"We Are Your Sons": CBS News on Ted Bundy's Interview with James Dobson, 1989

Name: "We Are Your Sons": CBS News on Ted Bundy's Interview with James Dobson, 1989
Uploaded: 2017-08-31
Duration: 1 min 54 s
Description: The day after Ted Bundy's execution, CBS News aired his own words from the interview he gave James Dobson hours before he died, and his mother's bewilderment at what her son had become.

The day after Ted Bundy's execution, CBS News aired his own words from the interview he gave James Dobson hours before he died, and his mother's bewilderment at what her son had become.

Subject: Ted Bundy
Recorded: about January 23, 1989
Runtime: 1:54

Content warning: Refers to the kidnap, rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.

The Interview

On the afternoon of January 23, 1989, the day before his execution, Ted Bundy was interviewed on videotape at Florida State Prison by James Dobson, the psychologist and founder of the evangelical organisation Focus on the Family. This CBS News report by Christine Negroni, broadcast after the execution, uses three short excerpts. In them Bundy says that those "so much influenced by violence in the media, in particular pornographic violence" are "not some kind of inherent monsters", that he was "essentially a normal person", and that society "deserves to be protected from me". The report also includes his mother, Louise Bundy.

Historical Context

Bundy was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison on the morning of Tuesday, January 24, 1989, for the 1978 murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach of Lake City, Florida. He had also been sentenced to death for the Chi Omega murders in Tallahassee. In his final days he confessed to investigators to about thirty homicides in several states.

Circumstances of the Interview

Bundy is reported to have turned down news reporters and asked for Dobson instead. Focus on the Family later released the interview as the film *Fatal Addiction*, and Dobson published an edited transcript in his 1995 book *Life on the Edge*. The CBS report shows how a network presented the tape to the public on the day after the execution.

What the Interview Covers

The excerpts concern Bundy's claim that violent pornography shaped him, his description of himself as a normal man with "one small but very potent and very destructive segment", and his statement that he deserved "the most extreme punishment society has". Louise Bundy says the family gave him a good upbringing and that something had "triggered some terrible madness inside of him".

What Makes the Recording Significant

The Dobson interview was recorded on the eve of Bundy's execution, and his remarks about pornography became among the most quoted words of his life. This report preserves his own voice for three passages, and so allows the wording of the published text to be checked against the tape: in places the audio differs from the book's version.

Archival Importance

The Dobson interview is also published here as text, taken from Dobson's book. This report adds a contemporary broadcast record of part of it, with Bundy's voice, and the reaction of his mother.

Important Caveats

Bundy's account of the role of pornography is his own claim, made hours before his execution, to an interviewer who campaigned against pornography; it has been widely questioned. The report's "20 other women" reflects reporting at the time; the number of his victims is not known. The excerpts are short, and the full interview is not included.

Cbs Anchor: Just before serial killer Ted Bundy was executed yesterday morning, he talked about the path that led him from law school to Florida's electric chair. Christine Negroni reports.

Christine Negroni: In the hours before he died, condemned killer Ted Bundy told psychologist and broadcaster James Dobson that pornography played a role in his life of violence.

Ted Bundy: Those of us who have been so much influenced by violence in the media, in particular pornographic violence, are not some kind of inherent monsters. We are your sons, and we are your husbands.

Christine Negroni: Bundy was electrocuted Tuesday morning for the kidnap, rape and murder of a 12-year-old Florida girl. He confessed to killing 20 other women, all the while maintaining an apparently normal life.

Ted Bundy: I was essentially a normal person. I had good friends. I lived a normal life, except for this one small but very potent and very destructive segment.

Christine Negroni: It was that part of her son that confounded Louise Bundy.

Louise Bundy: We gave him a good upbringing, and something has happened to him sometime since he left this house that has triggered some terrible madness inside of him.

Christine Negroni: Bundy admitted that madness made him a danger to society.

Ted Bundy: I deserve certainly the most extreme punishment society has, and I deserve, I think society deserves to be protected from me and from others like me, that's for sure.

Christine Negroni: Bundy's words were his last to a public that for more than a decade has been both fascinated and horrified by his crimes. Christine Negroni, CBS News, Atlanta.

Cbs Anchor: Ten percent of the nation's MX missile force is reportedly out of [recording ends] ---