"Exhibit A in this narrative is Walter Cronkite, the CBS News anchor, billed as the nation's most trustworthy voice, who on Feb. 27, 1968, told his audience of millions that the war could not be won.
"... when Cronkite aired his bleak but decidedly middle-of-the-road assessment of the war 50 years ago, immediately after the Tet offensive, it was a significant departure.
"It struck like revelation. From the pinnacle of TV's primetime reach, he had descended to pronounce:"
Below is the text of the statement above:
"To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that were are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion."
Mark Bowden notes that Cronkite's words were not "radical," but they resonated with President Lyndon Johnson, who "a few weeks later announced that he would not seek re-election and would devote the reminder of his term to reducing hostilities and moving 'toward peace.' Not victory, 'peace'."
Bowden continues:
"Cronkite's report was significant. It contributed greatly to the shift in public opinion against the war. But there was no immediate, radical turn. Most polls would continue to show narrowing but clear public support for the war for years to come. Richard Nixon was elected later that year, and vigorously prosecuted the war for six years more.
"If Cronkite was wrong, if the war was in fact being won and winnable, there were ample resources, time and commitment to prove it. In fact, Cronkite was right. The war was not being won, nor would it be."
It took time, but Cronkite's 1968 moment of truth-telling, and President Johnson's decision not to run for another term, played major roles in ending the Vietnam war.
Could it happen again? We do not know. What we do know is Walter Cronkite was on a routine reporting trip to Vietnam, when he "became convinced that he had been misinforming the public about the war's progress."
Cronkite might have ignored his doubts. Instead, he told his national audience, "It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate."
All the more reason we must not lose hope, as we remain alert to signs, large and small, signs like a single television broadcast 50 years ago.
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