Tuesday, August 25, 2009

History alive ...

... Terry Teachout on an Entry from an unkept diary.

I found myself tearing up as I watched this. Yes, I remember where I was at the time I first learned of it, but that is of no importance. It was a terrible day, no matter where you were or what you were doing or what your party affiliation. You owe it to yourself to watch.
It is extraordinary to see how primitive technology was at the time. And how primitive the ads were on As the World Turns (though the actress playing the wife was quite good, actually). Interesting, too, that Walter is far less blow-dried than today's anchors. Also Walter did a fine job. He is obviously exerting great control over his emotions when the president's death is confirmed.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing this one, Frank. It occurs to me how different our news apparatus is now (with so many cable new channels, Internet news sites, journalists blogs, etc.). Let us pray that we never have an incident similar to the JFK assassination, but just imagine how differently any such incident would be "reported" and communicated. I think that the coverage would not necessarily be an improvement since we and our "relationship" with the news media is so very different now. As I think about JFK's murder and Cronkite's reporting, I somehow do not recall any other news coverage; certainly the other two (?) networks had coverage, but why is it that so many people remember only Cronkite in connection with the news bulletin? That is probably a question without an answer--more like a random thought.

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