R.I.P. Walter Cronkite

[sweet tweets]

Yep,my graduating class was '75 - we were definitely worried. So there were were, finishing high school, traumatic enough, and then all the guys were trying to figure out what to do about the war/draft/college thing. It was a strange time. And now my DD wears the peace symbol too.....

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

Nam, Nixon, Man on the Moon, Cold War.....Cronkite was a respected voice of reason.

Another ICON gone, but not forgotten.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30988078/ns/entertainment-television/?GT1=43001

 

[TammyTX]

My husband graduated in '75 too. He registered and there was a chance he could have been drafted, but not like it was a few years before that.

We have friends who are a few years older who were drafted. They now have children who were in the military as well.

I have a BIL who is in the Marines and he has done time in Iraq.

It's not something I would want anyone to go through, then or now, but hopefully Americans have learned not to let the news influence they way we treat our soliders.

 

[beak]

Well we might all feel a little differently if our nation was ever occupied by a foreign countries military.There were a few atrocities committed in Nam. There were a lot of civilian casualties. Of course our soldiers had a hard time telling who was friend or foe. Little 6 year olds carrying around satchel charges.

Of course you'll notice that's not happening now. There are still civilian casualties and we are occupying a country or 2. However there is no draft. Our military is all volunteer now. Lot less casualties now due to technology too. The economy is the main news item now too. When some soldiers get killed in Iraq like today. There is a short blurb. During Vietnam they had footage on every night bringing the death in to your living room.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

It was his nightly news cast that turned Americans against the troops in Vietnam

But it was not because of what he said. It was because this was the first time the American public could actually SEE war as it was happening. Before that we saw sanitized clips. But Cronkite brought it--unedited--to the home tv. I know thousands of people watched him nightly in the hope of catching a glimpse of family members who were serving in Nam. Many people got a chance to see with their own eyes that their Johnny or Bill was still alive thanks to the courage of CBS reporters and Walter. They also saw the horrors that were happening there and realized MacNamara was lying through his teeth every time he claimed we were winning. There was no way to hide the real truth from the American public. The CBS reports told the tale they didn't want out.


Rusty​

 

[backdoorchicken]

And that's the way it is​