Only 25 years ago–it was in 1985 (a mere moment ago in the life of your Love Goddess!)–I spoke with Walter Cronkite about his wife, his work, his recent retirement, his feelings about the environment, the military, and aging. I don’t usually share my magazine interviews unless they’re about love, but in this case, I share it because this is a man so many people did claim to love. Here’s part one.
You are said to be a tough competitor, even in family games. In fact, I’ve heard that you tend to make up games as you go along. Your wife said so.
WC. My wife is not trustworthy.
How can you make up rules when you’re supposed to be such an ethical person?
WC: I make up rules only when I make up the game itself. I don’t try to change the rules that have been provided in the instructions….unless there’s a way I can improve them.
Aha. I see. A perfectly ethical solution.
WC: I’ve started telling people I’m a widower just to keep them from intervieweing my wife…she’s got a pixie sense of humor. Once, after Time interviewers finished a story about me, they decided I looked too cool, and nobody could be that cool. When they got toward the deadline and the fact checkers started working, they called us up in the middle of the night—at 2 AM Betsy answered. They said, “We can’t find anything that seems to bother your husband. Doesn’t anything worry him?”
Betsy said, “Yes, he worries about shrinking.” I never said anything like that in my life that I know of.
No wonder you say she’s not trustworthy. Seriously, why do you think you’re so trusted by Americans?
WC: I think because, in doing my job in the news business, I really have held just as firmly as I could to what I believe to be the ethics and prinkcples of good journalism. I have tried desperately, particularly in television, to hew to the middle of the road in the presentation of any given story—the pros and cons, allegations and denials—and to see that facts are well pinned down and secure. that is integrity in news presentation, and I guess that through the years that showed through. I was always annoyed when the presentation got in the way of the facts—and show business aspects. Whe graphics and pictures got in the way of telling the story, it was always a source of annoyance for me.
You maintained a low profile as far as your own views are concerned. Do you feel freer now to say what you really feel?
WC: I think I’ve frequently surprised people with my views, but I don’t broadcast them. I don’t appear on panel programs and talk about them—I’m not seeking outlets for my views. On the other hand, when I’m called upon to make a public speech, I don’t try to disguise them.
What annoys you about television news today?
WC: I do not think they make the best use of the limited amount of time that’s available to them. I think there is too much editorialization; too much “featurizing.” There is so much of importance to communicate to a population that’s getting most of its news from television that we shouldn’t spend the time doing anything except cramming news down their throats.
Barbara Walters said in an interview recently that while she and Dan Rather are about the same age, she is considered the elder statesman, he the new kid on the block. I think that this is true because most of the women on TV news are youthful, whereas many of the men are a good deal older than Rather. Do you think there will be a time when a woman journalist’s credentials are more persuasive than her age?
WC. Oh yes, I think so. I was fortunate; when I came into this business it wasn’t as competitive, and it was possible to do more things the way one wanted to do them rather than being forced by some preconceived ideas of what the job is like. I made the job. I don’t know that there can be another Walter Cronkite, not because of my character and abilities, but because the position in time.
By the same token, there may not be a Ms. Cronkite. But as far as a woman’s gaining stature in the business, a stature equal to that which men gain in the business, I don’t see any hindrance to that at all. For one thing, I’m not one who believes women become less attractive as they grow older.
But why is television so tough on women? Even 35-year-olds say that at 28 they’re over the hill for TV.
WC: Because television values are all cockeyed. The same is true of men; they are permitted to get older, certainly, but it gets tougher for them all the time. The local stations and networks are all looking for the young, the virile—they’re looking for tough, hard journalists.
You were known for your equanimity on the air, but I remember a couple of times when the news was just too much for you. Do you remember any of these times?
WC: Yes, the [John F. Kennedy] death. I had to say that the official word from Dallas is, “He’s dead.” Definitely, that was a choking moment. And the emotion of a man landing on the moon was a momentary catch that I hadn’t expected. I think I had a tear in my eye at that moment. That was excitement.
You’ve said you’d like to be that civilian voyager put aboard the space shuttle in 1985 or 1986.
WC: I want to but I haven’t applied. I don’t know who to apply to. They know of my interest and I like to think they’ll think of me.
—–Part 2 of the interview, tomorrow.