|
A pivotal figure in 20th century history
Cronkite was a pivotal figure in 20th Century history. His report on returning from Hue after the
biggest battle of the Vietnam War was a sobering personal analysis
of the status of the war and influenced opinion in the United States and elsewhere.
When you watch old newsreels from the war, even to this day, those words
are like a bombshell.
"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 pessimists. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic yet unsatisfactory conclusion.
"For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate."
"But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."
|
