Fred-Rogers Facts

The senator had shut down every witness all morning. Fred Rogers had 6 minutes to save $20 million in PBS funding. No charts. No statistics. No prepared speech. He sat down and read a children's song about managing anger to a room full of politicians who wanted to go home. The senator went quiet. Then he said: "Looks like you just earned the $20 million."

Fred Rogers wore a hand-knitted cardigan in nearly every episode of his show. His mother, Nancy, knitted every single one by hand - each in a different color. She made him a new sweater every Christmas until she died in 1981. Rogers donated his cherry-red cardigan to the Smithsonian in 1984. It is still there.