CBS News: The Death of Lyndon Johnson (1973 ... as it broke)

[hadrons]

Run time: 03:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9mCcfN9iRk   Posted on YouTube: June 17, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 17, 2008 By DU Member: hadrons Views on DU: 1093

 
On the day Roe V. Wade came down (which led the newscast) ... during the middle of a story on talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam the (taped) interview with the President of South Vietnam (didn't they have a new one every year?) was interrupt to break the news of the former President's passing (in fact, Walter was told of the news via phone call on-air.)

A retro of Johnson's life aired at the end of the broadcast (I guess they had one set-up for moments like that.)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Harry Truman had died

just a few days sort of one month earlier.

And, yes, Roe v. Wade came down that day, too. I remember it. I was in grad school, home sick with a cold, watching TV, and then there was all this news. Honestly, Johnson's death was completely eclipsed - at least in my world - by the decision in Roe v. Wade.

[Bicoastal]

4. At this juncture, Richard Nixon became the country's only living president.

This is the most recent time in history that has happened--the last time before that was during the Hoover presidency.

Makes you think.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. That's right

And now, think of the current and ex-Presidents who were at his funeral.

Clinton, GHW Bush, Carter, Ford, Raygun.

I have that ceremony on tape. Every so often I'd watch it, to make sure he was really dead .............

[liberal N proud]

2. Today they might get a week of 24/7 coverage on NBC/MSNBC

But then again being Democratic Presidents, they would still only get a mention at the end of the news. Also today segment.

[boomerbust]

3. And thats the way it is.

Wow! Talk about a flashback. Got me to thinking about the late sixties, every day right after supper when my Dad and I would watch Walter to get the body count from Viet Nam where my brother happened to be stationed. Certainly a confusing time.

[TexasEditor]

6. How can there be over 300 views on DU...

and only two recommendations for this post? The younger folks out there might not know who "Walter" is, you don't have his last name up there, amigo.

[Steely_Dan]

7. I Miss Walter....

He was once called the "the most trusted man in America." There was nothing self-serving about Walter. He delivered the news...that was his job. He always shunned "being" the news. How I miss those days.

-Paige

[ramapo]

8. Vietnam killed him too

I hated that man for our involvement in the war but I came to see that it weighed heavily upon him. Not like Nixon, who used the war to his political advantage in both 1968 and again in 1972.

Amazing how primitive the broadcast looks with Cronkite holding the phone, signaling the audience to wait one. I don't remember TV seeming so low-tech back then. And to think we had been to the moon and then given it up.

[bluesmail]

9. Thanks. IMO this is more evidence connected to the murder

of JFK. :hi:

[corkhead]

10. I remember sitting at our kitchen table watching that like it was yesterday. . I was 11.

you couldn't really tell from the video, but I remember Walter getting a little choked up and teary eyed. I remember that I was really surprised to see that because I didn't think he liked him that much.