"Cronkite"

[bpatrick]

If you're interested in broadcast journalism and haven't already
done so, check out Douglas Brinkley (no kin to David, AFAIK)'s
new biography of Walter Cronkite. Despite a few minor errors,
it depicts Cronkite as an anchor nearly always true to his principles
both as a journalist and his personal beliefs.

What hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks was the animosity between
Cronkite and Dan Rather; Brinkley depicts the set coloring change from
orange to blue as Rather's idea (I always thought a consultant recommended
it to match Rather's skin tone), that Rather did not want to use Cronkite's
chair and had a fit when Bob Schieffer used it on the weekend before Rather
took over the "CBS Evening News" and didn't put it back in storage, and tried
to keep Cronkite off the 1984 convention coverage (although Cronkite had
done the same thing to Edward R. Murrow in 1960). Brinkley even says that
Cronkite eventually wished he'd picked Roger Mudd as his replacement.

Brinkley doesn't think there's anyone who can ever fit the Murrow-Cronkite
legend; I think there's one who comes close and that's Peter Jennings. Brinkley
is especially high on Christiane Amanpour as the likeliest successor to the
Murrow-Cronkite tradition of factual, no-frills reporting (and I think Jennings was
in the same league in that regard). I also wish he'd made more of Douglas Edwards'
behavior when CBS replaced him with Cronkite; he had Edwards considering leaving
CBS before deciding to soldier on. He should have mentioned what Cronkite once
said was the classiest thing he ever saw anyone do: on the day the change was
announced, Edwards walked into Cronkite's office, extended his hand, and told him
to let him know if there was ever anything he could do for him.

Brinkley also shows a side of Cronkite that might shock some of his longtime fans:
he enjoyed the occasional visit to what I'll call adults-only clubs, especially in
San Francisco. And there's quite a bit about Cronkite's appearance on "The Mary
Tyler Moore Show" where Ted thinks he's going to become Cronkite's co-anchor
(Cronkite once said, after Eric Sevareid retired, that he'd like to have Ed Asner
doing commentaries) and plenty about his love of sailing.

One small thing really leaped out at me: in 2005 Ted Koppel, addressing a group
of broadcast journalism students, threw out the names of seven news personalities:
Cronkite, Sevareid, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, Howard K. Smith,
and Harry Reasoner; he was surprised when only a handful recognized Cronkite's name
and could not identify the others. Granted, all had left the evening-news scene by
the time these kids were born, but it may say something about the expanded number
of ways people get their news; there may never be another household-word anchor.

At any rate, other than Cronkite's autobiography "A Reporter's Life" this is as complete
a study of television's all-time premier anchor as you're going to get. And while you're
at it, Brinkley recommends the books on Murrow by Alexander Kendrick, Joseph Persico,
and Anne Sperber (I didn't like hers; too many nitpicky details).

 

[Mike Stroud]

bp, those are good insights about the legend of "Uncle Walter." Cronkite's animosity toward Rather, though, wasn't exactly one of the best-kept secrets in broadcasting. I suspect the tension began in the early 70s, when Rather was in his gung-ho phase as White House correspondent during the Watergate crisis. Cronkite and other CBS News higher-ups were, I am sure, more than a little uncomfortable with the notion of a correspondent single-handedly taking on a President as he seemed to be doing in late '73 and early '74. A visit to the Vanderbilt TV News Archives in Nashville would allow an observer to note his mannerisms and comments on the fast-failing Nixon presidency. As is known, CBS tried to recruit Tom Brokaw from NBC (Rather's counterpart in D.C.) to replace Rather, thinking he would be more even-toned, but that fell apart once word got out.

Rather instead took his hard-charging ways to the investigations of 60 Minutes, which at the time of his joining in December '75, was considered a demotion, hard as it is to believe now. As I argued in the thread following Mike Wallace's death, 60 Minutes then was considered just another "prestige" news program intended to satisfy FCC requirements, with nobody imagining even for a second that it would one day become TV's top-rated program. That show more than anything put him in contention for Cronkite's seat (not literally, as you have shown) at the Evening News anchor desk.

What do I think? Rather should have stayed on 60 Minutes, IMO, and CBS should have promoted Mudd, the steady substitute during the Seventies, to the anchor position. People knew Mudd was reliable, and he didn't really have a controversial reputation like Rather did. CBS might well have remained competitive against a surging ABC and a flat NBC (where Mudd wound up, not really getting a proper chemistry with either John Chancellor or Brokaw), although it was a foregone conclusion that CBS would have lost ratings in any case after Cronkite's retirement. The slide just didn't need to be as big as it was. I think Rather was too stentorian and excitable for weeknight work, especially when you consider that people coming home from work wanted at least some calm--that's what made Cronkite and Chet Huntley and David Brinkley such valued voices in their day.

And all of this of course is ancient history compared to what we have today with the cable channels and the 24/7 cycle of young, addled, frenetic "newscasters." I'll take the good old days anytime, at 5:30 (Central time, that is) in front of the console with Dad, hearing Cronkite say in his mellifluous voice, "Good Evening." But they won't return, and that's the reason I avoid TV news these days--I know I'm not alone.

 

[onairb]

No relation betwen David and Douglas Brinkley, according to Wikipedia. I have seen other, supposedly more credible, sources which mistakenly identified Douglas as David's son.

 

[Mario500]

^What are the other sources? I usually check the Internet Movie Database for information about persons who worked with TV programs and theatrical movies and I did not find any connections between Douglas Brinkley and David Brinkley.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Portions of the book were published in an article in a recent issue of American Heritage magazine.

Based on those excerpts, the book seems like "must" reading.

On You Tube, you can see some excerpts of Cronkite anchoring coverage of the Kennedy assassination (especially the early hours) and several of America's early (Mercury/Gemini/Apollo) space flights.

 

[bpatrick]

David Brinkley was from Wilmington, NC; this Douglas
Brinkley was from Kentucky originally and also lived in
Atlanta. He mentions his origins in the acknowledgements
section. He is a professor of history at Rice University
and spent a great deal of time commuting between Houston
and Austin (where the Cronkite papers are housed at the
University of Texas) in the preparation of the book.

 

[Bob1370]

The confusion about Douglas Brinkley's parentage, and mistaken assumptions that he's related to the late David Brinkley, probably stem from the fact that two other noted contemporary scholars and authors, Alan Brinkley of Columbia University and Joel Brinkley of Stanford University, ARE David Brinkley's sons.

 

[trapper12]

I was always under the impression that Cronkite did not have a whole lot of sayso in Rather getting his job. Rather was "supposedly" being courted by ABC and CBS did not want to lose him no matter how big of a pain he could be. Cronkite had reached the CBS mandatory retirement age of 65 and was sorta pushed out although the was kept on as a consultant of sorts, may have even served on the board of directors, not sure on that one.

 

[onairb]

I don't know how many years it took, but didn't CBS eventually give Cronkite 'emiritus' status?
He continued to appear on-camera periodically through the 80s, and much less frequently afterward. I believe his last project for the network was hosting a one-hour tribute to his old friend Charles Schulz, in early 2000.

 

[bpatrick]

I was always under the impression that Cronkite did not have a whole lot of sayso in Rather getting his job. Rather was "supposedly" being courted by ABC and CBS did not want to lose him no matter how big of a pain he could be. Cronkite had reached the CBS mandatory retirement age of 65 and was sorta pushed out although the was kept on as a consultant of sorts, may have even served on the board of directors, not sure on that one.

ABC was courting Rather, although I don't think he would have taken any offer from them; he always considered CBS to be the place to be if you were a broadcast journalist (he even carried his loyalty to CBS to the point that he bought his clothes from Edward R. Murrow's former tailor). But Rather had covered stories abroad as well as in the U.S.; Roger Mudd rarely left Washington. That figured in Cronkite's--or CBS's--decision to give the "CBS Evening News" to Rather, and I'm under the impression from the book that Cronkite did have significant sayso about it, then lived to regret it. And Cronkite did spend some time on the CBS board of directors but I think he was forced to step down at age 70.

 

[Kurt Toy]

Speaking of errors, how many of you have the book "Bad TV" by Craig Nelson from the winter of '94-'95? In page 255 in discussing local newscasts in mentions something about local anchor teams patterned after a "Walter Cronkite-David Brinkley model". When did Cronkite and Brinkley EVER work with each other? Didn't the author ever hear of someone named Chet Huntley?

 

[LKellerIII]

Speaking of errors, how many of you have the book "Bad TV" by Craig Nelson from the winter of '94-'95? In page 255 in discussing local newscasts in mentions something about local anchor teams patterned after a "Walter Cronkite-David Brinkley model". When did Cronkite and Brinkley EVER work with each other? Didn't the author ever hear of someone named Chet Huntley?

WC: "And that's the way it is, September 13, 1968. Goodnight, David."

DB: "Goodnight, Walter."

 

[Gregg]

I still think CBS should have made Charles Kurault or Bob Schieffer as the successor to Cronkite. True, Rather had NBC and ABC bidding for his services. And Rather did have 60 Minutes on his resume, now considered the standard for big viewership, big revenue news programming.

But Kurault was the most like Cronkite. Good writing, folksy, mid-America style. A reassurance that no matter how bad the news may be, we're Americans and in the end things will turn out all right. And during the transition between Rather and Katie Couric, Schieffer proved what a good anchor he is, also reassuring in a calm, mid-America style. The ratings went up when Schieffer was doing the CBS Evening News, then fell shortly after Couric's first week.

I always thought Rather was uncomfortable to watch. He was never comfortable in front of the camera, he said odd things. Not flubs or mistakes but odd quotes that he thought were folksy. CBS really took a dive when he was the anchor. And it fell further when CBS tried to rescue him by giving him Connie Chung as his co-anchor.

I grew up with Cronkite in the anchor chair, always professional, with a glint in his eye. His long stints anchoring coverage during space shots or some tragedy. I don't think anyone will come close to his authority in my opinion.



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[trapper12]

I still think CBS should have made Charles Kurault or Bob Schieffer as the successor to Cronkite. True, Rather had NBC and ABC bidding for his services. And Rather did have 60 Minutes on his resume, now considered the standard for big viewership, big revenue news programming.

But Kurault was the most like Cronkite. Good writing, folksy, mid-America style. A reassurance that no matter how bad the news may be, we're Americans and in the end things will turn out all right. And during the transition between Rather and Katie Couric, Schieffer proved what a good anchor he is, also reassuring in a calm, mid-America style. The ratings went up when Schieffer was doing the CBS Evening News, then fell shortly after Couric's first week.

I always thought Rather was uncomfortable to watch. He was never comfortable in front of the camera, he said odd things. Not flubs or mistakes but odd quotes that he thought were folksy. CBS really took a dive when he was the anchor. And it fell further when CBS tried to rescue him by giving him Connie Chung as his co-anchor.

I grew up with Cronkite in the anchor chair, always professional, with a glint in his eye. His long stints anchoring coverage during space shots or some tragedy. I don't think anyone will come close to his authority in my opinion.



Gregg
[email protected]

I always thought that Dan Rather came across as if he were mad at the world when in front of the camera.

 

[Bob1370]

" I still think CBS should have made Charles Kurault or Bob Schieffer as the successor to Cronkite. "

I've heard that Kuralt was briefly under consideration to be part of the succession plan but let it be known he wanted no part of it--he wanted to be free to do not only the On The Road series but other long form documentary specials, and thought the anchor desk was too confining.

It's anyone's guess what Bob Schieffer was thinking about the issue in 1981 when Cronkite retired. But he had long handled the weekend newscast well as far back as the early 1970s...and clearly after Rather left in 2005, Schieffer handled the job of weeknight anchor extremely well and even built audience for the broadcast before handing it off to Katie Couric and moving back to the Washington correspondent's desk. In retrospect CBS would probably have been stronger with Schieffer as permanent weeknight anchor from 1981 onward than anyone else, while Rather should have been encouraged to pursue his strongest suit--that of investigative reporter and prime-time star on 60 Minutes. If his role on that show had been further enhanced, as principal anchor/host as well as reporter, he'd have been happy to stay at CBS, especially since he had to know in 1981 that he wasn't going to bump either Tom Brokaw from the anchor desk at NBC, or Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings from the anchor team at ABC.

Schieffer would probably have put in at least as many years at the top of the ratings as Cronkite did (Cronkite took over the lead in the Nielsens when they went to a 30 minute newscast in 1963 and held it right to the end in 1981) if not more. I'm sure CBS would have signed up for that in a heartbeat if they'd been able to see their options clearly.

 

[Fenway1912]

Speaking of errors, how many of you have the book "Bad TV" by Craig Nelson from the winter of '94-'95? In page 255 in discussing local newscasts in mentions something about local anchor teams patterned after a "Walter Cronkite-David Brinkley model". When did Cronkite and Brinkley EVER work with each other? Didn't the author ever hear of someone named Chet Huntley?

WC: "And that's the way it is, September 13, 1968. Goodnight, David."

DB: "Goodnight, Walter."

Walter did say Goodnight Chet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNHLejA6onY

 

[Mark Giardina]

I've heard that Kuralt was briefly under consideration to be part of the succession plan but let it be known he wanted no part of it--he wanted to be free to do not only the On The Road series but other long form documentary specials, and thought the anchor desk was too confining.

Besides Charlie was too busy with his two familes ( Especially the one that was hidden away)

With regards to "Uncle Walter"......I stopped watching the CBS Evening News after he retired. Never could stand Ran Dather ;D

 

[ShawnHill1]

I've been reading through this topic, and it's one of the things that I love about this board...you always learn something new and interesting

I was born a year (almost to the day) before Cronkite retired as Evening News anchor, so I have no memories of him at the post, but obviously I grew up with the Rather-Brokaw-Jennings era. My grandmother, who I spent a lot of my TV watching with during my formative years, was mostly a CBS person, from daytime to primetime (but she watched Good Morning America over The Today Show and whatever morning program CBS trotted-out every year), so she was a Rather watcher. On occasion, though, she would watch Brokaw or Jennings, but the majority of the time, her TV dial was set on the local CBS station.

Trapper12 does bring up an interesting point, now that I think about it; Rather seemed to be much more serious, especially compared to his two contemporaries. Brokaw and Jennings were both also serious in their own right, but they also seemed to have more of a comforting factor with them as well.

 

[Fenway1912]

I blogged this when Walter died 3 years ago


I have one Walter Cronkite story and it goes back to 1968 at WMUR in Manchester, NH of all places.

It was the night before and after the 1968 New Hampshire primary and CBS rented out the back studio at 1819 Elm Street ( OK it was the garage ) They brought in the WHDH-TV remote truck and most importantly tied into AT&T long lines. They built a basic set with the CBS News logo and lit it perfectly. It was cramped and the 3 RCA TK-43's took up way too much space.

WMUR was using the main studio for local coverage and somehow I wound up in back since I knew how to use a zoom lens (remember we talking WMUR) Channel 9 was still IBEW 1228 then so it wasn't an issue. It was supposed to be a simple 60 minute recap and off at 11 PM but all hell broke loose. Sen Eugene McCarthy had scored over 40 percent of the vote and it showed President Johnson was in political trouble. It was just incredible watching Walter on the phone with New York and trying to make sense of what happened. You also had staffers coming and going from the parking lot where the makeshift news room was in a trailer as there was no room in the garage itself. Then at about 9:50 PM who walks into the back garage by himself looking to be interviewed was one Richard Nixon who had soundly defeated Nelson Rockefeller on the GOP side. Nixon had been on WMUR and just wandered in with no entourage at all and it was surreal and here I am all of 18 years old standing in the middle of this. Walter just looked at Nixon and shook his head but knew he had to accommodate him and Nixon sat down and shook off the CBS makeup person and on the air we go.

Walter was a magician especially when you consider what conditions he was working under and I am sure viewers at home saw nothing unusual. Compounding things was that we lost the off air monitor which was tuned to WHDH-TV so Walter could not see reporters like George Herman back in DC.

Well finally 11 PM arrives and we are clear but Walter is fuming as the man of the hour was 10 miles away at the Sheraton-Wayfarer.
I should add NBC was at the Sheraton-Wayfarer in Bedford and ABC at the Howard Johnson's and both had McCarthy on. So NY decided back on the air we go at 11:30. McCarthy finally arrived at around 12:20 AM but what saved the show was RFK arriving at the DC studio and Walter interviewed him still without a monitor. Finally we clear for the night and Walter thanks everyone. People are making a mad dash to go and unwind somewhere and there was no breakdown as CBS still had the morning news in a few hours. Walter went into the Uncle Gus booth to make some phone calls as 9 was already off air for the night and I starting talking to the security guard that WHDH provided to babysit the remote truck. Walter comes up to us and asks "Can you call me a cab, they forgot me."

I offer him a ride to the Sheraton and he happily accepted and now I am embarrassed that I have Walter Cronkite in my gold 65 Mustang. So as I head towards the old Amoskeag Bridge to cross the river by where WKBR was he says "is there anyplace to eat in this town this time of night?" I replied that there were two places I knew of - The Red Arrow Diner or The Dog House on South Willow and he said " I would love a hot dog"
20 minutes later I am sharing a booth with The Most Trusted Man in America eating hot dogs and french fries. People are staring but saying - naww it can't be him

He grilled me for about an hour on just about everything. I told him I was worried about being drafted but I had to work for awhile as my Dad had just died and I needed to help my Mom and save up for school. I told him I didn't understand why we were in Vietnam and yet we would do nothing to North Korea which had just a few weeks before captured a Navy boat (USS Pueblo) which enraged William Loeb who owned the Union-Leader. I told him I wanted RFK to be president and the Nixon I saw in the garage scared me and he laughed at that. We left and I took him back to Bedford. As he got out he gave me $100 to "help your Mom" and said please keep in touch. I regret that I did not but I just didn't want to bother him.

I would meet him 2 more times, once on the Vineyard and at a record signing at Strawberries on Memorial Drive in Cambridge and he remembered me.

My biggest fear that night was not blowing a couple of zoom shots CBS trusted me with. The other CBS talent in the garage that night was Bruce Morton and he and Walter bantered on what this meant for President Johnson.

I don't think Walter was showing contempt for what Nixon stood for but it was more it would have been nice to tell us you were dropping by. Nixon I had met a few times before as he spent a lot of time at WMUR because he had to win that primary or he was finished and I believe he wound up with over 70 percent of the vote.

What I took away the most from that night was Walter's genuine concern of what my generation was feeling and he talked to me like a concerned uncle no pun intended. I think he was simply being a reporter trying to find out what we saw was wrong that his generation did not. There were a million questions I could have asked him but he was doing the asking. He did joke a couple of times about how WMUR-TV was a little behind the times but was impressed at what we could do considering we had nothing to work with.

We were never interrupted once by the customers of The Dog House. Late nights were usually truckers, Air Force guys from the secret tracking station in New Boston and other night owls. Most likely everyone was thinking why on earth would Walter Cronkite be here.

Looking back at history that night in New Hampshire was simply the start of an insane couple of years in our history as things would really explode in the coming months.

 

[FRR]

Cronkite was an American journalist. Rather was a political hack