In a 1964 interview with Playbill, Baldwin was asked,
“Does our theatre reflect the truth about 1964 America?”
Baldwin replied: “We see in the theatre what most people think Democracy is, but Democracy is not that simple. Unfortunately, the only virtues most Americans seem to respect are youth and ignorance. It is a crime to grow up, and ‘culture’ is a dirty word. Remember that other country where ‘culture’ was a dirty word? They exterminated 6 million people.”