JFK Assassination (CBS Coverage) - Part 8/10 (1963)

RIP Walter Cronkite 1916-2009

From Wikipedia:

Cronkite then continued to report for the next several minutes while still waiting official word of the President's apparent death. While continuing to affirm that there was no official confirmation he reminded viewers that the priests, Rather, and several government sources were relaying word that in fact Kennedy was dead. At approximately 2:38 p.m. EST, Cronkite was remarking on the increased security presence in Dallas for the President's visit for fear of protests, bringing up the assault on Adlai Stevenson again. While Cronkite was speaking one of two news editors who had been standing by the newsroom's two wire machines pulled a bulletin from the Associated Press machine and began walking toward Cronkite's desk with it.

"Throughout the streets of Dallas, the Dallas Police have been augmented by some 400 policemen called in on their day off because there were some fears and concerns in Dallas that, uh...that there might be demonstrations, at least, that could embarrass the President. Because it was only on October 24 that our ambassador of the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, was assaulted in Dallas leaving a dinner meeting there..."

Just as he had said that, the editor handed Cronkite the bulletin. Cronkite stopped speaking, put on his eyeglasses, looked over the bulletin sheet for a moment, took off his glasses, and made the official announcement:

From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official: (reading AP flash) "President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time." (glancing up at clock) 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.

After making that announcement, Cronkite paused briefly, put his glasses back on and swallowed hard to maintain his composure. There was noticeable emotion in his voice as he intoned the next sentence of the news report:

"Vice President Johnson *cough* has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States."

With emotion still in his voice, Cronkite then proceeded as he had before in recapping the events after collecting himself, this time incorporating wire photos of Kennedy's visit to Dallas that had been taken during the day and telling viewers what the pictures signified. After that Cronkite reminded the viewers one final time that it had now been confirmed that the President was dead, that Vice President Johnson was now the President and was to be sworn in (although he would not be for another hour), that Governor Connally's condition was still unknown but many reports said that he was still alive, and that there was no report if the assassin had been captured (despite the reports of arrests earlier at the Texas School Book Depository). He then tossed coverage of the events to colleague Charles Collingwood and left the newsroom, but would return several hours later to anchor The CBS Evening News as scheduled.

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[fromthesidelines]

Probably because Cronkite WAS somewhat "under stress" about the entire chain of events happening around him [as 'altfactor' has pointed out], 'david'- keep in mind that he had never covered this kind of "instant news story" on TV before....especially when it concerned the President of the United States' life hanging in the balance, not knowing what the outcome was going to be, as millions of viewers were also worried. So, he fiddled with his glasses, taking them off and putting them on...

[MiscVideos78rpm]

@fromthesidelines - Thanks for the info!

[rpasenow]

Thanks for posting these...I've seen bits and pieces before but never the entire, unedited coverage of the first few hours of this coverage. Have you figured out a timeline for the various broadcast announcements compared to the reality? It seems to me that the local affiliate "scooped" everyone by at least half an hour in reporting the President's death. (Continued)

[MiscVideos78rpm]

@rpasenow You're welcome!

[dbaugh1805]

I was 16 years old at that time & was visiting a radio station in Carrollton, GA. All at once the teletype machine bells started ringing. Ding, ding, ding for a long time. We went to see what was going on & the first messages that came across were unreadable. You could tell who ever was typing the messages were in a panic. Lots of bad spelling and finally the message came that President Kennedy had been shot as his car passed under an over pass. I still have some of those teletypes from then.

[MiscVideos78rpm]

@dbaugh1805 Those must be collector's items!

[notredamehesamighty]

What a wonderful journalist. Note how he does not show emotion even after reports from Dallas, including one from fellow CBS correspondent Dan Rather, told of the president's death. Only after it had been unequivocally confirmed via AP/UPI did he report it as fact - THEN AND ONLY THEN does he allow his emotions to take over, if only for a brief moment. To journalist - REAL JOURNALISTS - things don't happen unless they are confirmed. Compare this man's work with Fox News. Sad, no?

[moonspots01]

A class act you were Mr. Cronkite!

[mooneepondskid]

@blueguitarblue And then the shots were from the 2nd floor..only later to changed to the 5th/6th.

[billybagbom]

@blueguitarblue Yeah, but there were conflicting reports, as in any unexpected emergency. Perhaps other witnesses really did think they saw or heard other stuff...?

[billybagbom]

@dbaugh1805 Thank you for your service.

[billybagbom]

@observer9670 Yeah. I mean, even the papacy isn't that anal.

[billybagbom]

All that being said, Cronkite was indeed a great anchorman, the right man for the job on that day at CBS. His Democratic leanings did him no disservice that day, for we were all Americans, and his sympathies and compassion for the Kennedy family and our nation were what was needed at that time.  Cronkite and other MSM of that time were obviously known to be left-ward leaning ("For the times, they were a-changin'"), but unlike the media whores at MSNBC and FOX today, they really put America first

[observer9670]

Johnson became President the second that Kennedy died. Taking the oath is pro forma, and needs only to be done at the first opportune time. There is never a gap in the Presidency, not even for a second.

[physicalgrafiti12345]

@fromthesidelines I think it was good that he did that, sort of shows the importance of this particular broadcast.

[dbaugh1805]

I can tell you why he kept taking his glasses off and on. I do the samething. I need them to read but I have never been able to get use to them and I put them on & take them off just like he does. I admired & respected Walter as did most Americans. When he went to Vietnam & put on a flack jacket & helmet to do a report & then when the cameras were turned off he took off the helmet & flack jacket. I no longer felt the same. Tet 1968 was no suprise as reported. We knew something was going down.

[huskyjerk]

@dbaugh1805 Awesome story.  Can you email me a pic of those teletypes?