Watch Mr. Rogers, Who Would Have Been 85 Today, Defend PBS in Senate

Fred Rogers, the soft-spoken television host, non-preachy Presbyterian minister, songwriter and author who educated a nation’s kids for decades on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, would have been 84 today.

Before there was Mitt Romney’s attack on Big Bird, there was Richard Nixon’s administration looking to cut funding from PBS, and there was Mister Rogers, right there, to explain to the Senate, like kids, why this was foolish.