Don’t know what exactly Hefner was thinking when he consented to that.
A degree in psychology and art and whatever pop sociology he’d picked up over the years against Buckley...
Human pride was likely the reason Hugh chose to grant the interview.
HH was no doubt swimming in money by that time. Playboy had been around for 12 years and his popularity, fame, and notoriety no doubt made him think he was able to defeat anyone who challenged his way of life.
Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall...
I don’t know if Hef *ever* did a serious interview after that; he might have done a 60 Minutes one...but by that time, the mainstream media drooled over him instead of looking at him with a jaundiced eye.
I saw him once on David Letterman...the old NBC show Letterman had. DL was in awe, you could tell it would be nothing but softballs....
I think eventually even the “women’s lib” or “feminists” began to buy into Hef’s lie about “The Good Life”.
I think by that time Hef was used to holding court in his mansion, lecturing his adoring guests who acted as if his words were coming from the lips of Plato.
He probably has his schtick down pretty good and assumed he could wow Buckley as he did his acolytes.