A REPLY TO WALTER CRONKITE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160158-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2010
• Sequence Number: 158
• Publication Date: May 28, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160158-8
ON PAGE
ARTICLE APPEARED THE BALTIMORE SUN
28 May 1982
STAT
A..?Reply to Walter .Cronki_ Charleston, South Carolina. our battlefield enemies had suffered devas- skepticism about public. officials to turn
TRANGELY, I seem to be on CBS's. hit tating losses in their rash effort to capture'-- into a hostility that has weakened govern-
s list ;First I was attacked by Mike control of. a number, of cities. They were - meat's ability to function.. He said: "The
Wallace on CBS Reports. on January, 23 repulsed,' and. the Viet Cong were never media'have, in short, made a considerable
and then again by Walter Cronkite in his .:" age able to mount a significant sustained contribution to the disarray in government
address` last month to the National Associ military action. It was the North Vietnam- and therefore have an obligation to help set
ation of Broadcasters in Dallas, the text of?. an Army that finally conquered the South matters straight" Mr. O'Neill was discuss
which The' Sun published. ["The West- seven years later, after American troops ' ing the harm that irresponsible adversarial
moreland Mode," OpinionsCommentary, had been withdrawn. reporting can do in peace time. It should be
April 16,.J982.] If fairness. is a partof the ....Nevertheless, some reporters, including obvious that the damage can be far more
American system, I ask to be heard. ` Walter Cronkite, converted into a defeat serious in time of war. -
Mr. Cronkito stated that I told a college the victory that our men and our Vietnam- President, Reagan recently said that if
" ? ; ese allies had ,won by valor. That was a the press had behaved in World War II the
t blow to' morale on the home front and it way it has been covering the conflicts we
By William C. Westmoreland was perplexing to our troops. have been engaged in over the last 20 years,
I told the few reporters at the press con ,. ' we would have had a revolution. I am not
audience in Colorado that the news media ' ference in Colorado that Vietnam was the sure that I agree with that. I think it is
will have to be censored in any future war , first war we had fought with no censorship, more likely that the media would have suc-
involving the United States. I_ made no ?and'I said, "Without censorship (in war), ceeded in so- demoralizing the American
such' statement to- the college'audience I- . --things can get. terribly confused in the pub- . people that our success in defeating Hitler
addressed it Colorado. I- consented to a " lic mind, and when you add that to another ; would have beep far more difficult, if at all
press conference -before . that. speech at first for. Vietnam-television-you have an ? . Possible.
which I responded to reporters' questions instrument that can paralyze this country, Mr. Cronkite's address to the hundreds
about the Vietnam War. In answer to one. ,.;;:absolutely paralyze it to where. the' presi?; .. , of, broadcasters itself demonstrated the
i question;: I said that. the big'- lesson we t . dent is unable to do what he thinks is in damage that can be done by irresponsible
should learn; frame, Vietnam?is ,that this the national interest."reporting. He discussed the CBS television
country cannot' pursue a war - unless the ': ., Actually, I said that 'I 'doubted that program that had charged that I had been'
'American people are in overwhelming sup- would be . possible to impose~-eensorship .. responsible for Concealing vital intelligence
port. I. pointed out that during the, Viet- again'in time of war, but I added; `When information from. the American people;
nam conflict the media played a role in we put men's lives on the line .. it seems Congress and -perhaps 'even the White
'turning public sentiment against the war to me. to be a time when the devil's advo- House during the Vietnam War. Mr. Cron-
with numbers of inaccurateand sensation cite role (of the, media) should be soft- kite said' the military had engaged in cen-
ceiling
alined stories. I noted that some journalists end." t. ' sorahip, and imposed an arbitrary
had their eyes on wnning.aTP. litzrPrize."f .Walter-'. on.enemy strength estimates to create the
rgnkite apparently.. does not j that _ .. .t o
Impression we were being, m re Am--,
sensationalized theirf ator-ea with that agree. with.
tatyy.. sentiment there are
Ana in 9 - ' ,- s ;:>~ ? ? ; ., ~ s? y though people i country' , in- cesafiil than, was the case. He said.to the
distinguished journalists, broadcasters ' that the result of this was
:; i~Jalter= Cronkite 'ought 't vnaerstand `chiding some
that point very well, since lam network, who recognize the seriousness of the prob- that 1 was "totally, unprepared for the dev-
CBS, did much to paint our war effort in lem we face. Michael J. O'Neill, the former astating force" , with which the enemy
negative terms. Mr. Cronkite himself, after editor. of the New York Daily. News, ex- ' struck during the Tet Offensive. He said,
having ;visited Saigon in early February, . : pressed -much 'the same concern in his ,"-The shock of the massive Communist as-
1968, where'he was briefed on thi'Tet Of speech recently to the annual meeting of , Sault signaled the end of America's part in
fensive, went back home and told his view- . ' the American Society of Newspaper Fdi .y; that -war.. You could almost say it was lost
ers that the Tet Offensive had' beep a de- ; from that point on."
feat for ,Qur side. Mr. Cronkite had been Mr. O'Neill. said that' the presahad be.',. Notithat 14 years later, Mr: Cronkite i8
shown during his brief stay in Saigon the come insensitive and arrogant,..Iowing its, still describing Tet as a defeat for our side,
CO UJ D
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despite the overwhelming evidence to the _ was made at that news conference by Am='
contrary. That is inexcusable. Equally in- bassador Ellsworth Bunker, Dr. Carver,
excusable was the foul and misinformed - General Graham, my former intelligence
charge made by CBS that I and my staff chief, Lieutenant- Phillip, Davidson, and
had put an arbitrary ceding on enemy ;several other officers as well as myself. Per-
strength estimates to make our perform- _; hap. that is shy Walter Cronkite, speaking
ance look better. Professor Walter W. Roe- oil the subject over two months later, was.
tow said in a letter to the New York Times apparently totgfy ignorant of the fact tha
about the program: "The conclusion" is the charges made on the CBS program,ha
false; and those who, produced the doc i- been exposed as false.Valter'Cronkite has.'
mentary know it is false." One reason they :not only defended misleading malicious re-7
knew it was false was because CBS con-. porting, danfaging to me and to the repute:
ducted a three-hour taped interview with tion of our military forces, but he has made=
Professor Rostwi, who was special asset- himself a party to it. 7-
-ant to President Johnson during the Vieb?r,' r- te went on is his speech t
nam War, in which he had demolished the suggest that the American people are not'
charges that they intended to air on the being:-told the truth by,;our government;
program. Not one word ' of the ' Rostowan .ill-lout El Salvador. That is not the way it is.'
terview was aired, for the simple reason 'Just as be, ind other reporters' misled the
that it contradicted what CBS wanted the public about the Tot Offensive; and just as
public to believe. The same was true of an' Mike .Wallace deceived the public by can-
interview with George Carver, who was a- -~ ? ,
senior-CIA official who had been deeply in sOfi~ out' all the weighty evidence that
volved in discussions' about order of battle per his thesis was wrong, so have some
estimates back in 1967: Dr. Carver-also told reporters tieen deceiving, the public about,
CBS they were way off base. Again, nth- El Salvador. for '4 million Salvo;.
ing that a senior -former official said was dMarck that thetnoorters who had been
Daniel O. Graham who had been on my the government and loved the Communist,
intelligence .staff as a. lieutenant colonel. 'guerrillas -were -wrong. Salvadoran. votersl
and who later became director of the'De- '.":.shouted at the American' reporters, "Tell
fence Intelligence Agency, agreed to be in- =the truth," and "Sell out your own country-,
terviewed for the documentary on ones:: ,pot ours." Walter. Cronkite seems not have'
condition. He extracted 'the promise that; {heard them. He showed' no sign of recognh
his statement would be aired making tlse ' .~ tion> that the elections in El Salvador hoc.
E demonstrated, jut thrng, our mtelligenoe been telling as ."inoperative."
'estiroiates 'Wei ~oveistated the
F. a
ww ji-As 1ltichael4 O'Neill has suggested,
staareength eof the ut Cong. That promise when the press goes~astray, "it has an obli-: such statement was *in-
ation to
help Set 'chided in the?.p No
rogram; because it would gdistort them ematters'straight," not to furth
.'have undermined the CBS charges: ? ? -' s~ ~.