Conversations with Cronkite

by Walter Cronkite, Don Carleton

Intimate. Revealing. Candid. Published by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Conversations with Cronkite gives readers a rare glimpse into the life and times of Walter Cronkite in his own words. The book contains selections from interviews between the legendary journalist and an experienced oral historian—Cronkite's friend, Dr. Don Carleton. With the publication of Conversations with Cronkite , readers have the opportunity to discover the behind-the-scenes stories of his life, edited by Carleton to focus on key events, issues, and themes. More than just oral history transcripts, these are the intimate conversations of two friends, covering virtually every aspect of Cronkite's life and career. Illustrated with photographs and archival treasures from the Cronkite Papers, Conversations with Cronkite gives readers the opportunity to once again hear the voice of "the most trusted man in America." Walter Cronkite on: His famous sign off "And that's the way it is" I didn't clear it with [CBS] in any way. I started using it, and [Richard Salant] said, "This presupposes that everything we said is right, that that's the whole picture of the day's news. I don't really think you ought to be doing that." I think he was correct. But the thing had already caught on. It really was just rolling. So I got to kind of a point of being stubborn about it and said, "Well, I like it." [Salant] said, "Well, it's up to you." He let it go. It has been much criticized by serious television critics . . . because of that argument that . . . it was presumptive that everything we said is correct. Which was wrong. I shouldn't have said that. . . . And particularly when we got into controversial subjects like the Vietnam War. In fact, there's a New Yorker cartoon with a guy coming half out of his chair and shouting at his television, saying, "That's NOT the way it is." Being a United Press reporter during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II God, it was cold. We looked like Washington's army at Valley Forge. At one point, the troops I was with entered a town, and we got into a fire fight right away. It was very intense. My driver and I hopped out of our jeep and got in behind a doorway. The Germans were at one end of the main street and . . . it was a pretty good fire fight. I looked up and saw a GI . . . leaning out taking a shot or two. . . . I knew this was a story. I yelled out, "What's your name, soldier?" "Colonel Jones." I said, "Where are you from, what outfit are you with?" He said, "Mr. Cronkite, I'm your driver." On Fidel Castro He was fascinated about . . . my war experience. Fascinated about the landings in Normandy. A real war buff. At one point I said, "I've been in a lot of Communist countries, including living two years in Moscow. I have yet to see a Communist country that understood the necessity of maintenance of . . . buildings or anything else." [Castro] threw up his hands and said, "Oh, boy, I know that. It's absolutely terrible." I said, "Well, why is it?" [Castro] said, "First of all, it's inherent in the idea of Communism. People don't own things, so they don't take care of them. That's the answer you capitalists give, but it's true."

Genres: Biography

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an iconic American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for The CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1970s and 1980s he was often cited in viewer opinion polls as "the most trusted man in America," because of his professional experience and avuncular demeanor. Cronkite died on July 17, 2009, at the age of 92 from cerebrovascular disease, described by his son as complications from dementia.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting interviews with Walter Cronkite. Dan Carleton did his homework before these interviews and wasn’t afraid to ask hard questions. But I learned that I don’t love reading entire books in a Q&A format. Probably should have read this as a companion to Cronkite’s autobiography as recommended rather than as a stand-alone book.

[Paul Delacruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting lifelong perspective of historical events through the eyes of Walter Cronkite.

[Reader57 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walter was charged with writing his autobiography so me years ago. He couldn't seem to just pull memories out his head. So he enlisted a guy to research his life and ask interview him. The recorded interviews helped him write his autobiography. These are the transcripts of those interviews. If you a Cronkite fan, you'll really like this book as you get his real opinion on those news stories he reported objectively, along with personal tidbits. There just aren't any news people I trust today like I did Walter.