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Archibald "Archie" Bunker was a fictional character in the long-running and top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place. He was a reactionary, bigoted, blue-collar worker and family man, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. The Bunker character was first seen by the American public when All in the Family premiered in January 1971. In 1979 the show was retooled and renamed Archie Bunker’s Place, finally going off the air in 1983. Bunker lived in the borough of Queens in New York City. TV Guide once named Archie the greatest television character of all time.

All in the Family got many of its laughs by playing on Archie's bigotry, although the dynamic tension between Archie and his left-wing son-in-law Michael "Meathead" Stivic (Rob Reiner) provided an ongoing political and social sounding board for a variety of topics. However, during the series' run, it would be revealed that, while he did disagree with his son-in-law's political views, much of his resentment stemmed from the fact that Mike was attending college and would be able to chart his own successful future, while Archie was forced to drop out of high school during the Depression to help support his family. Other family members included wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and, after late 1975, grandson Joey Stivic.

In spite of his numerous flaws, Archie was simultaneously portrayed as being basically decent and, rather than motivated by genuine malice, a product of the time in which he was raised. In the episode "Archie and the KKK," for example, Archie is invited to join a secret "Christian" club which turns out to be a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. In spite of his inherent discomfort around people of color, Archie responds with genuine revulsion at the group's violent methods, and attempts to thwart a cross burning. It should also be noted that as the years went on, Archie grew more accepting of people different from himself, albeit partially out of necessity. For example, in 1978, the character became the guardian of Edith's nine-year old niece, Stephanie, and when it was revealed that Stephanie was Jewish, Bunker accepted her faith.

In 2005, Archie Bunker was listed as number 1 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters, defeating runners-up such as Lucy Ricardo, Fonzie, and Homer Simpson.

Viewer reactions

Such was the name recognition and societal influence of the Bunker character that by 1972 commentators were discussing the "Archie Bunker vote" (i.e., the voting bloc comprised of urban, white, working-class men) in that year's presidential election; in the same year, there was a significant parody election campaign, complete with T-shirts, campaign buttons, and bumper stickers, advocating "Archie Bunker for President." The term "Archie Bunker-ism," or just "Archie-ism," was also coined during the show's run to refer to the many malapropisms, such as "groin-acologist" for gynecologist, that Bunker used on the series.

Archie's opposition to the Klan in the episode mentioned above upset several watchdog groups, who believed that the show shouldn't have "humanized" what they viewed as a racist and believed that Archie should be kept thoroughly unlikable.

Trivia

• The inspiration for Archie Bunker was Alf Garnett, the character from the BBC sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, on which All in the Family was based.
• Archie, in turn, was an inspiration for Eric Cartman of South Park.
• Archie's racism had subsided by the time Archie Bunker's Place began in 1979. During that program's second season, he hired a black nanny, Ellen Canby, for Stephanie and became fond of her. In one episode, Archie punched a man for making a remark about her and was thrown out for good from the lodge he had attended since the early days of All in the Family.
• The only clue to Archie Bunker's father's occupation is the railroad watch, belonging to their father, that Archie's brother Fred gives to Archie.
• Archie Bunker served in the Army Air Corps in Italy during World War II. Carroll O'Connor served in the United States Merchant Marine.
• While locked in his saloon's store room with Mike (in episode # 172), Archie confides (after getting drunk) that he was a poor kid who was teased in school ("They called me Shoe-Bootie.") and was also an abused child — yet Archie then goes on to vehemently defend his father who he says loved him and taught him "right from wrong."
• In 1989 British musicians The KLF released a single "Kylie said to Jason" which makes reference to "the Archie Bunker show" and other sitcoms.
• Archie and Edith Bunker's living-room chairs are featured in an exhibit at the National Museum of American History.
• Archie strongly supported President Richard M. Nixon, of whom he often spoke very highly, incorrectly calling him "Richard E. Nixon."
• Archie's character voice was created by a mix of accents Carroll O'Connor heard while studying acting in New York City.
• Philosopher Paul de Man used Archie to show that language is not in the first place 'logical' or even 'meaningful', but rhetorical. Rhetoric, in his view, always tends to suspend logic and subvert any clear meaning. "Asked by his wife whether he wants to have his bowling shoes laced over or laced under, Archie Bunker answers with a question: 'What's the difference?' His wife replies by patiently explaining the difference between lacing over and lacing under, but provokes only ire. 'What's the difference?' did not ask for the difference but means instead 'I don't give a damn what the difference is.'"

See also

• All in the Family
• Archie Bunker's Place
• Edith Bunker
• List of All in the Family episodes
• Anti-hero
• Meta-bigotry

External links

• Archie Bunker information at tvland.com
• The Bunkers' chairs at the National Museum of American History

• All in the Family characters
• Fictional characters from New York City
• Fictional World War II veterans