Remembering Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite reported from Vietnam in the aftermath of the Tet offensive in 1968.
In a rare departure from his unflappable objectivity, Cronkite began a special half-hour program on the Tet Offensive with the words, ‘‘I think that it is time for us to face the facts in Vietnam — that we are in a no-win situation and it’s time for us to get out.’’
After the broadcast, President Johnson told his press secretary, as author David Halberstam recounts, ‘‘that if he had lost Walter Cronkite he had lost Mr. Average Citizen.’’
It is widely believed that Mr. Cronkite’s broadcast helped influence Johnson’s decision not to seek reelection.
In a rare departure from his unflappable objectivity, Cronkite began a special half-hour program on the Tet Offensive with the words, ‘‘I think that it is time for us to face the facts in Vietnam — that we are in a no-win situation and it’s time for us to get out.’’
After the broadcast, President Johnson told his press secretary, as author David Halberstam recounts, ‘‘that if he had lost Walter Cronkite he had lost Mr. Average Citizen.’’
It is widely believed that Mr. Cronkite’s broadcast helped influence Johnson’s decision not to seek reelection.
