CRACK THE SKY, SHAKE THE EARTH!

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1844

TET OFFENSIVE BEGAN 48 YEARS AGO TODAY

Saigon, South Vietnam (JFK+50) Forty-eight years ago today, January 30, 1968, communist forces launched their largest offensive of the war in Vietnam. It was known as the TET OFFENSIVE because it was fought during the traditional lunar new year holiday.

Before the attacks began, the following message was sent from headquarters to the North Vietnamese army...

"Crack the sky, shake the earth!"

More than a hundred towns along with military bases came under attack across the South as well as the United States Embassy in Saigon.

The offensive, which included 80,000 North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front forces, was planned by General Vo Nguyen Giap (PAVN).  The purposes of the operation were to "foment rebellion" among the people of the south and "encourage the United States to scale back...support of...the Saigon regime."

The Battle of Hue was particularly difficult for American and South Vietnam forces.  150 Marines were killed there along with 1400 South Vietnamese troops.  Communist losses were estimated to be 5000.

The offensive came to an end on February 22, 1968 with President Lyndon B. Johnson labeling it a complete failure. Despite the fact that North Vietnam lost twenty times the number of casualties as her enemies, defense positions, previously thought to be solid, had proven to be suspect.

As a result of TET, General William Westmoreland requested an additional 200,000 American combat soldiers be sent to Southeast Asia.

The Tet offensive stunned Americans who had believed, based on government information, that the United States was in the process of winning the war. CBS NEWS correspondent Walter Cronkite personally visited South Vietnam and said...

"Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive...I'm not sure.  The referees of history may make it a draw.  It now seems...certain...that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate."

SOURCES

"Tet Offensive," www.history.com/

"Tet Offensive Shakes U.S. confidence over Vietnam, Jan. 30, 1968," by Andrew Glass, Politico, January 30, 2016, www.politico.com/

TET MAP

by Joel D. Meyerson

Images of a Lengthy War

US Army of Military History (1986)

AND THAT'S THE WAY IT IS

WALTER CRONKITE MADE FINAL BROADCAST 34 YEARS AGO TONIGHT

New York City (JFK+50) Thirty-four years ago tonight, March 6, 1981, Walter Cronkite*, the most trusted reporter in America, made his final broadcast as news anchor of CBS Evening News. 

Walter concluded that broadcast with these simple words...

"I'll be away on assignment and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years.  Good night."

On most of his previous broadcasts, Cronkite had closed out with the famous line...."And that's the way it is"  followed by the day's date.

Mr. Cronkite, who replaced Douglas Edwards as anchor of CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962, is best remembered for breaking in to the program 'As the World Turns,' on the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963 saying...

"Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas.  The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."

In those days, it took a while for the studio television cameras to warm up so only Walter's voice was heard as the audience looked at a still image reading "BULLETIN."  In television media terminology, this is called a "voice over."

Long after the cameras had warmed up, shocked viewers saw an emotional news anchor fighting back tears and reading from a teletype message which had just come in over the wires...

"From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes  ago."

After four dark days of coverage of the assassination, aftermath and funeral, Walter Cronkite spoke these words...

"Tonight there will be few Americans who will go to bed without carrying with them the sense that somehow they have failed.

If in the search of our conscience we find a new dedication to the American concepts that brook no political, sectional, religious or racial divisions, then maybe it may yet be possible to say that John F. Kennedy did not die in vain.

That's the way it is, Monday, November 25, 1963.  This is Walter Cronkite. Good night."

During the post-Kennedy years, Mr. Cronkite reported daily on the events in Southeast Asia.  In 1968, he presented an editorial condemning America's role in the war in Vietnam.  LBJ reportedly said after the broadcast, "If I have lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."

*Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) was born in St. Joseph, Missouri and grew up in Kansas City and Houston.  He attended the University of Texas at Austin but dropped out in his junior year to take jobs in newspaper reporting and sports broadcasting.

During WWII, WC worked for United Press International covering battles in North Africa and Europe.  After the war, he covered the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.

In 1981, President Jimmy Carter awarded WC the Presidential Medal of Freedom. WC died in New York City at the age of 92.

Walter Cronkite

National Aeronautics & Space Museum

Washington, D.C. (2004)

NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls

                  

                       

JFK INTERVIEWED ON SQUAW ISLAND 50 YEARS AGO

September 2, 2013

JFK INTERVIEWED ON SQUAW ISLAND 50 YEARS AGO TODAY

Squaw Island, Massachusetts (JFK+50) CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite* conducted an interview with President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago today, September 2, 1963, on the grounds of "Brambletyde"** here on Squaw Island.

A video tape of the interview was broadcast on the new half-hour CBS Evening News program the same day.

President and Mrs. Kennedy had leased the property for the summer.  In the summer of 1962, they had leased the Morton Downey home also on Squaw Island.

*Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) served as news anchor of CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981.  He was born in St. Joseph, MO and grew up in Houston, TX. He attended the University of Texas and began his career in broadcasting in 1935. 

The President discussed various issues including civil rights, the Election of 1964, unemployment and the Vietnam War.

JFK said that he recognized the political effects of the civil rights issue and remained "hopeful that both parties...will commit themselves to the same objective of equality of opportunity."

As to unemployment, the President said that "we have 2.5 million more people working than when I came to office and yet a million and a half more people have come into the labor market."

The most discussed portion of the interview, however, was JFK's response to this statement from Mr. Cronkite...

"Mr. President, the only hot war we've got running at the moment is of course the one in Viet-Nam, and we have our difficulties there, quite obviously."

The President said...

"I don't think that unless a greater effort is made by the Government to win popular support that the war can be won out there.  In the final analysis, it is their war.  They are the ones who have to win it or lose it.  We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Viet-Nam, against the Communists."

JFK continued....

"We are prepared to continue to assist them, but I don't think that the war can be won unless the people support the effort..."

Mr. Cronkite asked JFK if sending his former Republican adversary, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., to South Vietnam as ambassador was an attempt to "keep this from being a political issue in 1964?"

The interview concluded with JFK's answer...

"No, Ambassador Lodge wanted to go out to Saigon.  If he were as careful as some politicians are...he would not have wanted to go...but he is energetic and...has strong feelings about the United States and, surprisingly as it seems...put this ahead of his political career.  

Sometimes politicians do those things, Walter."

                Walter Cronkite and JFK 
                        At Brambletyde

**"Brambletyde is a rambling, gray-shingled house located on Squaw Island, Massachusetts.  It was owned in 1963 by textile manufacturer Louis Thun and leased to JFK for the summer.  The property is just a half mile from the Kennedy Compound.

SOURCES

"Morton Downey Home and Brambletyde," by Steve Brawley, www.pinkpillbox.com/squawisland.htm/

"Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963," United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1964.

JAPAN SIGNED SURRENDER 68 YEARS AGO

Tokyo, Japan (JFK+50) Representatives of the Empire of Japan signed instruments of surrender 68 years ago today, September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri docked here in Tokyo Bay.

  Japanese Minister M. Shigemitsu
 Signs for the Japanese Government
 Lt.Gen. R.K. Sutherland Witnesses

General Douglas MacArthur stepped before microphones on the deck of "Big Mo" at 0902 hours.  

MacArthur said:

"It is my hope that a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past and the fulfillment of....freedom, tolerance and justice."

              General Douglas MacArthur
               Signs for the United States

          VJ Celebration at Oak Ridge
                    September 2, 1945
                Photo by Ed Westcott
                   American Museum 
                of Science and Energy
               

WALTER CRONKITE MADE FINAL BROADCAST 32 YEARS AGO

March 6, 2013

WALTER CRONKITE MADE FINAL BROADCAST 32 YEARS AGO

New York City (JFK+50) CBS Television's Walter Cronkite* made his final broadcast as news anchor of the evening news 32 years ago today, March 6, 1981.**  

As he concluded the broadcast, Mr. Cronkite said...

"I'll be away on assignment & Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years.  Good night."

                     Walter Cronkite
National Aeronautics & Space Museum
            Washington, D.C. (2004)
          NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls

On most of his broadcasts, however, Cronkite closed out with the famous line...."And that's the way it is"  followed by the day's date.

Mr. Cronkite replaced Douglas Edwards as anchor of CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962.

He is best remembered for breaking in to the program 'As the World Turns,' on the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963 & saying...

"Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas.  The 1st reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."

And later that tragic afternoon, Cronkite reported...

"From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes  ago."

                      You Tube Video

After 4 days of coverage of the assassination, aftermath & funeral, Walter Cronkite spoke these words...

"Tonight there will be few Americans who will go to bed without carrying with them the sense that somehow they have failed.

If in the search of our conscience we find a new dedication to the American concepts that brook no political, sectional, religious or racial divisions, then maybe it may yet be possible to say that John F. Kennedy did not die in vain.

That's the way it is, Monday, November 25, 1963.

This is Walter Cronkite.  Good night."

*Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) was born in St. Joseph, Missouri & grew up in Kansas City & Houston.  He attended the University of Texas & took a radio job in Oklahoma City in 1936.

Cronkite, having covered WWII & the Nuremberg trials, joined CBS in 1950.

**Some of the news Cronkite reported that night may have included President Ronald Reagan's intention to cut the federal payroll by $1.3 billion over a 2 year period.

                       Walter Cronkite
           Aboard the USS Constitution
                 Boston, Massachusetts
       Photo by Terry A. Cosgrove (1997)