University of Texas Tower
A Good Company Man
RECEIVED Mon., Aug. 10, 2009
Dear Editor,
At the risk of blasphemy here, Walter Cronkite was, at best, a charismatic and convincing corporate news reader [“Christmas Carols With Walter Cronkite,” News, Aug. 7]. Uncle Walter's "that's the way it is" at the end of every CBS broadcast was beholden to the guidelines of William Paley's reactionary network with deep CIA ties. His hallowed on-air Vietnam editorial in 1968 was a too-little, too-late milquetoast objection ending in praise of "honorable people" who "defended democracy." He didn't specify if he was crediting the lying Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Gen. William Westmoreland or giving deserved praise to the brave grunts dying on the ground. Cronkite also rubber-stamped the Warren Commission's single bullet/lone nutter conclusions on the JFK assassination in a 1967 CBS documentary. A good company man and skillful anchor, but certainly not a real muckraker who asked the uncomfortable questions – the mark of a true journalist.
At the risk of blasphemy here, Walter Cronkite was, at best, a charismatic and convincing corporate news reader [“Christmas Carols With Walter Cronkite,” News, Aug. 7]. Uncle Walter's "that's the way it is" at the end of every CBS broadcast was beholden to the guidelines of William Paley's reactionary network with deep CIA ties. His hallowed on-air Vietnam editorial in 1968 was a too-little, too-late milquetoast objection ending in praise of "honorable people" who "defended democracy." He didn't specify if he was crediting the lying Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Gen. William Westmoreland or giving deserved praise to the brave grunts dying on the ground. Cronkite also rubber-stamped the Warren Commission's single bullet/lone nutter conclusions on the JFK assassination in a 1967 CBS documentary. A good company man and skillful anchor, but certainly not a real muckraker who asked the uncomfortable questions – the mark of a true journalist.
Mike Rieman
