Posted on 07/19/2009 5:59:39 AM PDT by kellynla
WASHINGTON – Walter Cronkite is dead at 92 – but most Americans, many of whom considered him "the most trusted man" in the country during his reign as CBS News anchor – still don't know what motivated him and how he secured such an influential and lofty position.
He was like a grandfatherly institution in the early days of TV. People believed him. Uncle Walter wouldn't lie, America believed.
Thus, when he gave his opinions, they had impact. One example was his report on the Tet offensive in Vietnam, which is credited with swinging the tide of opinion against the war.
Even in his death, however, nobody has addressed how and why an otherwise obscure figure at the time was elevated to become the most prominent anchorman on television.
The story was told publicly in the July 10, 2000, edition of the Nation, a Marxist-oriented journal, in a report on death of Blair Clark, who served as editor of the Nation from 1976 through 1978: "Whether it was calling on Philip Roth to recommend a Nation literary editor or persuading CBS News president Richard Salant to make Walter Cronkite anchor of CBS Evening News, Blair had a gift for the recognition and recruitment of excellence."
Clark was not only the editor of the Nation, he was also heir to the Clark thread fortune, a Harvard classmate and friend of John F. Kennedy, a buddy of Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee and the manager of Eugene McCarthy's 1968 campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
He veered back and forth between politics and journalism seamlessly as an associate publisher of the New York Post, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, vice president and general manager of CBS News and yet remained a fixture in Democratic Party politics throughout his career.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
And Cronkite's claim that becuase we were losing during the Tet Offensive, the war was lost...nothing further from the truth could have been said!
In fact, for every Ameican lost during the Tet Offensive, 100 of the enemy were lost.
Agree but you know how the media likes to play with numbers when we are in a war.
"Normandy exposed Eisenhower as an incompetent commander."
"Iwo Jima is a quagmire"
"Roosevelt the crippled Jew is fighting the war for his Wall Street buddies and the military-industrial complex so they can get rich and get the peoples' minds off the Depression."
His obit would have interested me 25 years ago. Now I know he was using our minds. I use my own mind now Walter.
And Cronkite's claim that becuase we were losing during the Tet Offensive, the war was lost...nothing further from the truth could have been said! In fact, for every Ameican lost during the Tet Offensive, 100 of the enemy were lost.At the Battle of the Ardennes Salient (The Battle of the Bulge), the Allies were losing for the first few days. By Walter's logic, we should have withdrawn all American forces and left Europe to the Germans.
When Farah has actual facts to reference, he’s a pretty good writer.
Cronkite was the sort of thing "up with which dad would not put."
Mr. niteowl77
He hated Cronkite after Tet. I was young and couldn't really get worked up about a news reader. Since then I've seen the cr#p that Rather, Jennings and the rest of the MSM has pulled. Thank God they're so stupid that they don't realize that most people are getting their news edited by the internet and web sites like this.
I have been avoiding FR and the news over Cronkite stories. Every time I hear his name I have to wonder how my life would have been if it were not for Cronkite. I’m fully convinced one of the reasons we are in the middle east now is the liberal work of men like Cronkite, Carter and jerks just like them.
BTW. Coats and Clark thread stinks. Gutermann and Metrosene aren’t as fuzzy and will keep your machine cleaner.
Walter was always after ways to promote Walter, he had no real convictions and no common sense with no education. I have no respect for him and his Marxist, “hate America” agenda. I believe Walter had an arrogant tone of voice along with a speaking voice that resonated well on television and sounded believable. He was selected by leading Marxists to spread their lies and did so for many generations and much to the detriment of America. People like Cronkite are dangerous because they have the center stage and his arrogance and “know-it-all” tone sounds very much like our new President. It has worked for decades and now Barry has picked up the baton.
It is time for America to wake up and stop putting their faith in these phoney patriots, their way leads to the end of America.
Walter was a world-government globalist traitor mole. Period.
“By Walter’s logic...”
Well said. I have noticed the left always talks about “exit strategies”. How about winning? They also always try to paint America and Americans in the worst possible light when we are at war. If I am fair, then I must truthfully admit America has made mistakes. Every nation has. But in the course of history, no nation has given as much of themselves for the benefit of all humankind as America. What kind of world would we now have if in 1941 our leaders asked about “exit strategy”? What if they spoke of our own racial problems, our financial problems and decided we didn’t have the funds or the “moral position” to go to war? No, we are not perfect. We never will be. But, take a good long look around the world. America is it’s last great hope. We have to fix ourselves - because as bad as things are in America, without a free America - the world looks pretty dark.-—JM
A mole upon America. Also he volunteered to be John Anderson’s VP running mate in 1980.
Didn’t good old Walter write a book called,”So What’s A Wrong With Liberalism”, or something like that? Case closed!
Cronkite was an evil propagandist, the founding member of the modern corrupt mass media.
Good riddance to this monster.
Wow, John Anderson was really politically unsophisticated if he chose “Pat Lucey” over Uncle Walter. Cronkite could have put some states in play. People really believed he was the most trusted man in America and some of the older geezers still do!
vaudine
Yes, all true, but the American people aren’t up to the task. The Nathan Hales are of no more.
Walter Cronkite and the Liberal Media were against the Viet Nam war since 1969.
When Cronkite “reported” on CBS in 1969 that because of the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam, “the war was lost”; he was not reporting the truth.
The truth is, we NEVER lost a major battle in the Viet Nam war including the Tet Offensive.
The truth is, that we handed the Viet Cong and the NVA some of their worst defeats during the Tet Offensive.
And Cronkite “jumped the shark” in 1969 and became complicit and instrumental in the antiwar movement which was orchestrated on colleges & universities by the Communist Party during the 1960’s.
The Communists KNEW they were losing the war in Viet Nam and they KNEW that the only way to prevent America from winning the war was to create antiwar sentiment in America.
While the media and politicians will be slobbering all kinds of praise on Walter Cronkite this weekend and beyond; I just want you to know the FACTS.
Yes, Cronkite was a very good reporter and I hope he made amends with his Maker before he died, but he was no American patriot during the Viet Nam war and he certainly wasn't honest in his "reporting.”
Many American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines were maimed and killed needlessly because JFK, LBJ and Democrat Party put us in a war that we could not win because we fought that war with “one hand behind our back”. And Cronkite & many others in the American media were complicit in the loss of the Viet Nam war because of their disingenuous reporting.
The vast majority of the media today is inundated with students of the 60’s who were indoctrinated by anti-American, anti-military, antiwar Leftists/Socialists/Marxists Journalism professors who were against the Viet Nam war. And as a result, we live in a country that gets their “news” today on television networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and newspapers like the New York Times & the L.A. Times whose editorial boards and news staffs are loaded with Liberals who are blatantly anti-military, antiwar and many times anti-American to the point of editorializing not only on the op-ed pages but in their news “reporting.”
JFK put us in the Viet Nam war and LBJ increased our presence but refused to allow us to WIN the war.
On more occasions than I care to remember; I led patrols across rice paddies and up mountains chasing the VC and NVA only to be ordered to return to our base camp after we had reached the Laotian border. You can't win a war unless you are committed to beating your enemy into defeat and final surrender.
And the Viet Nam War was the Korean War redux.
Finally, My Lai was an aberration and I can tell you unequivocally that there were no “mass murders or mass tortures” occurring during the Viet Nam war as was “reported” by the media.
John Kerry “testi-lied” before a congressional committee when he returned from Viet Nam in 1971 after only serving three months of his one year tour of duty.
He received orders back to the States by lying about so-called combat injuries he received while in Viet Nam and was awarded three Purple Hearts for injuries he did not receive in combat.There was a rule in place at the time that allowed anyone who received three Purple Hearts could be sent back to the States before finishing their tour of duty. John Kerry couldn't get out of Viet Nam fast enough. And Kerry lied about wounds he claimed he received on days that he was not involved in any enemy contact. For the record, I challenged Kerry some years ago on his military combat record but he refused to respond. Figures...once a coward, always a coward!
The Liberals in the media will be reporting and writing articles & books contrary to the FACTS regarding the Viet Nam war.
So don't be fooled by the praise laid on Walter Cronkite who is the “Father of American Liberal Media.”
I just wanted to “set the record straight” and inform you of the FACTS because I WAS THERE. I was a Marine Corps S-2 Intelligence NCO who not only had access to Intelligence reports but I also personally wrote many of those reports and was awarded combat medals and promotions for my work. So I KNOW the FACTS.
The Viet Nam war was lost in America NOT Viet Nam!
Semper Fidelis,
Kelly
bookmark
B T T T
The Battle of the Coral Sea was a tie.
It wasn't until Midway that we started winning.
Would Walter have advised giving up in April of 1942 and abandoning the Pacific to the Japanese Empire?
In those days, our "exit strategy" was "unconditional surrender" by the enemy; as opposed to now when our "exit strategy" is "unconditional surrender" by us.
AMEN!
Cronkite was pond scum...even to the end.
Lets not forget the allied forces of South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and South Viet Nam as well as the U.S.N., U.S.M.C. & U.S.A.F.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
“I’m glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan.” And there he sits.
Walter Cronkeit = Minister of Propaganda.. Czar of Hooey.. Commisar of BullSqueeze..
And, if one showed up, the enemedia would bury the story anyway, or make him out to be a criminal.
I don’t think Americans have ever really been fond of war. But, it used to be when we committed to it - we were in it to win. I don’t want to sound to corny - but in a very real way the best thing we can give to our young warriors is the knowledge that we as a nation are committed to their victory. I am ashamed that as a nation, we seem more concerned with Michael Jackson’s death than with those young souls who gave all for us in Afghanistan. We all need to remember that our I Pods, McMansions, boats and our freedoms all have one common element. Our freedom and prosperity were paid for in blood.-—JM
As perhaps FR's most unabashed, unapologetic Hamiltonian, I have long been embarrassed by the way the coasts and the heartland have switched political positions over the past century or so. Do you suppose William McKinley was gay?
I hope you don’t mind. BIG SMILE
“Save the besieged troops at Khe Sanh !!!! “ Screamed the images from Life magazine on down...... ”Besieged” my butt.
The battle for Khe Sanh was your standard run of the mill mouse trap with the cheese being this little forward base seemingly cut off from support.
The NVA thought they had this in the bag and committed thousands of little guys to win world wide bragging rights.
While Cronkite and Life showed the base being rocketed , the bodies on the wire started to pile up.....and the pile kept growing as death fell from the skies and wiped out the attacking waves.
Think of the movie “Zulu”........now multiply the enemy kia by about a zillion and you get the idea what was really going on over there during that time period.
We had never been able to get enough of the little short guys together.....it was the “Khe Sanh cheese” that did it.
I read that rats feeding off the bodies on the wire were returning deeper into N. Vietnam and spreading diseases...I remember bubonic plague was a term mentioned.....
No mother, father, brother, sister or child wants their loved one to be used as bait to draw the enemy out in large numbers, better to present the Alamo image to the public.......now you know the truth.....in my opinion :)
Khe Sanh was one of the truly great military victories....screw Cronkite and Life magazine. If we could have tweetered to the American Public........you get the idea.”
You are right of course. I did not say US Army. I guess I should have said Tet was a military victory.
You're probably correct. In fact, the Hollywood commies, who got their marching orders from Stalin, were ordered to not write any scripts critical of Hitler during the Soviet/Nazi non-aggression pact. Much pressure was put on Lillian Hellman (big-time commie) to keep her play Watch on the Rhine from being filmed. When she wrote it, the Russians and Nazis were at each other throats. Once the two countries made nice, the play became an embarrassment.
After Hitler invaded Russia, it became cool again to dis the Nazis.
My dad always maintained the two worst things America did was:
1. Go off the gold standard.
2. Listen to Walter Cronkite.
Great tag line.
The day that Cronkite stepped over the line and criticized the Viet Nam war was a watershed moment for which mainstream journalism has yet to recover.
His declaration that the Tet Offensive was a draw when it really was a decisive US victory is as egregious as Dan Rather’s trying to bring down a president with forged documents. The difference is, we didn’t have the conservative blogosphere back then.
I wouldn’t trust Cronkite as far as I could throw him, which is not very far.
Give each of them a few pieces of silver and a few trinkets, and they sell their own Mothers into Slavery!
Cronkite was trilled with the few pieces of silver, and the praise he got from his Bosses:-) Meanwhile, AMERICA got Sold down the River by the likes of him, John Francois Kerry, and the Hanoi Cheerleaders:-(
And they almost did it to AMERICA with IRAQ, except for Our Great President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney with a Great Military and the backing of The Real AMERICANS!
AMEN! ANDAll Real AMERICANS AREGRATFUL AND THANKFUL TO YOU AND ALL IN THE MILITARY WHO SERVED AND GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR DEMOCRAY AND AMERICA IN VIET NAM AND EVERYWHERE! :-)
Actually, there were. In Hue, during Tet, when the VC, riding the arm of the NVA and armed with lists of names, rushed through the city rounding up 3000 GVN schoolteachers, administrators, and military personnel and their families and led them out to the sand dunes and shot them with their hands tied behind their backs with barbed wire.
Vindictive, nasty little VC bastards didn't get the press, though. Rusty Calley and Capt. Medina did.
After the war, the NVA and their buddies in Laos hosed the Meo and Hmong indiscriminately with Russian-made mycotoxins and other chemical weapons. The press? <yawn> -- all in a day's work for the Left.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Oddly enough, the body count hasn't been emphasized as much lately. I have no idea why. /sarc
shezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Absolutely correct. Police Gen. Loan dispensed summary justice to that VC captain who'd been running around two hours before with his company, no uniforms, sniping the families of Gen. Loan's men in the neighborhood where most of them lived.
The little VC rat-bastard had it coming, and Gen. Loan, in the full discharge of his loyalty to his men whose families had just been terrorized, gave it to him with a hammerless Smith.
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