WALTER CRONKITE In 1968, after popular CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite visited Vietnam, CBS produced the documentary Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite. At the end of the program, Cronkite offered this terse observation: “It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” Most political observers said that Cronkite’s opposition to the war influenced President Johnson’s decision not to seek reelection.
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