Called the Tet battle a major defeat for US forces when it was not.
Yep. He helped keep the war going. Ho Chi Minh and General Giap were discussing how to salvage the Tet disaster with a peace treaty. Then they turned on the Evening News and saw Croonkite. They knew then that they would win because of the USA’s traitorous media.
If we’d had the same media from Vietnam in WW2 Cronkite would have said the Battle of the Bulge was a German victory.
“But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” (Feb. 27, 1968)
He was right.
When spent several days in Saigon before going up country he was extensively breifed by Westmoreland, Rosson, and Mike Davison, MACV G2. While I never particular larly liked Cronkite he was no patsy and seen a good bit of WW2 in western Europe. He made several critical remarks on US complacency as before Bulge but said the enemy had been been administered a crushing defeat. In Hue the same thing. Marine officer’s breifed him and C didn’t buy the holding the lily and called it a ‘close thing’ and once again US artillery and air dominance secured the victory but there was no doubt the enemy was throughly beaten. So who pulled his chai and told him ty ditch the ‘tpugh fight and not without significant US errors but a solid defeat of the enemy’ and replace it with ‘the is in a stalemate with no way out’. People at the top of CBS who to topple LBJ and bring the war to end as a defeat is my quess.