Name: Walter Cronkite On America's Post-9/11 Reaction | Letterman
Uploaded: 2023-09-11T15:00:34.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Walter Cronkite On America's Post-9/11 Reaction | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-09-11. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Walter Cronkite On America's Post-9/11 Reaction | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-09-11. Transcript available.

walter how are you i'm doing pretty well i'm gonna i got i got some more joke
cards here
i'm gonna try a joke or two if you don't mind before we get to you mom you know
mom
well she's very patriotic now she's only buying domestic vodka
make it herself right let's try one more that one works so well why not
new yorkers are showing their patriotism this afternoon little league pitcher
danny almonte
re-enlisted
our first guest has long been known as the most trusted man in america he's
right here walter
cronkite walter good to see you
dave i think your people are my people you uh i want to take a second here and
uh i don't know
if i should do this one i'm going to anyway you and i have something very
significant very
important in common don't we have you torn your achilles tendon too
the the the gentlemen the people that did uh some uh heart work on you are the
same people that did the
heart dr isom yeah marvelous dr isom and and how how is yours holding up what
what do i have to look
very well up to now that ain't funny walter
how long ago you had you had bypass surgery yeah uh quadruple yours was quadruple
wouldn't it no
no no i had five you had five five thank you very much thank you oh you've got
to be on top
mine was what five years ago now i guess something like that i've had
absolutely absolutely no trouble
good for you at all yeah they do a nice job yeah yeah well let's let's talk
about the situation what uh
what do you know now what should we be doing what should we be thinking you
know help us out here
what does it look like to you well it's of course is uh we're still in a deep
state of shock
as we would be expected certainly i expect that to continue a long time it's
going to be a very long
time in this generation uh no one's ever going to forget the pictures they saw
on television during
that terrible week immediately after the thing uh what we have to be concerned
about now is we're
going to be hearing but by the time this goes on the air we're taping this
earlier we're going to be
hearing the president that's right uh before the joint session of congress
presumably laying out
some detail uh well i doubt very much detail of what we can expect what what
what is the
the purpose and objective of this address tonight because you say maybe not a
lot of detail what
then is he up to what what is he trying to accomplish here i think it's to
summarize what they've been up to
since september 11th right uh as much as they can the uh and and officially
reporting to congress is an
official report to the american people as representative congress uh so it's a
it's a it's a platform it's
it's a huge platform because it's everybody around the world including the the
enemy listening to this
and monitoring this yeah the big thing that we we need to think about i think
now is that we know that we
we want to get retribution we we we we are with the president a hundred percent
the american people to
bring to justice we possibly can uh the perpetrators of this heinous act
however to my mind i think we also
must keep in mind that that there may be other solutions to the problem than
that which the president
may propose tonight or that may be being considered in our government and what
would it doesn't mean
that we should be any any less determined right on our course but there may be
other ways to reach
it rather than the military action that seems to be planned and there are there
is a body of opinion
right now that's rising that says this is the wrong way to go about it that
invasion of afghanistan for
instance is a bottomless hole of incredible losses not only many losses to the
innocent people of
afghanistan of whom there are many who do not agree with the taliban on this
this type of atrocity
there are many a lot of the many losses of american soldiers so women uh the uh
and the possibility is
that according to that line of reasoning is that it may create additional
hatred uh causing additional
casualties right here at home as this war is extended everybody who talks about
this is worried about
uh retaliation and further retaliation retribution so what we what we have to
do i think is prepare
ourselves to think about alternatives uh to think uh sort of you know we we had
a we had a all we had
this one solid thought get even for heaven's sake get these guys and that's
perfectly understandable and
justifiable and we shouldn't lose that objective but on the other hand we
should have perhaps second
thoughts what would be a second how we do it what would be the alternative and
give me an example if
we have invoked it in the past and how has it worked the the alternative would
be if it's acceptable to
the american people and others uh the alternative that i think our allies are
thinking of instead of this
all-out multi-military reaction and that's uh taking us more slowly uh working
instead inside to try to
do it with with uh r-c-i-a-f-b-i if you're intelligent sources to reach abba
bin adam bin adam bin bin adam
whatever that idios name
i'm trying to forget it already as if that would help somehow now when you say
working inside you mean to
to to to help them or to help take him out no no no to help get him out to help
get him up to find him
get him out this would enable us also to move ahead on the on on this thinking
uh in getting toward
the successors to bin laden yeah uh who there will be many uh and other sort
with secret uh sources of
terrorism so how do we extinguish the entire line is what it sounds like to me
is that's the then that
becomes the objective well that's always been how do we do that it may be
easier than if we go into
all-out war is the thinking all-out war is is a commitment that is unending in
many ways uh we're
going to have to stay in afghanistan for how many generations for instance in a
hostile area make more
enemies in that part of the world also we should be as we should have been all
along paying attention to
the economic status of these people which has led to some of this hatred they
have nothing they have
nothing and and you know television is partly responsible perhaps for this we
were responsible
for helping to bring down the berlin wall and defeat of of the soviet union
because they were seeing
television for the first time from the western world and they said look at the
riches those people
have why can't we have that sort of thing mtv and wrestling yeah so you were
saying about the berlin
wall came down largely the influence of observing culture of this country and
others and tv and so
forth and how would that apply how does that logic or theory apply to the
situation well it has helped
help to create some of this enmity which is purely envy right uh in the entire
uh very depressed parts of
the arab world those people have watched american television now and uh and and
they see all these
riches right and they they are therefore a setup for these fan these these
these if these people who are
playing upon that to create hate for us so we would try to help somehow
economically and uh with other
resources for the yeah yeah but we should have been doing that all along but
doesn't then that look a little like extortion in light of what's happened uh
here
well i think it it might be distorted into looking like that but i think we'd
be able to clarify what
we're up to yeah um well and has it worked in the past or i mean have we
neutralized enemies by lifting
them up economically and i can't say that we specifically have to to the degree
that we have quashed all
envy around the world but on the other hand look at the successes of the little
bit of money we've spent
but the devotion of the people in the peace corps we've sent very few of them
around the world and
those people have made friends in the world
well i i certainly think it's worth examining and exploring other ways because
everybody i have
talked to this week uh tells me that it's going whatever if it is military in
nature it's going to
be long and very difficult and many many casualties so if there is another
possibility i certainly think
people well what all i'm suggesting is that that we know that we know what our
intentions and our
purposes are we we're not going to go let go of that right but we should have a
second look at how we
handle it yeah not just rush in pell-mell and say well this is what we promised
and this is what we're going
to do let's let's take a look let's slow down just a little bit now uh the the
address this evening not
withstanding because we don't know what happened uh don't know what will happen
but but uh are we going
to hear everything are they going to keep secrets from us our government about
this well they've
they've told us they're going to keep everything secret the pentagon people
have talked about openly
talked about the fact that uh this is a secret war that uh they're compartmentalizing
even the pentagon
teams so that they won't know each other what is happening they can't leak
material that is unfortunately
not the democratic way we've got to have the secrets protected there's no
question about it but we there's
a way to do that and also keep the american people informed we're not only uh
we're not only should be
kept informed but we have a duty to be kept informed because we are the
ultimate authority after all in
democracy and uh that can be done very simply as was done in world war ii with
a system of censorship
i hate the word censorship but in a wartime situation it is the only way and we
have to also be
sure that the military sends permits uh correspondence with the troops wherever
those units are operating
cameramen with the troops they cannot send their dispatches out without
clearing a censorship system
that would be set up by the military and with civilian monitors of it uh to
protect our right to
know and our duty to know and if i've got half a second i'll tell you the
importance of that when we
liberated the execution camps in germany the burgers from their surrounding
towns came these red-cheeked
nice looking germans crying copious tears they didn't know what was going on
behind those walls
well i can believe them some of them may not have known maybe maybe many of
them didn't know but
they were just as guilty as the nazis themselves for what happened because they
applauded when hitler
shut down their newspapers and shut down their radio and they said we don't
need to know we trust our
government they became guilty when they did that we have to know as a duty
you know what um is it
is this anything how how about this for a position uh up up to now we've all uh
fretted and and grieved and
and been very very sad and and discouraged and depressed rightfully so by the
events
and should we now look at this as okay we're at war and we have a project and
it's going to be a very
very very very big project but that's all right this country can handle a big
project
and thereby can we feel a little bit better about this awfulness ahead of us
that's a tough one dave obviously what we want to feel that we can be
optimistic again
i think it's almost too early to try to get to that point you know i i think
that we've i think one
thing i've noticed we're beginning to say almost 6 000 died almost 5 500 died i'd
rather have us be
able to say almost every day 50 244 died because those were 5 244 individuals
not almost
i don't know if that's right as a fellow who has seen and covered uh big news
stories all your life
when when you heard of this how did it feel compared to other big news stories
you've covered
well how do you think it felt well i mean how do you really think it felt you
know what it's uh i i think
the question is acceptable uh i'm not criticizing your question except that we
i think we all felt the
same way i really think that's one of the unifying things about us i don't
think there was an american
with a different thought except except invoking the deity my god how could this
happen yeah and uh and the
the shock of it happening and the the terrible awareness of our vulnerability
that that a small
band of fanatics idiots could could could could commit such mass murder and
right in the middle of the greatest
city in the world absolutely it uh uh walter you have a uh you have a birthday
coming up you mentioned in
november i hope i have a birthday you have a birthday coming up i'm planning it
how old a man will you be in
november how old yeah uh let me see now let me count the ways walter walter i'm
afraid it's going to be 85 85.
85. that's wonderful great to see you god bless you walter thank you for being
here walter prime cat
everybody we'll be back with will scarl

Walter Cronkite On America's Post-9/11 Reaction | Letterman

walter how are you i'm doing pretty well i'm gonna i got i got some more joke
cards here
i'm gonna try a joke or two if you don't mind before we get to you mom you know
mom
well she's very patriotic now she's only buying domestic vodka
make it herself right let's try one more that one works so well why not
new yorkers are showing their patriotism this afternoon little league pitcher
danny almonte
re-enlisted
our first guest has long been known as the most trusted man in america he's
right here walter
cronkite walter good to see you
dave i think your people are my people you uh i want to take a second here and
uh i don't know
if i should do this one i'm going to anyway you and i have something very
significant very
important in common don't we have you torn your achilles tendon too
the the the gentlemen the people that did uh some uh heart work on you are the
same people that did the
heart dr isom yeah marvelous dr isom and and how how is yours holding up what
what do i have to look
very well up to now that ain't funny walter
how long ago you had you had bypass surgery yeah uh quadruple yours was quadruple
wouldn't it no
no no i had five you had five five thank you very much thank you oh you've got
to be on top
mine was what five years ago now i guess something like that i've had
absolutely absolutely no trouble
good for you at all yeah they do a nice job yeah yeah well let's let's talk
about the situation what uh
what do you know now what should we be doing what should we be thinking you
know help us out here
what does it look like to you well it's of course is uh we're still in a deep
state of shock
as we would be expected certainly i expect that to continue a long time it's
going to be a very long
time in this generation uh no one's ever going to forget the pictures they saw
on television during
that terrible week immediately after the thing uh what we have to be concerned
about now is we're
going to be hearing but by the time this goes on the air we're taping this
earlier we're going to be
hearing the president that's right uh before the joint session of congress
presumably laying out
some detail uh well i doubt very much detail of what we can expect what what
what is the
the purpose and objective of this address tonight because you say maybe not a
lot of detail what
then is he up to what what is he trying to accomplish here i think it's to
summarize what they've been up to
since september 11th right uh as much as they can the uh and and officially
reporting to congress is an
official report to the american people as representative congress uh so it's a
it's a it's a platform it's
it's a huge platform because it's everybody around the world including the the
enemy listening to this
and monitoring this yeah the big thing that we we need to think about i think
now is that we know that we
we want to get retribution we we we we are with the president a hundred percent
the american people to
bring to justice we possibly can uh the perpetrators of this heinous act
however to my mind i think we also
must keep in mind that that there may be other solutions to the problem than
that which the president
may propose tonight or that may be being considered in our government and what
would it doesn't mean
that we should be any any less determined right on our course but there may be
other ways to reach
it rather than the military action that seems to be planned and there are there
is a body of opinion
right now that's rising that says this is the wrong way to go about it that
invasion of afghanistan for
instance is a bottomless hole of incredible losses not only many losses to the
innocent people of
afghanistan of whom there are many who do not agree with the taliban on this
this type of atrocity
there are many a lot of the many losses of american soldiers so women uh the uh
and the possibility is
that according to that line of reasoning is that it may create additional
hatred uh causing additional
casualties right here at home as this war is extended everybody who talks about
this is worried about
uh retaliation and further retaliation retribution so what we what we have to
do i think is prepare
ourselves to think about alternatives uh to think uh sort of you know we we had
a we had a all we had
this one solid thought get even for heaven's sake get these guys and that's
perfectly understandable and
justifiable and we shouldn't lose that objective but on the other hand we
should have perhaps second
thoughts what would be a second how we do it what would be the alternative and
give me an example if
we have invoked it in the past and how has it worked the the alternative would
be if it's acceptable to
the american people and others uh the alternative that i think our allies are
thinking of instead of this
all-out multi-military reaction and that's uh taking us more slowly uh working
instead inside to try to
do it with with uh r-c-i-a-f-b-i if you're intelligent sources to reach abba
bin adam bin adam bin bin adam
whatever that idios name
i'm trying to forget it already as if that would help somehow now when you say
working inside you mean to
to to to help them or to help take him out no no no to help get him out to help
get him up to find him
get him out this would enable us also to move ahead on the on on this thinking
uh in getting toward
the successors to bin laden yeah uh who there will be many uh and other sort
with secret uh sources of
terrorism so how do we extinguish the entire line is what it sounds like to me
is that's the then that
becomes the objective well that's always been how do we do that it may be
easier than if we go into
all-out war is the thinking all-out war is is a commitment that is unending in
many ways uh we're
going to have to stay in afghanistan for how many generations for instance in a
hostile area make more
enemies in that part of the world also we should be as we should have been all
along paying attention to
the economic status of these people which has led to some of this hatred they
have nothing they have
nothing and and you know television is partly responsible perhaps for this we
were responsible
for helping to bring down the berlin wall and defeat of of the soviet union
because they were seeing
television for the first time from the western world and they said look at the
riches those people
have why can't we have that sort of thing mtv and wrestling yeah so you were
saying about the berlin
wall came down largely the influence of observing culture of this country and
others and tv and so
forth and how would that apply how does that logic or theory apply to the
situation well it has helped
help to create some of this enmity which is purely envy right uh in the entire
uh very depressed parts of
the arab world those people have watched american television now and uh and and
they see all these
riches right and they they are therefore a setup for these fan these these
these if these people who are
playing upon that to create hate for us so we would try to help somehow
economically and uh with other
resources for the yeah yeah but we should have been doing that all along but
doesn't then that look a little like extortion in light of what's happened uh
here
well i think it it might be distorted into looking like that but i think we'd
be able to clarify what
we're up to yeah um well and has it worked in the past or i mean have we
neutralized enemies by lifting
them up economically and i can't say that we specifically have to to the degree
that we have quashed all
envy around the world but on the other hand look at the successes of the little
bit of money we've spent
but the devotion of the people in the peace corps we've sent very few of them
around the world and
those people have made friends in the world
well i i certainly think it's worth examining and exploring other ways because
everybody i have
talked to this week uh tells me that it's going whatever if it is military in
nature it's going to
be long and very difficult and many many casualties so if there is another
possibility i certainly think
people well what all i'm suggesting is that that we know that we know what our
intentions and our
purposes are we we're not going to go let go of that right but we should have a
second look at how we
handle it yeah not just rush in pell-mell and say well this is what we promised
and this is what we're going
to do let's let's take a look let's slow down just a little bit now uh the the
address this evening not
withstanding because we don't know what happened uh don't know what will happen
but but uh are we going
to hear everything are they going to keep secrets from us our government about
this well they've
they've told us they're going to keep everything secret the pentagon people
have talked about openly
talked about the fact that uh this is a secret war that uh they're compartmentalizing
even the pentagon
teams so that they won't know each other what is happening they can't leak
material that is unfortunately
not the democratic way we've got to have the secrets protected there's no
question about it but we there's
a way to do that and also keep the american people informed we're not only uh
we're not only should be
kept informed but we have a duty to be kept informed because we are the
ultimate authority after all in
democracy and uh that can be done very simply as was done in world war ii with
a system of censorship
i hate the word censorship but in a wartime situation it is the only way and we
have to also be
sure that the military sends permits uh correspondence with the troops wherever
those units are operating
cameramen with the troops they cannot send their dispatches out without
clearing a censorship system
that would be set up by the military and with civilian monitors of it uh to
protect our right to
know and our duty to know and if i've got half a second i'll tell you the
importance of that when we
liberated the execution camps in germany the burgers from their surrounding
towns came these red-cheeked
nice looking germans crying copious tears they didn't know what was going on
behind those walls
well i can believe them some of them may not have known maybe maybe many of
them didn't know but
they were just as guilty as the nazis themselves for what happened because they
applauded when hitler
shut down their newspapers and shut down their radio and they said we don't
need to know we trust our
government they became guilty when they did that we have to know as a duty
you know what um is it
is this anything how how about this for a position uh up up to now we've all uh
fretted and and grieved and
and been very very sad and and discouraged and depressed rightfully so by the
events
and should we now look at this as okay we're at war and we have a project and
it's going to be a very
very very very big project but that's all right this country can handle a big
project
and thereby can we feel a little bit better about this awfulness ahead of us
that's a tough one dave obviously what we want to feel that we can be
optimistic again
i think it's almost too early to try to get to that point you know i i think
that we've i think one
thing i've noticed we're beginning to say almost 6 000 died almost 5 500 died i'd
rather have us be
able to say almost every day 50 244 died because those were 5 244 individuals
not almost
i don't know if that's right as a fellow who has seen and covered uh big news
stories all your life
when when you heard of this how did it feel compared to other big news stories
you've covered
well how do you think it felt well i mean how do you really think it felt you
know what it's uh i i think
the question is acceptable uh i'm not criticizing your question except that we
i think we all felt the
same way i really think that's one of the unifying things about us i don't
think there was an american
with a different thought except except invoking the deity my god how could this
happen yeah and uh and the
the shock of it happening and the the te