Mom and dad sent me a wonderful present for my birthday that just arrived in the mail a couple of days ago. It’s a book called We Interrupt This Broadcast, a collection of news events that shocked the world. In addition to essays for each event looking at the events of the time that influenced what happened and the details of each event, from the Hindenburg explosion to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001, the book comes with two audio CDs with the actual radio and television broadcasts that went out over the airwaves. Wonderful, fascinating stuff.
Reading through the introduction by Walter Cronkite, I was struck by his description of his on-air announcement of the death of President John F. Kennedy…
As is the nature of many events which warrant interrupting broadcasts, I also was there to report on the terrible tragedies.
Our flash reporting the shots fired at President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade was heard over the “CBS News Bulletin” slide and interrupted the soap opera As the World Turns. For the first hour, I reported sketchy details to a nation in shock. Then came the report from Eddie Barker, news chief of our Dallas affiliate, and Bob Pierpoint, our White House correspondent. They had learned the President was dead. We were still debating in New York whether we should put such a portentous but unofficial bulletin on the air when, within minutes, the hospital issued a bulletin confirming the news. It fell to me to make the announcement. My emotions were doing fine until it was necessary to pronounce the words: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash — apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. central standard time — a half hour ago…” The words stuck in my throat. A sob wanted to replace them. A gulp or two quashed the sob, which metamorphosed into tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I fought back the emotion and regained my professionalism, but it would be a few seconds before I could continue: “Vice President Johnson 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 thirty-sixth President of the United States.”
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p>Reading that, and remembering other accounts of how the nation reacted to the news of his death, it hit me that I can’t think of a single President since JFK who would inspire such loyalty and love in the nation. I wonder how long it’s going to be before we as a nation are able to respect our leaders, our nation, and ourselves like that again. For the curious, here’s a complete list of events covered in the third revision of the book:
- The Hindenburg Explosion
- Pearl Harbor Under Attack
- D-Day: The Normandy Invasion
- President Roosevelt Dies
- V-E Day: War in Europe Ends
- Truman Defeats Dewey
- General MacArthur Fired
- Sputnik Launched by Soviets
- John Glenn Orbits Earth
- Marilyn Monroe Dies
- Cuban Missile Crisis: Nuclear War Threatened
- President Kennedy Assassinated
- Lee Harvey Oswald Assassinated
- President Johnson Declines Reelection Bid.
- Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
- Robert Kennedy Assassinated
- Apollo 11: Man Walks on the Moon
- Apollo 13: Astronauts Escape Disaster
- Kent State Massacre
- Munich Olympics Tragedy
- Nixon Resigns
- Saigon Falls
- Elvis Dies
- Iran Hostage Crisis
- John Lennon Assassinated
- President Reagan Shot
- The Challenger Explodes
- Berlin Wall Crumbles
- Operation Desert Storm Begins
- Rodney King Verdict Incites Riots
- Waco Standoff Ends in Disaster
- O.J. Simpson Saga
- Oklahoma City Bombing
- Flight 800 Explodes Over Atlantic
- Atlanta Olympics Bombing
- Princess Diana Dies
- The Impeachment of President Clinton
- Tragedy at Columbine High School
- John F. Kennedy Jr. Dies
- The 2000 Election
- America Under Attack
Also possibly of interest: Where Were You?, a post where I look back on what I remember of historical events that have occurred in my lifetime, and encourage readers to do the same.
iTunes: “Sad and Damned” by Nymphs from the album Earphoria (1991, 2:59).
CJ
Brandon
Tim Who?
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Consider the presence and power of a JFK, what he meant to people, and then reflect on the fact that within less than a decade, we would have Nixon.
I’m old enough that I remember the broadcast, I remember him sitting there and removing his glasses. He was in shock. As were we all.True enough no President has ever come close to the honor and respect that Kennedy had but also the same holds true for Walter Cronkite, he was “The most respected man in America” and if he said it on the news you knew it was true. If you listen to the Nixon tapes, there is one newscast where Cronkite breaks long-standing rules and starts talking very personal and he’s talking to Nixon asking him to bring our boys home and end the Vietnam War. Nixon is watching the news in the White House and after Walter Cronkite finishes the news Nixon turns to the others in the room and says. “We lost Walter… And if we lost Walter we lost America”
Kennedy was the last President the press liked. They got along with Johnson but he wasn’t in office long enough and didn’t run for re-election. When Nixon came in he HATED the press and like Bush never held a press conference if he didn’t have to. When Nixon wanted to talk to America he came on TV and said what he wanted to say. Never taking questions. Regan also while well treated by the press continued to ignore them. Regan was the one that made them start shouting questions across the lawn as he was boarding the chopper and he always pretended to not be able to hear them. Bush 1 wasn’t much better. Clinton could have worked to change things but by then the adversarial relationship between the press and the President was already set. Why Bush 2 got a pass for such a long time I’ll never figure out but he’s toast now and the main reason is his battles with the press. They now hate him. He’s toast.
If the president can just sit down and talk to the press on a regular basis everything would be much better, no more yelling across the lawn no fighting for time. Kennedy opened the White House to the press. They didn’t dog him with unanswered questions because there were no unanswered questions. If somebody asked something too personal he would just smile and say. “Now you know I can’t answer that.”
Things won’t change till the adversarial relationship between the press and the President have ended
Hillary Clinton did a great job after White Water when she sat in a room full of reporters and talked to them not from a stage not with 10 handlers just her in a chair and she sat there for hours, not being grilled by the press, but just talking to them and answering their questions and she sat there till no one had any more questions. If Hillary continues her rise in Politics it will be because of her ability to work with the press, rather than fight against the press, and until we have a President that learns that, we will continue to have the horrible mess we have now.
Wow. I’ve added this one to my wish list! It sounds very cool.
Tim — very cool. As someone who only really starting paying attention to political stuff in the past few years, that rundown was greatly appreciated. Thanks!
As Tim said, things were quite a bit different. Back then we actually had competent, competing media who were owned by different organizations which kept a “Les Nesmon” yellow line between their news departments and the rest of the organization - be it TV, radio or newspapers and magazines.
Without going out to far on a limb, today’s news organizations, even the NYTimes, are manipulated by forces beyond the mere desire to “get the news.”
The upshot of this is the internet has provided a new, compelling, force for reportage in this country and elsewhere. Hopefully, MoveOn and others will be instrumental in insuring that GWB follows his father to a well-deserved resting place in the plains of the Southwest. And, equally hopefully, history will write him off as an aberration and horrific example of how democracy can be thwarted.
On another topic, re: making Baby Jesus Cry; you should get to 1st Ave and King (or Jackson, forget which) on the west side, the Mission there has a window filled with Jesus pictures - funny how he always has blue eyes and blond hair.
Sounds very interesting. I love looking back at history and remembering where “I was” - although I’ve only been alive for a few important events. I even saved the front pages from the beginning and end of the first Gulf War. I’ll have to pick this book up whenever I find it.
I ordered the book from http://www.americastore.com Item #020505
Amazon probably has it also — so order through Amazon accessed through Michael’s website and he’ll get maybe 25 cents of the purchase price!