Of all the professional newscasters | have met, Walter Cronkite of CBS was the most charming. He treated me with respect and dignity. After the broadcast interview, we sat in his anteroom and talked informally.
“I’ ve always wanted to thank you,” he said, “for inadvertently bringing me back to sanity that horrible weekend John Kennedy was killed.”
“Oh, really—how so?”
“This followed on the heels of the televised shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. A journalist asked for your reaction, and you replied with a slip of the tongue, ‘Two rights don’ t make a wrong.’ Before you could correct yourself, | was finally able to break through my depression with a bit of laughter.”
“Yes, those were muddled times. Do you know | forgot where | was the day the assassination took place? | had to tell the FBI | couldn’ t remember, and it was not until later that | remembered | had been in Dallas, of all places. There was a convention of the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages, and | was there representing Pepsi-Cola. But | flew out of there at eleven o’ clock that morning. Kennedy was shot around
one o’ clock, as | recall. Where were you that day?”
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015102