When Dan was rising at CBS News, he and Roger Mudd became great rivals and enemies since they were seeking Cronkite's job when he retired. When Rather got it, Mudd went to NBC. When CBS forced out Rather--Leslie Moonves, that noted expert on male-female relations, had a lot to do with it, too--a reporter asked Mudd about it and he said that Dan had risked his life for that company and deserved better, and they had a quasi-reconciliation. But my point in saying it was, Dan did risk his life for that company. He was well paid for it, but he didn't have to do the work he did, and he should now be a gray eminence for CBS News instead of being a pariah at the network.
Dan laughs all the way to the bank, with one of the most successful and popular Substacks - "Steady" - where he writes what he wants to write the way he wants to write it for the kind of audience he wants to write for. That's the cool thing about Substack.
Yes, and I reminded of how he did radio commentaries for CBS (his co-writer on Substack was his writer there), and being the polite soul he is, Dan would cue the commercial by saying, "Now, please, this message."
He inherited Cronkite's slot, and LBJ once said if Cronkite said on TV what he said on radio, he might be running the country. Walter was in many ways a By God liberal.
I had the privilege of a long lunch with Cronkite back in 1997, when he was doing a tour for his memoir "A Reporter's Life." When I got there, the line at Vroman's had thinned out just before lunch. I told him we shared a good friend and he asked who, when I said "Steve Pisanos" his eyes lit up (In his memoir, he says "The most interesting person I met in all of the Second World War was Steve Pisanos." Which is a pretty good description of Steve, whose life really was "The American Dream" - comes to America because a poor boy in Greece can't fly airplanes, is an "illegal immigrant" until they find out when he and the rest of the Eagle Squadrons pilots were joining the USAAF and so he became the first immigrant to become a citizen for serving in the war, became a flying ace, got shot down and participated in the French Resistance in the liberation of Paris, stayed in the Air Force and as the Air Attache in Athens in 1974 was responsible for bringing the Greek Air Force over to the side of democracy to end the Colonel's coup and restore democracy to the land of its birth. Also just a helluva guy to be around.)
But I digress - Walter asked if I was free for lunch and we had a 2 hour lunch, talking about his experiences in the war (a lot of his observations about the politics of the war are in my current book "Clean Sweep" - he was UP's "Man with the Eighth" air force). He liked it when I told him that I wouldn't be doing what I do as an historian if he hadn't put on "You Are There" when I was a kid which hooked me on history.
That combo of confidence and guts is still evident and a treat for those of us who subscribe here. Just curious, did any тАЬnameтАЭ ever make you feel тАЬless than.тАЭ
The funny thing is that many times, I started from the inner belief of being "less than" only to discover upon meeting the person that we were objective equals as people (not necessarily in achievement, which is a different thing). I finally "got it" that I wasn't the "less than" person my childhood had convinced me I was. Took awhile.
Funny thing. Two years later, I'm in English II, and we had to do a project on "Julius Caesar." Two other kids and I did live radio coverage of his assassination!
Nor can I. Karl Rove did his best to destroy Dan Rather, but still he rose.
When Dan was rising at CBS News, he and Roger Mudd became great rivals and enemies since they were seeking Cronkite's job when he retired. When Rather got it, Mudd went to NBC. When CBS forced out Rather--Leslie Moonves, that noted expert on male-female relations, had a lot to do with it, too--a reporter asked Mudd about it and he said that Dan had risked his life for that company and deserved better, and they had a quasi-reconciliation. But my point in saying it was, Dan did risk his life for that company. He was well paid for it, but he didn't have to do the work he did, and he should now be a gray eminence for CBS News instead of being a pariah at the network.
Dan laughs all the way to the bank, with one of the most successful and popular Substacks - "Steady" - where he writes what he wants to write the way he wants to write it for the kind of audience he wants to write for. That's the cool thing about Substack.
Yes, and I reminded of how he did radio commentaries for CBS (his co-writer on Substack was his writer there), and being the polite soul he is, Dan would cue the commercial by saying, "Now, please, this message."
He inherited Cronkite's slot, and LBJ once said if Cronkite said on TV what he said on radio, he might be running the country. Walter was in many ways a By God liberal.
I had the privilege of a long lunch with Cronkite back in 1997, when he was doing a tour for his memoir "A Reporter's Life." When I got there, the line at Vroman's had thinned out just before lunch. I told him we shared a good friend and he asked who, when I said "Steve Pisanos" his eyes lit up (In his memoir, he says "The most interesting person I met in all of the Second World War was Steve Pisanos." Which is a pretty good description of Steve, whose life really was "The American Dream" - comes to America because a poor boy in Greece can't fly airplanes, is an "illegal immigrant" until they find out when he and the rest of the Eagle Squadrons pilots were joining the USAAF and so he became the first immigrant to become a citizen for serving in the war, became a flying ace, got shot down and participated in the French Resistance in the liberation of Paris, stayed in the Air Force and as the Air Attache in Athens in 1974 was responsible for bringing the Greek Air Force over to the side of democracy to end the Colonel's coup and restore democracy to the land of its birth. Also just a helluva guy to be around.)
But I digress - Walter asked if I was free for lunch and we had a 2 hour lunch, talking about his experiences in the war (a lot of his observations about the politics of the war are in my current book "Clean Sweep" - he was UP's "Man with the Eighth" air force). He liked it when I told him that I wouldn't be doing what I do as an historian if he hadn't put on "You Are There" when I was a kid which hooked me on history.
Wow, IтАЩm beyond impressed. Is there any important person that you missed meeting up with. And I imagine that you avoided a fewтАж
It's a funny thing. I've been in work where there were "Names" in the vicinity and I never had any trouble walking up to them and talking.
That combo of confidence and guts is still evident and a treat for those of us who subscribe here. Just curious, did any тАЬnameтАЭ ever make you feel тАЬless than.тАЭ
The funny thing is that many times, I started from the inner belief of being "less than" only to discover upon meeting the person that we were objective equals as people (not necessarily in achievement, which is a different thing). I finally "got it" that I wasn't the "less than" person my childhood had convinced me I was. Took awhile.
Glad you didn't meet any worms who tried to take you back there. It's a hard place to visit.
I had an 8th grade social studies teacher who used "You Are There" in class, and I absolutely loved it.
I bow to you for having some time with Walter.
Yeah, it was a great show. I'm sure it had something to do with you becoming "Professor Green."
It sure didn't hurt!
Funny thing. Two years later, I'm in English II, and we had to do a project on "Julius Caesar." Two other kids and I did live radio coverage of his assassination!
I like that story a lot!
CouldnтАЩt agree more, watched him over supper as he reported on that Viet Nam debacle.