Walter Cronkite was a CBS news anchor during the 1960s and ’70s. It was a time when almost everyone got their news from either newspapers or a nightly news broadcast. In fact, a 1972 poll called Walter Cronkite “The Most Trusted Man In America”. On February 27th, 1968, Walter Cronkite declared on his widely watched newscast that the Vietnam war was a “stalemate”.
When President Lyndon B. Johnson heard about the commentary, he purportedly said:
“If I’ve lost Walter Cronkite, I’ve lost America” – President Lyndon B. Johnson
Within weeks, Johnson declared he would not seek re-election and the Vietnam war began to wind down.
There are multiple versions of this quote and it’s not clear how much Cronkite’s commentary affected the decision to end the war. But ever since, when someone says, “When you’ve lost (fill in the blank)” it’s an indication that you lost a key ally, and your cause is in trouble.
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