Privacy Statement Except for . No further explanation is needed for people of a certain age. [11] With two exceptions, Cronkite was not a political campaign contributor according to Federal Election Commission records. Which is a pointed bit of commentary about our society in itself. Fired by NBC in 2012, along with a producer, over deceptive editing of the George Zimmerman 911 call in the Trayvon Martin case. Assign them the role of newspaper reporters writing an analysis of these TV interviews for . In order for live theater or any type of dramatic production to work, the audience has to be able to suspend disbelief. The encounter might have ended with the two storming to opposite corners of the bar in a huff, but instead they bond over a shared familiarity with the "Looney Tunes" theme song. Walter Cronkite, in full Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., (born November 4, 1916, St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.died July 17, 2009, New York, New York), American journalist and pioneer of television news programming who became known as the most trusted man in America. He was the longtime anchor of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (196281), for which he reported on many of the most historic events of the latter half of the 20th century. when they did not express political views, when . The late 20th century was a tumultuous time, crowded with many world-shaking events. In a CBS press release, his role was described as "anchor . Goldstein on Gelt: What are Alternative Investments? Cronkite drew a bit of tabloid attention for his exploits; I can only imagine what TMZ would have done with the inevitable paparazzi shots. In 1935 he left college to take a full-time position with the paper. (Kennedy announced three days later.) Simpson also believed that television news unfairly blamed President John F. Kennedys assassination on the conservative atmosphere in Dallas, and he recalled with particular disgust a 1967 network interview with psychologist Timothy Leary, who was encouraging young people to try LSD. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Cronkite denied charges that CBS brass ordered newscasters to go soft on Nixon., Douglas Brinkley's sweeping and masterful biography, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. He was always clearly on the liberal-left side of the political spectrum. In 1988, seven years after his retirement as anchorman of the CBS Evening News, Cronkite addressed a left-wing People for the American Way conference and denounced President Reagan for the unilateral military actions in Grenada, when the U.S. military evicted a communist gang, and Libya, when Reagan ordered a military strike in retaliation for the acts of terrorism against Americans. But after covering Nixon's historic visit to China, he let loose with a night of partying in San Francisco. On that occasion, President Clinton sent a note to the gathering wishing them future success., Cronkite said we would achieve world government by giving up some of our sovereignty. He said, That would be a bitter pill. Soon after Cronkite took over from his predecessor Douglas Edwards, the then 15-minute broadcast was expanded to 30 minutes, making it the first half-hour nightly news show on American network television. Phone: (202) 670-7729 The CBS anchor is remembered as a media giant who gruffly championed hard-hitting journalism. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. According to Brinkley, his producer spliced the footage in unflattering ways, reshooting Cronkite asking the questions so it appeared that he was nodding or raising his eyebrows in disgust when Johnson talked about Vietnam. Later, Cronkite denounced Operation Iraqi Freedom and attacked the Bush administration for its arrogance.. CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King has been chosen to receive the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism from Arizona State University, Encounter Walter Cronkite through his CBS News special commentary on the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and on the Warren Commission. With a hubris that, in retrospect, was certain to invite further scrutiny, the three networks pushed back, arguing that they were objective and impartial watchdogs looking out for the public interest. Walter Cronkite: "I define liberal as a person who is not doctrinaire. But I see an upside as well: he wielded his enormous clout on behalf of muscular journalism. The tape never materialized. Cronkite also revealed a daffy side, as when he responded to a question from Esquire magazine in 2006 about whether Oprah Winfrey would make a good president. Media studies scholar Heather Hendershot on Walter Cronkite, Mayor Daley, and coverage of the Chicago Democratic Convention . July 17, 2009 CBS News. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton also delivered remarks to the group, hailing Cronkite for inspiring all of us to build a more peaceful and just world. Hillary said that Cronkite?s receipt of the World Federalist Association?s Global Governance Award was well-deserved. What a stunning contrast to the corrosive distrust of the news business today. This column reflects the opinion ofBlake Fontenay. On February 27, 1968, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite closed a special report on Vietnam with a pessimistic assessment of the U.S. war effort. "This is what I do," Jenkins says, "I annoy people.". His latest cause was world government and the destruction of American sovereignty. On August 28, 1968, the night Hubert Humphrey was nominated, the news networks aired footage of the swelling crowds of protesters, the outbreak of violence in the streets and the demonstrators shouting, The whole world is watching as the police attacked them. It is firmly set in a bar at Reagan National Airport just outside of Washington, D.C in Sept. 2010 . From 1962 to 1981, Cronkite covered many of the pivotal events of the 20th century including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the first moon landing and Watergate and eventually became known as "the most trusted man in America.". But that's not what I am. This is the same Cronkite who, when a new videotape from Osama bin Laden surfaced a few days before the 2004 presidential election, saw it as some nefarious plot hatched in the bowels of the Bush White House. 2013 CAD Archive Walter Cronkite We have overcome some terrible blows to our democracy, to the future of our democracy, to the future of our nation. A new biography of the late Walter Cronkite has forced even admirers of the iconic CBS anchorman to reassess the man long held up as a paragon of journalistic ethics and objectivity. In February 1968, CBS's Walter Cronkite popular anchorman on one of just three national nightly newscasts that came into America's living rooms for 30 minutes every night met a trio of network reporters for dinner on a 10th-floor rooftop restaurant at the Caravelle Hotel in South Vietnam's embattled capital of Saigon. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. [10], Cronkite took other left-wing positions, such as supporting tax increases, supporting giving up U.S. sovereignty to the United Nations, wishing for a one-world government, supporting gun control, among other liberal positions. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to guess where that leads. Grisham didnt share Simpsons politics but did believe that the broadcasts should be preserved. Although the protesters believed media coverage would create sympathy for their cause, a substantial majority of Americans including Paul Simpson sided with the police. As Brinkley writes, "There he was, a civilian broadcaster, dressed in the full uniform of a U.S. Marine colonel, narrating gobbledy-gook about the 'Red Threat.'". Fired by MSNBC in 2003 for telling a caller to the show that he was a "sodomite" who should "get AIDS and die.". Karl Rove, anxiously pondering the latest tracking polls, puts in a call to bin Laden, hiding in a cave somewhere in scenic Afghanistan, and asks him to give Bush a boost by releasing a video. In reading this first major biography of Cronkite, I came to realize that the man who once dominated television journalism was more complicatedand occasionally more unethicalthan the legend that surrounds him. U.S. Pres. He was so committed to a "just the facts" style that many people were shocked when they saw him momentarily cry a. Cronkite born in Missouri but raised in Texas got his training as a journalist with the United Press wire service. The book, written with the cooperation of Cronkite and his family, recounts the remarkable career for which he is justly revered: the forging of a no-nonsense newscast that began as a mere 15 minutes; the tireless (bordering on worshipful) chronicling of the space program; the dogged reporting in Vietnam that helped turn the country against the war; the lengthy segments on Watergate that elevated the scandal to a national obsession. Legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, who held the title of "Most Trusted Man in America," passed away Friday, July 17 after a long illness. Brinkley's book will undoubtedly tarnish the Cronkite legacy. Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. We can agree on that, Carson said of the longtime CBS anchor who died in 2009. Presently he is Communications Coordinator at COJO Flatbush. The British writer Christopher Hitchens once remarked that political partisanship makes us stupid. Cronkite told AIM founder and editor Reed Irvine that he had been misquoted by Kobysh, and that he had a tape recording of the interview to prove it. And se certainly has shown that she has a literate approach to solving problems. However, I wasn't sure I would be able to fully buy into the premise of "Walter Cronkite is Dead," a play that's showing at Treasure Coast Theatre in Port St. Lucie through this weekend. When he returned to Nashville, Simpson found an ally in Vanderbilt librarian Frank Grisham. Simpson was shocked. He complained bitterly, demanding that the section about him be removed. That is a dictionary definition of liberal. [14], http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/United_Nations/Chronkite_UN.html, FBI Files: CBS's Walter Cronkite Aided Vietnam Protestors in 1960s, https://vault.fbi.gov/walter-leland-cronkite/Walter%20Leland%20Cronkite%20Part%201%20of%201/view, https://web.archive.org/web/20100518130059/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2067, Walter Cronkite: Quintessential Liberal-Progressive, McGovern's First Crisis: The Eagleton Affair, Tilting at the Right, Leaning to the Left, Famed CBS News Anchorman Walter Cronkite Dies at 92, https://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Walter_Cronkite&oldid=1770906, Presidential Medal of Freedom award winners, He was the first journalist that told the nation in 1963 that. It was Cronkites good fortune that his heyday came and went in the era prior to the arrival of cable news, talk radio and the Internet. This compilation, gathered in 2006, showed how, since his retirement in 1981 after twenty years as anchor of the CBS Evening News, Cronkite had made clear his liberal views on a range of issues, including how being a liberal is essential to being a good journalist. As media historian Charles L. Ponce De Leon wrote in 2015, It was news from Olympus, presented in a tone that suggested the voice of God., NBCs Reuven Frank sarcastically dismissed Simpsons claim that he was acting in the spirit of free inquiry, remarking that I have never known a self-proclaimed objective student who sought to evaluate my performance because he thought I was doing great.. Thankfully, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker helped insert a clause in the revision of the copyright law that protected the right of libraries to record the news. [1], In addition to his biased reporting on the war, FBI documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act by Yahoo news, evidence that legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists in the 1960s, going so far as to offer advice on how to raise the public profile of protests and even promising that CBS News would rent a helicopter to take liberal Senator Edmund Muskie to and from the site of an anti-war rally. Shortly after the interview was published, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. It was that commitment to factual. In the early 1970s, the most trusted man in America did a very untrustworthy thing. It helps that the women don't jump into a political conversation right at the beginning. This was not the Cronkite I grew up admiring from the time I watched his image flickering on a small black-and-white set, the voice of authority in an age when we still revered, without a trace of cynicism, those who spoon-fed us the news. Jenkins may be a motormouth, but she's also observant and insightful. For starters, he had no problem accepting freebies. This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 'Walter Cronkite' play explores red state-blue state divide | Opinion, Blake Fontenay, Treasure Coast Newspapers, Reflections on the importance of a free press, The show mustn't go on: Performing arts venues struggle to outlast COVID-19, Fort Pierce's Sunrise Theatre can and should rise again, 'Walter Cronkite' play explores red state-blue state divide | Opinion, 'Mandalorian' star Pedro Pascal, creators on new Grogu revelations and 'Last of Us' comparisons, Saved by the bell: Contestant ordered to keep mask on, in historic 'Masked Singer' first, Chris Pine admits 'it does look' like Harry Styles spit on him but this is what actually happened, Rebel Wilson 'collapsed' after Ramona Agruma proposal: 'I was so overwhelmed', Amy Grant recalls being 'so scared' to return to touring following serious bike accident. Media giant who gruffly championed hard-hitting journalism the CBS anchor is remembered a! 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