Cronkite
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512 “Today, America can regain the sense of pride”: Charles E. Neu, ed., After Vietnam: Legacies of a Lost War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), p. 27.
512 North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon: Brinkley, Gerald Ford, p. 86.
512 “Nothing was going to stop him from doing this broadcast”: Midgley, How Many Words Do You Want? p. 286.
513 but he started the April 30 broadcast and made it to its end: George C. Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986), p. 265.
513 “rather well”: Walter Cronkite, “Letter to the Editor,” New York Times, April 5, 1985.
513 “We embarked on this Vietnam journey with good intentions”: Russell H. Coward Jr., A Voice from the Vietnam War (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004), p. 168.
513 “ ‘We could have won’ ”: Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, pp. 264–65.
513 Esquire put Cronkite on its cover: Esquire, December 1975. Also see James, Walter Cronkite, p. 211.
514 “too-much-the-toady”: Author interview with Ed Bradley, December 21, 2004.
514 “Ford was probably the most personable”: Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations with Cronkite, p. 313.
514 Cronkite broadcast In Celebration of US: Frank Mankiewicz, “The Great Certifier,” Washington Post–Potomac, October 21, 1976.
514 “It was,” Cronkite said, “a glorious, spontaneous upwelling of enthusiasm”: Cronkite and Carleton, Conversations with Cronkite, p. 316.
514 with pickups from forty-two locations: Les Brown, “ ‘Rockets Red Glare,’ a Gift from BBC,” New York Times, June 2, 1976.
515 Cronkite used the Bicentennial to tell Americans: Mankiewicz, “The Great Certifier.”
515 “Walter came on the air and said, ‘What a day’ ”: Author interview with Brit Hume, August 24, 2011.
516 “He was a good party boy, a good mixer”: Author interview with William Small, May 3, 2011.
516 “Back then Cronkite set the tone and tenor”: Author interview with Nick Clooney, September 10, 2011.
516 Too often Murrow was cited: Midgley, How Many Words Do You Want?, pp. 244–45.
516 “He was our industry’s George Washington”: Author interview with Nick Clooney, September 10, 2011.
518 “His persona became so prominent in American culture”: Tom Shales, “And That’s the Way Cronkite Was,”Washington Post, July 18, 2009.
518 talked “to no more than 2,000 people”: Lee Dembart, “A Mudd Report on Candidates Rejected by Cronkite Program,” New York Times, June 8, 1976.
518 “cast television in a bad light by allowing itself to be manipulated”: Ibid.
518 “We investigated the security detail issue”: Author interview with Sandor M. Polster, July 18, 2011.
519 “he’s got one of the best brains of anybody”: Jonathan Alter interview with Walter Cronkite, Rolling Stone, December 10, 1987, p. 94.
519 Sam Jaffe of ABC News claimed he had seen Cronkite’s name on a top-secret list: “Sam A. Jaffe, 55; Reporter for ABC, CBS,” New York Times, February 9, 1985.
519 Sig Mickelson had Cronkite (and other CBS reporters) receive a briefing: Felicity Barringer, “Sig Mickelson, First Director of CBS’s TV News, Dies at 86,” New York Times, March 27, 2000.
519 “To remove the stain on him”: Schorr, Clearing the Air, p. 276.
519 the CIA confirmed that two former CBS correspondents: Sharon Jayson, “And That’s the Way It Was,” Austin American-Statesman, Metro and State, October 1, 1999.
520 “All of this is deplorable”: Walter Cronkite to Robert Feder, June 7, 1977, Feder Pesonal Papers, Chicago, IL.
520 He called this the “foxhole”: Joel Swerdlow, “Stay Tuned for Vizmos,” Washington Post, October 31, 1976.
520 Carter won 297 electoral votes compared to Ford’s 240: Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to 1976 Elections (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,1977).
521 “rolled over on the floor with the depiction of TV news”: “Sidney Lumet Remembers Network,” AP, February 22, 2006.
521 “None of us realized that it was prophecy”: Ron Bonn to Douglas Brinkley, June 7, 2011.
Thirty: Live with Jimmy Carter
523 “I’d go to help her with her coat”: Ron Powers, “Walter Cronkite: Knocking a Couple Back After the Show,” Chicago Sun-Times, March 4, 1974.
523 What Arledge didn’t stress was that Walters received that salary: Barbara Walters, Audition: A Memoir (New York: Knopf, 2008), pp. 284–86.
523 “Walter was very nasty about me”: Author interview with Barbara Walters, August 24, 2011.
524 “I’m not going to play the celebrity journalism game”: Author interview with Sandy Socolow, July 8, 2011.
524 “Walter complained about me getting $1 million”: Author interview with Barbara Walters, August 24, 2011.
524 “A million dollars is a grotesque amount of money”: “Will the Morning Star Shine at Night?” Time, May 3, 1976.
524 what he privately derided as “happy talk”: Author interview with Rita Braver, March 18, 2011.
524 “She has shown exceptional talent in interviewing”: Ibid.
525 “He wasn’t Uncle Walter to me”: Author interview with Barbara Walters, July 2, 2011.
525 “We all felt honored when Cronkite came to town”: Author interview with Rita Braver, March 18, 2011.
525 Benjamin had been Cronkite’s alter ego: Author inteview with John Lane, November 9, 2011.
525 “about four people were waiting to sweep Walter away”: Author interview with Rita Braver, March 18, 2011.
526 Newsweek called the event “Dial-a-President”: Peter Goldman, “Dial-a-President,” Newsweek, March 14, 1977, p. 14.
526 “you never get in a press conference”: Charles Mohr, “Carter Discusses Problems and Policies with Telephone Callers from 26 States,” New York Times, March 6, 1977.
526 none of the 900-code long-distance calls was pre-screened: Goldman, “Dial-a-President,” p. 14.
526 “No matter how far out the question, he had in his head a textbook”: Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 226.
526 “My inclination would be to do this again”: Goldman, “Dial-a-President,” and “America Gets on the Party Line,” Time, March 14, 1977.
526 “Mr. Interlocutor to President Carter’s Mr. Bones”: Sander Vanocur, “The President Carter Show,” Washington Post, March 13, 1977.
526 “no one would be disrespectful” to him: “Father Cronkite,” 1977 [newspaper clipping, no date], WCP-UTA.
526 NBC’s Saturday Night Live did a hilarious spoof: Author interview with Tom Davis, June 10, 2011.
527 A deal was even struck for Cronkite to acquire a minority share: Philip H. Dougherty, “New Pilots for Waterway Guide,” New York Times, April 3, 1978.
527 “We hit it off right out of the gate”: Author interview with Mike Ashford, June 3, 2011.
527 “willing to go to Israel to talk peace”: Sandor M. Polster, “Friday, November 12, 2010,” News Media Maven Blog, newsmediamaven.blogspot.com (accessed August 3, 2011).
528 “Sadat said he could go [to Israel] within a week”: “The World: Behind Cronkite’s Coup,” Time, November 28, 1977.
528 “has a leader of Israel met with a leader of Egypt”: CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (broadcast transcript), November 14, 1977, CBS Archives, New York.
528 “It was later suggested by some critics that I had overstepped”: Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, pp. 316–17.
528 “There was a lot of desk-slapping”: “The World: Behind Cronkite’s Coup.”
529 “most dramatic cross-coupling ever”: David M. Alpern and Betsy Carter, “The Cronkite Summit?” Newsweek, November 28, 1977.
529 “Both sides have a vested interest”: Ibid.
529 “CBS ought to be congratulated”: “The World: Behind Cronkite’s Coup.”
529 “Walter, I’m sure Sadat would disagree, but dammit, I wish y
ou’d retire”: Alpern, “The Cronkite Summit,” Newsweek, November 28, 1977.
529 “It took Walter Cronkite of CBS”: William Safire, “Cronkite Diplomacy,” New York Times, November 17, 1977.
529 “We played Sadat and Begin off of each other”: Author interview with John Lane, November 9, 2011.
530 “On the flight, I slipped Sadat a private note”: Author interview with Barbara Walters, August 24, 2011.
530 “We became, over time, very fond of each other”: Ibid.
530 “Marvelous Walter”: Fred Ferretti, “What Do They Do When They ‘Anchor’ the TV News,” New York Times, February 5, 1978.
531 “it was extraordinary—a heck of an experience”: Michael Gorkin, “Walter Cronkite: Why He’s the Most Trusted Man in America,” 50 Plus, November 1979, p. 18.
531 Why not quit CBS while at the top of his game?: Author interview with Sandor M. Polster, July 18, 2011.
531 “It’ll be up to Walter to decide whether he wants to do more”: Les Brown, “Incoming Chief of CBS News Describes Plans,” New York Times, August 1, 1978.
532 “What I rail against is the Action news”: Eliot Ward, “Three on the Anchor,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 25, 1977.
532 Salant was constantly asked in 1978 about who would replace Cronkite: Buzenberg and Buzenberg, Salant, CBS, and the Battle for the Soul of Broadcast Journalism, p. 267.
532 That bought CBS some wait-and-see time to decide: “DuPont Broadcast Prizes,” New York Times, February 16, 1978.
532 “People who blame Rather for pushing Cronkite out”: Author interview with Richard Leibner, November 3, 2011.
532 either Roger Mudd or Dan Rather would replace Cronkite: Fred Ferretti, “And That’s the Way It Is,” Family Weekly, July 3, 1977.
532 It was sort of Salant versus Cronkite: Kevin Phillips and Albert Sindlinger, “Most Trusted–Most Liberal–Most Objective TV Newscasters,” syndicated column, June 10, 1974.
533 “I’d be a damn fool not to quit while I’m ahead”: Leonard, In the Storm of the Eye, p. 15.
533 “In the grimiest commercial terms, each rating point gained”: Ibid.
533 That year both Cronkite and Halberstam agreed to lecture: Deirdre Carmody, “63 Top Figures to Lead Seminars at Columbia’s Journalism School,” New York Times, June 15, 1979.
534 “I’m not in the goddamn business of selling movie tickets”: Tom Watkins, “How ‘That’s The Way It Is’ Became Cronkite’s Tagline,” CNN Blog, July 18, 2009.
534 “I think we did [Jordan] an injustice in reporting that”: Walter Cronkite on CNN’s Larry King Live, March 9, 2001.
534 took fifty-two hostages: William Shawcross, The Shah’s Last Ride: The True Story of the Emperor’s Dreams and Illusions, Exile, and Death at the Hands of His Foes and Friends (New York: Touchstone, 1988), p. 126.
535 “It was always gnawing away at your guts”: Jimmy Carter Oral History, White Burkett Miller Center for Public Affairs, University of Virginia, Project of the Carter Presidency, President Carter Session, November 29, 1982, p. 52.
535 Cronkite would sign off with the number of days the hostages had been held: Barry Rubin, Paved with Good Intentions: The American Experience in Iran (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), pp. 337–64.
535 Once again, Cronkite led the charge: Robert A. Strong, Working in the World: Jimmy Carter and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2000), p. 235.
535 George Ball blamed Cronkite for starting a national TV soap opera: John Dumbrell, The Carter Presidency (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995), p. 168.
535 “Night after night, the television news dramatized”: Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 319.
535 “We’d do it slowly,” he told Gorkin, “across the Atlantic”: Gorkin, “Walter Cronkite: Why He’s the Most Trusted Man in America,” p. 19.
536 Cronkite’s CBS Evening News had topped the ratings: Thomas Collins, “Good Night, Walter,” Newsday, March 5, 1981.
536 “I’ve spent thousands of dollars developing these bags”: J. Howard Williams, Love at First Sight: A Lifetime of Sailing on Galveston Bay (Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2005), p. 6.
536 as being “perfectly ridiculous”: Jon Roe, “President Felt Left Out in Race for Alien Vote,” Wichita Eagle, December 26, 1992.
536 “We need courses, beginning in junior high, on journalism”: Cleveland Amory, “What Walter Cronkite Misses Most,” Parade, March 11, 1984, p. 4.
536 journalists could now make or break a candidate: James David Barber, The Pulse of Politics: Electing Presidents in the Media Age (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980).
536 Their focus was not on a local luminary: Hugh Sidey, “The Presidency: A Revolution Is Under Way,” Time, March 31, 1980.
537 ripping Linus’s blanket away from an electronic America: Dick Williams, “End of an Era,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 8, 1981.
537 “I’d like to be able to step out right now”: “Cronkite Reports ’81 Plan to Leave CBS Anchor Slot,” AP, February 6, 1980.
537 the darkly handsome Rather would replace Cronkite: Edward Diamond, “Television’s ‘Great’ Anchors and What Made Them Rate,” New York Times, March 23, 1980.
537 CBS News refused to let Mudd out of his contract early: Mudd, The Place to Be, p. 376.
537 he was proud to call him his successor: Author interview with Richard Leibner, November 3, 2011.
538 “I’ve covered every inauguration”: Les Brown, “Dan Rather to Succeed Cronkite,” New York Times, February 15, 1980.
538 “Harrington tells Cronkite what is happening”: Robert G. Kaiser, “CBS’s Big Feed: The Primary Reasons,” Washington Post, February 28, 1980.
538 Cronkite, amazingly, was suggested as a vice presidential candidate for Anderson: John Anderson, “Cronkite Denies Interest in Running with Anderson,” Washington Post, April 30, 1980.
539 “he’d be honored if asked”: Plissner, The Control Room, p. 219.
539 “To be among the best reporters and analysts of government”: Walter Cronkite, “You Heard It Here Second,” New York Times, May 10, 1980.
539 “that you were No. 2 for the No. 2 spot on the Anderson ticket”: Stephen E. Weisman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary (New York: PublicAffairs, 2010), p. 413.
539 “It seems slightly mad,” Reston wrote, “but it happens to be true”: James Reston, “A Second Rescue Mission,” New York Times, April 27, 1980.
540 Cronkite was “seemingly embarrassed” by the commotion: B. Drummond Ayres Jr., “Reporter’s Notebook: Kennedy Takes Off His Gloves,” New York Times, April 21, 1980.
540 the “preeminent figure” in contemporary journalism: “List of Those Honored at Harvard Ceremonies,” New York Times, June 6, 1980.
540 “they believed you at a time when they needed somebody to believe”: “1981: A Conversation with Fred Friendly,” p. 165.
540 The big unknown was who would run with him: Mark Updegrove, Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2006), p. 129.
540 A movement, somewhat unprecedented, was launched to have former president Gerald Ford be: Author interview with David Kennerly, May 23, 2011.
541 “scoop of scoops”: Tom Shales, “Back to You, CBS,” Washington Post, July 17, 1980.
541 “and be a figurehead vice-president”: Author interview with David Kennerly, May 23, 2011.
541 “Cronkite had me in a pickle”: Author interview with Gerald Ford, March 23, 2003.
541 “Barbara and I had an argument”: Sandy Socolow to Douglas Brinkley, December 18, 2011.
541 “She had planted herself right outside the door”: Author interview with David Kennerly, May 23, 2011.
542 “suffered when Barbara twisted his arm to get him onto ABC”: Cronkite, A Reporter’s Life, p. 238.
542 “She said she was sorry”: Sandy Socolow to Dou
glas Brinkley, December 18, 2011.
542 “an entertaining brawl with elements of farce”: Tom Shales, “The Last Hurrah,” Washington Post, August 12, 1980.
542 “I am overwhelmed,” he said. “I really am”: “Unplugging the Miles,” Washington Post, August 16, 1980.
543 “teaching three generations of Americans the political process”: “CBS Retires Cronkite’s Mike as He Anchors Last Convention,” Boston Herald, August 16, 1980.
543 “I don’t believe there are any who distrust him”: Jimmy Carter, “Medal of Freedom to Walter Cronkite,” January 16, 1981 (transcript), CBS News Archive, New York. Also see Henry Mitchell, “Any Day,” Washington Post, January 17, 1981.
Thirty-One: Retirement Blues
547 “Keep it up, you’re getting better”: William Hickey, “Uncle Walter Departs,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 5, 1981.
547 “Walter Cronkite, television and radio newsman, died today”: Albin Krebs and Robert Thomas, “Notes on People: In Cronkite’s Mailbox,” New York Times, January 21, 1981.
548 In 1980, Universe ran four additional times: Peter Goodman to Bill Leonard–Walter Cronkite, April 6, 1981, Folder: Awards 1981, Box: 2M609, WCP-UTA.
548 “That little guffaw laugh of his wasn’t around anymore”: Author interview with Connie Chung, July 28, 2011.
548 “We were impressed by his calm and physical courage during that hurricane”: Gates, Air Time, p. 307.
549 “This is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O”: Ken Auletta, “Sign-Off: The Long and Complicated Career of Dan Rather,” New Yorker, March 7, 2005.
549 “I’m a different person than Walter Cronkite”: Eric Mink, “His Challenge Is Replacing the Most Trusted Journalist,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 8, 1981.
549 Cronkite’s old beige set backdrop was repainted blue-gray: Tony Schwartz, “Amid the Fuss, Cronkite Says a Quiet ‘Good Night,’ ” New York Times, March 7, 1981.
549 “But I broadcast the news from Walter’s chair”: Author interview with Bob Schieffer, August 31, 2011.
550 “ ‘Socolow, he’s standing up! He’s standing up’ ”: Author interview with Sandy Socolow, July 7, 2011.
550 “It was a near-catastrophe that will not be soon forgotten”: Sandor M. Polster, “The Empty Throne,” Blog post, March 7, 2011.