R.I.P. Walter Cronkite

[backdoorchicken]

he was 92

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/walter-cronkite-iconic-anchorman-dies/

 

[TammyTX]

The second earliest TV memory I have is of him doing the news. I hadn't heard.

His daughter used to live in Austin, not sure if he did.

ETA: TV memory...

 

[sweet tweets]

Sigh - I read the announcement and then went to youtube to watch and listen to that voice and face from the news. I trusted that man like no other. Had he run for any office - he would have had my vote.
Peace and grace to his family and friends. A wonderful man has passed on.

 

[backdoorchicken]

a friend of mine met him on street in NY when he sat in on tamborine with Mikey Hart(the grateful dead) / Steve Kimock during Green Apple Fest. He said he was a nice guy.

 

[TammyTX]

Quote:
....wasn't his politics like way, WAY to the left? I thought I had heard that, I haven't Googled it.

I just Googled it because I didn't want to pass on bad info. I didn't. He was.

It was his nightly news cast that turned Americans against the troops in Vietnam. He also advocated single world government and the end of US veto power in the UN.

 

[beak]

Quote:
....wasn't his politics like way, WAY to the left? I thought I had heard that, I haven't Googled it.

I just Googled it because I didn't want to pass on bad info. I didn't. He was.

It was his nightly news cast that turned Americans against the troops in Vietnam. He also advocated single world government and the end of US veto power in the UN.

Yeah he was a great guy. Him and Dan Rather. I think there was a lot more than Walter that turned Americans against the Vietnam war. I think it had a lot to do with the casualties and the uselessness of it. Then there was the draft and the fact that affluent people could keep their kids safe by sending them to college. It wasn't the soldiers fault though. Most of them were drafted. That was a real raw deal for those guys. They went through hell over there and had no support when they came home.

 

[EweSheep]

I agree, Cronkite and Dan Rather, two great newspeople!

I will miss them both!

 

[TammyTX]

.....do we need a "tongue in cheek" smiley...or is it just me?

 

[sweet tweets]

It may be just you. If you will do more reading you will find that Walter Cronkite supported the Vietnam war until he actually was there as a correspondent. When he made a statement regarding the futile war, President Johnson turned to an aide and said something like - If we have lost Walter Cronkite, we have lost the American people.

My husband had to choose to enlist in the Navy because otherwise he would have been drafted into the Army and he did not want to be "cannon fodder". He still came back a very "wounded" man with many, many issues. He would have been here protesting too, but he enlisted and was treated terribly. His folks could not put him in the Coast Guard or other services like a certain GWB was able to do, he had to TAKE what was shoveled out.

SRRY, stepping down. Walter Cronkite told it like it was to the best of his ability.

 

[beak]

I graduated in 76. My friends an I were a little worried about getting drafted. I had a couple friends that had brothers KIA over there.