when he refused to hand it over the two men began scuffling. Only the return from commercial break ended their little performance piece.