Editing Walter Cronkite (section)

=== Vietnam War ===

In mid-February 1968, on the urging of his executive producer [[Ernest Leiser]], Cronkite and Leiser journeyed to Vietnam to cover the aftermath of the [[Tet Offensive]]. They were invited to dine with General [[Creighton Abrams]], the deputy commander of all forces in Vietnam, whom Cronkite knew from World War II. According to Leiser, Abrams told Cronkite, "we cannot win this Goddamned war, and we ought to find a dignified way out."<ref name="Cronkite Tet">{{Cite news |title=And That's The Way It Was...|work=Huffington Post |date=July 21, 2009 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/murray-fromson/and-thats-the-way-it-was_b_242398.html |access-date=December 4, 2009 |first=Murray |last=Fromson}}</ref>

Upon return, Cronkite and Leiser wrote separate editorial reports based on that trip. Cronkite, an excellent writer, preferred Leiser's text over his own.<ref name="Cronkite Tet"/> On February 27, 1968, Cronkite closed "Report from Vietnam: Who, What, When, Where, Why?" with that editorial report:

{{blockquote|We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that – negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Who, What, When, Where, Why: Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite|date=February 27, 1968|publisher=[[CBS Evening News]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4w-ud-TyE| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227183438/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4w-ud-TyE&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2012-02-27 | url-status=dead|access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref>}}

[[File:Walter Cronkite In Vietnam2.jpg|thumb|upright|Cronkite reporting on location during the Vietnam War in 1968]]

Following Cronkite's editorial report, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] is claimed by some to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."<ref name="Moore">{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Frazier |title=Legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite dies at 92 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=GMA News |date=July 18, 2009 |url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/167649/news/world/legendary-cbs-anchor-walter-cronkite-dies-at-92 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=April 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425034355/https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/167649/news/world/legendary-cbs-anchor-walter-cronkite-dies-at-92/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Broadcast News|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/01/26/reviews/970126.26wickert.html|newspaper=The New York Times|author=Wicker, Tom|date=January 26, 1997|access-date=May 1, 2009}}</ref> However, this account of Johnson has been questioned by other observers in books on journalistic accuracy.<ref name=iopa>{{cite book|last=Braestrup |first=Peter |title=Big Story |publisher=Presidio Press |year=1994 |isbn= 978-0891415312}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=W. Joseph |title=Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism |url=https://archive.org/details/gettingitwrongte0000camp |url-access=registration |publisher=University of California Press |year=2010 |isbn= 978-0-520-25566-1 }}</ref><ref name=uoooav>{{cite news|first=W. Joseph|last=Campbell|title=Chris Matthews invokes the 'if I've lost Cronkite' myth in NYT review|date= July 9, 2012|url= http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/chris-matthews-invokes-if-ive-lost-cronkite-media-myth-in-nyt-review/| access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref> At the time the editorial aired, Johnson was in Austin, Texas, attending Texas Governor John Connally's birthday gala and was giving a speech in his honor.<ref name=uoooav/>

In his book ''This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV'', CBS News correspondent [[Bob Schieffer]], who was serving as a reporter for the ''[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]'' when Cronkite's editorial aired, acknowledged that Johnson did not see the original broadcast but also defended the allegation that Johnson had made the remark.<ref name=schieffcron /> According to Schieffer, Johnson's aide [[George Christian (journalist)|George Christian]] "told me that the President apparently saw some clips of it the next day" and that "That's when he made the remark about Cronkite. But he knew then that it would take more than Americans were willing to give it."<ref name=schieffcron>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KH5iToNJhzcC&q=johnson+eventually+saw+cronkite+broadcast&pg=PT84|title=This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV|first=Bob |last=Schieffer |date=January 6, 2004|publisher=Putnam Pub Group|isbn=978-0-399-14971-9|access-date=June 8, 2013}}</ref> When asked about the remark during a 1979 interview, Christian claimed he had no recollection about what the President had said.<ref name=uoooav /> In his 1996 memoir ''[[A Reporter's Life]]'', Cronkite claimed he was at first unsure about how much of an impact his editorial report had on Johnson's decision to drop his bid for re-election, and what eventually convinced him the President had made the statement was a recount from [[Bill Moyers]], a journalist and former aide to Johnson.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Reporter's Life |first=Walter |last=Cronkite |page=256 |publisher=Ballantine Books | edition=1st |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-394-57879-8}}</ref>

Several weeks later, Johnson, who sought to preserve his legacy and was now convinced his declining health could not withstand growing public criticism,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unmaking-of-the-president-31577203/?no-ist |title=The Unmaking of the President |first=Clay |last=Risen|work=smithsonianmag.com|date=April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/16/opinion/behind-lbj-s-decision-not-to-run-in-68.html |title=Behind L.B.J.'s Decision Not to Run in '68 |date=April 16, 1988 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> announced [[1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries#Johnson withdraws: March 31|he would not seek reelection]].

During the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]] in Chicago, Cronkite was anchoring the CBS network coverage as violence and protests occurred outside the convention, as well as scuffles inside the convention hall. When [[Dan Rather]] was punched to the floor (on camera) by security personnel, Cronkite commented, "I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan."