3 months in American history and Walter Cronkite (JFK--The Beatles)

[underpants]

Growing up two of the huge events the fairly recent American history were JFK's assassination and The Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan. Being only 41 years old now I never got the connection in time of these two events. They were less than 3 months apart.

Tomorrow is the 45th anniversary of The Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan. An astounding 73 million people watched it live.

Imagine on November 28th 2001 we moved on from 9/11 or at least started to move on.

The story is from an interview I saw once with Walter Cronkite, I can't find it now even after a lengthy internet search.

Basically the network guys thought it was too soon. The country just wasn't ready and CBS could look cold to the tragedy that had just befallen the country. Below is a link to the whole story. Cronkite was crucial in planting the seeds for The Beatles to come to America specifically one meeting with the network heads.

They asked Cronkite's advice. Given his position in the American culture Cronkite could remove the final blockage for this to happen and to give the network cover. Cronkite looked across the table and said, "It's time for the country to have some fun again".


The full background on The Beatles appearance is here
http://www.beatlesagain.com/the-beatles-on-ed-sullivan.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. That's when the 60s began.