Cronkite (101 page)

450 “get that piece out of there”:
Mudd,
The Place to Be
, p. 263.

450 “it would have been a part of the ammunition hurled”:
Leonard,
In the Storm of the Eye
, p. 164.

450 “The Selling of the Pentagon” was the price he paid:
Garth S. Jowett, “The Selling of the Pentagon: Television Confronts the First Amendment,” in John O. Connor, ed.,
American History/American Television: Interpreting the
Video Past
(New York: Ungar, 1983).

451 “one of the anchormen most careful”:
Jack Gould, “TV as a Free Medium,”
New York Times
, March 25, 1971.

451 “There are a couple of hundred correspondents in Vietnam”:
Walter Cronkite before the Economic Club of Detroit, March 2, 1970.

452 “the definitive observation on Dick Nixon”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 221.

452 They sometimes arranged for all three:
Author interview with Chip Cronkite, April 4, 2011.

453 “Dad explained to me all about how television works”:
Kathy Cronkite,
On the Edge of the Spotlight
, p. 58.

453 They were like a gigantic
National Geographic
field trip:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 325.

453 “Dad loved to snorkel and swim”:
Author interview with Chip Cronkite, April 4, 2011.

454 “Walter had broken a ‘no, no, no’ rule”:
Author interview with William Small, May 17, 2011.

454 “Walter Cronkite was one of the first people to come forward”:
Dawn Withers, “For the Love of News
,
” NewsWatch.com, February 13, 2002.

454 “In doing my work, I (and those who assist me) depend”:
Steven V. Roberts, “News Techniques Stressed in Trial,”
New York Times
, April 5, 1970.

455 “that President Nixon can escape responsibility for this campaign”:
Roy Reed, “Agnew Finds Nixon Foes Unremitting,”
New York Times
, May 19, 1971.

456 “because of those years of indoctrination”:
Pat Buchanan,
Right from the Beginning
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1990), p. 40.

Twenty-Seven
: Reportable Truth in the Age of Nixon

458 “Seventy-five percent of those group hate my guts”:
Herbert S. Parmet,
Richard Nixon and His America
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1990), p. 585.

458 Just how appreciative other journalists were that Cronkite stood up:
“A Times Reporter Wins a Polk Award,”
New York Times
, February 17, 1971.

458 The Polk Award coincided with Paley’s announcement:
“Cronkite to Do Saturday TV Show for Children,”
New York Times
, March 22, 1971.

458 “I decided I would stop concealing that myself”:
Daniel Ellsberg,
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
(New York: Penguin, 2002), p. 291.

459 “I don’t want to hear it. Victory is not near”:
Halberstam,
The Best and the Brightest
, p. 637.

459 “A line kept repeating itself in my head”:
Ellsberg,
Secrets
, p. 272.

459 Colson started spreading rumors that Ellsberg was a sexual pervert:
Seymour M. Hersh,
The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), p. 385. See also Parmet,
Richard Nixon and His America
, p. 591.

459 “Colson is a liar”:
Author interview with Daniel Ellsberg, January 23, 2012.

460
CBS Evening News
covered the story heavily:
“Injunction on Times Studied,” AP, June 17, 1971.

460 Another reason NBC said no was that its news division was in flux:
Jack Gould, “N.B.C. News Ending Anchor-Teams Era,”
New York Times
, July 19, 1971.

460 “We wanted to interview Daniel Ellsberg”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 248.

460 Frank Stanton was facing serious legal consequences:
James Reston, “The Unfairness Doctrine,”
New York Times
, April 14, 1971.

461 Stanton, in a heroic First Amendment stand, refused:
Author interview with William Small, May 18, 2011.

461 Manning arranged an exclusive interview:
David Rudenstine,
The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), p. 252.

461 Cronkite remembered the advance work differently:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 334.

462 “I was proud of Cronkite for his Vietnam stalemate report”:
Author interview with Daniel Ellsberg, January 23, 2012.

462 “homosexual pickup”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 248.

462 “There were many amateurish aspects to the plot”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 335.

463 “present at some length to a prime-time national television audience”:
Ellsberg,
Secrets
, p. 400.

463 “We are seeing 1964 all over again”:
Walter Cronkite interview with Daniel Ellsberg (transcript), CBS Reference Library, New York.

463 A better question was how could Cronkite find Ellsberg:
Reeves,
President Nixon
, p. 336.

464 “It is the anti-Nixon CBS-Establishmentarian”:
National Review
, July 23, 1969.

464 “Never have I seen men so dedicated”:
L. F. Williams, letter,
Kingsport
(TN)
Times
, April 16, 1971.

464
The News Twisters
begins by excoriating:
Edith Efron,
The News Twisters
(Los Angeles: Nash Publishers, 1971), pp. 1–2, 173.

464 the book concluded that 31 percent of the material:
Efron,
The News Twisters
, p. 102.

465 Cronkite was given a clean bill of health:
Les Brown, “Study at American University Disputes President on ‘Distorted’ Newscasts,”
New York Times
, March 26, 1974.

465 “I have watched Nixon spend a morning designing Walter Cronkite’s lead”:
John Ehrlichman,
Witness to Power: The Nixon Years
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982), p. 266.

465 “by fiat, by assumption, and by intimidation and harassment”:
Walter Rugaber, “Cronkite and Professor Differ on Press Freedom,”
New York Times
, October 1, 1971.

465 On December 10, 1971, Dick Salant, just in time for Christmas, promoted:
Richard S. Salant to CBS News Division, December 10, 1971, CBS News Archives, New York.

466
Nixon
: “Cronkite is one of the worst offenders”:
OVAL 854-17, February 13, 1972, White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, CA.

467 the added notation “absolutely not”:
Author interview with Stanley Karnow, September 11, 2011.

467 The Nixon trip became the inverse of the Enemies List:
“87 Newsmen Selected for Nixon’s China Trip,”
Washington Post
, February 8, 1972.

468 “Suddenly, into the picture swaggered Walter Cronkite”:
Henry Kissinger,
White House Years
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979), p. 1082.

468 Cronkite had his physician inject him with gamma globulin:
“Cronkite’s Pre-China Plans,”
Waters/Watson, Barbi/Media
, February 10, 1972,
Newsweek
clipping file, WCP-UTA.

468 “It was very much like landing on the moon”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 251.

469 “Cronkite spent a lot of free time with Sevareid”:
Author interview with Izzy Bleckman, February 14, 2011.

470 “I’m a very quiet fellow in New York”:
Herb Caen, “Cronkite on the Town,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, February 17, 1972 (Newsmaker-Roeder wire report), WCP-UTA.

470 “On a sexism scale of one-to-ten”:
Ellen Goodman, “Cronkite ‘Simply Cannot Interview Women,’ ”
Boston Globe
, August 30, 1976.

471 George Herman of CBS News’
Face the Nation
deserves credit:
Louis Liebovich,
Richard Nixon, Watergate, and the Press: A Historical Retrospective
(Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003), p. 51.

471 CBS News won an Emmy:
Albin Krebs, “C.B.S. Wins Major 1972 Emmys for News,”
New York Times
, May 23, 1973.

471 “We were pinching virtually everything”:
Author interview with Stanhope Gould, November 9, 2011.

472 “The program might well be called ‘Cronkite and His Friends’ ”:
William V. Shannon, “The Media Mob: ‘Now Back to Walter . . .’ ”
New York Times
, August 16, 1972.

472 “We had conversations about this”:
Author interview with Warren Beatty, March 14, 2011.

472 “I didn’t really give it serious thought”:
Author interview with George McGovern, June 27, 2011.

472 “If we had picked Cronkite, I could have avoided”:
Ibid.

473 “You keep showing the wind-downs”:
Author interview with Daniel Ellsberg, January 23, 2012.

474 the Nixon administration’s deal to allow the sale of wheat:
John J. O’Connor, “TV: C.B.S. Details the U.S. Soviet Wheat Deal,”
New York Times
, October 12, 1972.

474 “Walter decided the Russian wheat deal”:
Author interview with Stanhope Gould, November 9, 2011.

474 “the most encouraging development in electronic journalism”:
O’Connor, “TV: C.B.S. Details the U.S.-Soviet Wheat Deal.”

475 “Everybody from Walter down wanted to make this look
different
”:
Ron Bonn to Douglas Brinkley, January 1, 2012.

475 “I’m going to save your ass in this Watergate thing”:
Benjamin Bradlee,
A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 341.

475 Cronkite was aware that the
Post
was under increasing pressure:
Stanley Kutler,
The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon
(New York: Knopf, 1990), p. 380.

475 the FCC tried denying licenses to
Post
-owned stations:
Bradlee,
A Good Life
, p. 344.

475 Dick Salant was taking a huge risk:
Buzenberg and Buzenberg,
Salant, CBS and the Battle for the Soul of Broadcast Journalism
, pp. 100–101.

476 “Most of what is known as the Watergate affair has emerged”:
Ibid., p.101.

476 “There was great excitement in the bureau”:
Lesley Stahl,
Reporting Live
(New York: Touchstone, 1999), pp. 18–19.

477 “The broadcast troubled me”:
Paley,
As It Happened
, p. 340.

477 “We’ll bring you to your knees”:
Tebbel and Watts,
The Press and the Presidency
, p. 512.

477 “I had called Paley on Nixon’s behalf”:
Author interview with Charles Colson, September 6, 2011.

478 “Walter Cronkite,” Salant recalled, “did not participate”:
Buzenberg and Buzenberg,
Salant, CBS, and the Battle for the Soul of Broadcast Journalism
, p. 107.

478 “If I thought [Salant] was responding to White House pressure”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 312.

478 “The Nixon administration calls these allegations false”:
Buzenberg and Buzenberg,
Salant, CBS, and the Battle for the Soul of Broadcast Journalism
, p. 103.

478 “When Cronkite aired the Watergate bits, the sun came out for me”:
Author interview with Ben Bradlee, January 18, 2012.

479 “Somehow the Great White Father, Walter Cronkite”:
Bradlee,
A Good Life
, p. 342.

479 “I think if Bradlee ever left the Georgetown cocktail circuit”:
Ibid., pp. 342–43.

479
Colson
:
“I talked to Paley yesterday”:
WHITE HOUSE 34-92, December 15, 1972, White House Tapes.

480 Nixon pejoratively deemed “intellectual people” who were against:
OVAL 837-4, January 10, 1973, White House Tapes.

480 “Nixon wasn’t wrong about the liberal media”:
Author interview with Charles Colson, September 6, 2011.

480 everybody knew it was Cronkite who decided what flickered blue:
Eric Pace, “Burton Benjamin, 70, Dies; Former Head of CBS News,”
New York Times
, September 19, 1998.

480 When he took time off around Thanksgiving 1972:
“Cronkite Is Recovering After Surgery on Throat,”
New York Times
, November 21, 1972.

480 Only NASA launches, Cronkite said, would warrant him leaving:
“Periscope,”
Newsweek
, March 9, 1973.

481 “But he tried to be fair to me”:
Author interview with Henry Kissinger, January 31, 2012.

481 “I’ll be glad to wear the crown”:
James Endrst, “Could Cronkite End Up at Large? It Depends on CBS,”
Hartford Courant
, June 12, 1988.

481 “it wasn’t mere anchoring. It was addressing the nation”:
Author interview with Brian Williams, September 2, 2011.

481 “I was always offended by the fact that he put out an Enemies List”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 249.

Twenty-Eight
: Fan Clubs, Stalkers, and Political Good-byes

482 “We had Cronkite on the set”:
Author interview with Bernard Shaw, June 10, 2011.

483 “I was convinced he wouldn’t show up”:
Ibid.

484 was “pivotal . . . seminal . . . inspirational . . . educational”:
Bernard Shaw acceptance speech for the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and Telecommunications, November 16, 1994, Shaw Papers, Takoma Park, MD.

484 “My goal was to be at CBS working with Cronkite”:
Author interview with Bernard Shaw, June 10, 2011.