W. Joseph Campbell

, , , , ,

Why not the ‘McGee Moment’?

In Debunking, Media myths on February 14, 2010 at 11:41 pm

I recently reviewed Journalism’s Roving Eye, a hefty, impressively researched study by John Maxwell Hamilton of the history of American foreign correspondence.

In my review, written for the quarterly Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, I note:

“Hamilton ranges widely and confidently over the colorful history of American foreign correspondence. …  Journalism’s Roving Eye is engaging, and highly readable.”

But I also note the book “projects a surprising sense of conventionality in recounting memorable moments in U.S. foreign correspondence.” As an example, I cite the anecdote — one of the favorites in all of American journalism — about Walter Cronkite’s on-air editorializing February 27, 1968.

That anecdote has become so wrapped in legend that it is has come to be known as the “Cronkite Moment.”

On that occasion, Cronkite, the CBS News anchorman, said the U.S. military effort in Vietnam had become “mired in stalemate” and suggested that time was approaching for negotiations to end the conflict.

President Lyndon Johnson supposedly watched the program at the White House. Upon hearing Cronkite’s dire assessment, the president abruptly switched off the television and supposedly told an aide or aides:

“If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”

Or words to that effect.

Hamilton cites that anecdote and quotes David Halberstam’s line from The Power That Be, that the Cronkite’s editorializing “was the first time that a war had been declared over by an anchorman.”

But, of course, that wasn’t the case.

The last U.S. combat troops did not leave Vietnam until 1973, more than five years after the “Cronkite Moment.”

What’s more, as I write in Getting It Wrong, my forthcoming book about media-driven myths, “Johnson did not have—could not have had—the abrupt yet resigned reaction that so often has been attributed to him.

“That’s because Johnson did not see the program when it was aired.”

The president was in Austin, Texas, at the time of the Cronkite program, attending the 51st birthday party of Governor John Connally.

Moreover, I write in Getting It Wrong, “Johnson’s supposedly downbeat, self-pitying reaction to Cronkite’s on-air assessment clashes sharply with the president’s aggressive characterization about the war. Hours before the Cronkite program, Johnson delivered [in Dallas] a little-recalled but rousing speech on Vietnam, a speech cast in Churchillian terms.”

In late winter 1968, Cronkite’s “mired in stalemate” assessment was neither stunning nor particularly cutting-edge. About seven months earlier, I note in the book, “the New York Times had suggested the war in Vietnam was stalemated.”

Cronkite’s assessment was far less assertive than the observations offered less than two weeks later by Frank McGee of the rival NBC network.

“The war,” McGee said on an NBC News program that aired March 10, 1968, “is being lost by the [Johnson] administration’s definition.”

There was no equivocating about being “mired in stalemate.” No nuanced suggestions about maybe opening negotiations.

Lost.

It’s faintly curious that McGee’s pointed and emphatic editorial comment is not more often remembered.

But of course no one ever talks about the “McGee Moment.”

WJC

  1. […] I’ve noted previously, it is a bit surprising that McGee’s pointed editorial comments are not more often […]

    Myth resurfaces in Cronkite-collaborator report « Media Myth Alert 15 May 2010 at 10am

  4. […] 1968 was much less assertive than the observations offered less than two weeks later by Frank McGee of the rival NBC […]

    Considering the irresistible ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 17 July 2010 at 1pm

  5. […] noted at Media Myth Alert that former NBC newsman Frank McGee in March 1968 offered an analysis about Vietnam that was more direct and punchier than […]

    ‘Lyndon Johnson went berserk’? Not because of Cronkite « Media Myth Alert 21 July 2010 at 1pm

  8. […] So Cronkite’s assessment was hardly striking, hardly very original. Indeed, it was quite tame compared to other commentaries at the […]

    Gorging on the mythical ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 7 October 2011 at 2am

  12. […] McGee’s interpretation wasn’t  “similar” to Cronkite’s at all; he didn’t hedge and invoke […]

    A glowing, hagiographic treatment of the ‘Cronkite Moment’ « Media Myth Alert 31 May 2012 at 8am

  15. […] only was Cronkite’s “mired in stalemate” assessment belated; it was mild compared to other commentary at the […]

    Media myth outbreak abroad; ‘Cronkite Moment’ goes viral « Media Myth Alert 9 February 2013 at 8am

  16. […] March 10, 1968, McGee declared: “The war is being lost by the administration’s […]

    Obama’s ‘Cronkite Moment’? ‘Salon’ dials up a media myth | Media Myth Alert 14 May 2013 at 6pm

  19. […] And Cronkite’s reporting for CBS News at supposedly a crucial moment in 1968 was tepid and far less adamant than that of some competing news […]

    It would be mired in myth: Spielberg considering a ‘Cronkite Moment’ movie? | Media Myth Alert 15 June 2016 at 7pm

  20. […] was a tepid appraisal; his “stalemate” observation mirrored what other American journalists had been saying […]

    Cronkite’s view on Vietnam had ‘tremendous impact,’ new book says: But how? | Media Myth Alert 9 June 2017 at 7am

  23. […] “somewhat muddled and far less emphatic than those offered less than two weeks later by Frank McGee of the rival NBC network. ‘The war,’ McGee declared on an NBC News program that aired […]

    Convergence encore: Now the ‘Cronkite Moment’ | Media Myth Alert 22 May 2018 at 2pm

  25. […] Why not the ‘McGee Moment’? […]

    Diminshed by a media myth | Media Myth Alert 20 June 2018 at 6pm

  26. […] of defeat beyond America’s power to prevent.” Not long after Cronikte’s report, Frank McGee of NBC News declared the war was being lost if judged by the Johnson administration’s definition. Not stalemated. […]

    The ‘Cronkite Moment’ of 1968: Remembering why it’s a media myth | Media Myth Alert 27 February 2020 at 7pm

Comments are closed.