The way I see it W.C. defeated America on TV. He was the Viet Cong’s top media general on TV, and led offensives against our troops every night. The Tet offensive was actually a victory, but you would have never known it listening to Walter. He covered it as a huge loss, which fueled the anti war movement and its allies in Congress and Hollywood. People like Hanoi Jane. His coverage of Tet is what led to the shift of American public opinion against the war.
Later instead of just reporting the news in his constant lying manner he began delivering a bitter commentary against America’s war efforts. The left credits him with helping end the war. I believe he just helped lose it. In a way he has some of the blood on his hands from the thousands that died on the battle field.
Vietnam was the first American war shown on the nightly news, and Cronkite was the just lose it crowd’s commander in chief.
Just look at who idolized him. It was the liberal mainstream media. In many ways he is their Michael Jackson, minus the talent. Look at all the liars that have modeled themselves after him. They have spent decades on the TV news tearing and dumbing down America from within. Cronkite was no different than the communists you watch on news channels like MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS.
I'm just curious - my airlift wing brought back 9,299 (serious wounded) casualties in one month - Feb '68 after Tet, and 10,523 full caskets in that same year through Travis AFB.
How do you think that those types of statistics should be reported by the press? Or maybe you believe they shouldn't be? Did you like the BS McNamara body count propaganda better? Compare VN casualty stats with Iraq and Afghanistan - do you think that they were so inconsequential in 1968 that people weren't getting wore out on this - with or without Cronkite?
NO doubt - during Tet, we kicked butt. But if you don't acknowledge our cost in blood and lives, and you don't realize that South Viet Nam wasn't any closer to standing on it's own at that time, I wonder how you do measure the cost of war and how you define victory? You also must realize that although we ultimately prevailed in the Tet Offensive, it was a shock that NV could mount such a widespread campaign.
Charlie wasn't done yet, after getting whupped all over Viet Nam in during Tet, and those NV sob's had more staying power and focus than the South Vietnamese.
Yes, Viet Nam was the first TV war and people saw color movies of their sons, brothers, sisters, and fathers killed and wounded every night in their living room. It was a new and stark way to see war. Reality isn't nice.
As he proudly displayed later, Cronkite was a liberal, anti-gun, I'll even say he was a lefty. Everything I despise. But during many of his years as a reporter, I believe his ethics as a journalist prevailed in his work, and when he editorialized about Viet Nam I heard him identify his words as such - so I accepted it as his opinion, not facts.
I don't accept that WE lost in Viet Nam. Our people won in every way that could be expected of us. The objective was not attained however. To blame Cronkite for that and ignore the whole rest of the situation is absurd.
