I think it's realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: 'I despair. The world's no good.' That's a perverse idealist. It's practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That's very realistic.

Terkel smoked two cigars a day until 2004. This show along with Marlin Perkins's Zoo Parade Garroway at Large and the children's show Kukla Fran and Ollie are widely considered canonical examples of the Chicago School of Television. He also served as a distinguiStuds Terkeld scholar-in-residence at the Chicago History Museum.

Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16 1912 – October 31 2008) was an American author historian actor and broadcaster.