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June 3, 2012
Douglas Brinkley
Author, "Cronkite"
Douglas Brinkley BIO:
CURRENT:
·Professor of History, Rice University
·Author, "Cronkite"

PREVIOUS:
·Professor of History at Tulane University
·Taught American Arts and Politics out of Hofstra University aboard the Majic Bus
·Taught American Arts and Politics out of University of New Orleans aboard the Majic Bus
·Director of the Eisenhower Center

BOOKS
·Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal (1992) With Townsend Hoopes
·Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953-71 (1992)
·The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey(1993)
·The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (1997) ed.
·Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (1997)
·FDR and the Creation of the U.N.(1997) With Townsend Hoopes
·American Heritage History (1998)
·Jimmy Carter: The Unfinished Presidency(1999)
·Witness to America(1999) With Stephen Ambrose
·Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976(2000)
·Rosa Parks (2000)
·The Mississippi: and the Making of a Nation (2002) With Stephen Ambrose
·Wheels for the World : Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 1903-2003 (2003)
·Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (2004)
·Voices of Valor : D-Day, June 6, 1944 (2004) With Ronald J. Dretz
·Windblown World: the Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954 (2004) ed.
·The World War II Memorial: a Grateful Nation Remembers (2004)
·The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion (2005)
·Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism (2006) With Julie M. Fenster
·The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2006)
·The Reagan Diaries (2007) ed.
·Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007) ed.
·Gerald R. Ford (2007)
·The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (2009)

EDUCATION
·B.A. Ohio State University (1982)
·Ph.D. Georgetown University (1989)

PERSONAL
·Married to Anne Brinkley. Three children.


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Info: Our guest is author and historian Douglas Brinkley to talk about his new biography “Cronkite.” The book chronicles the life of long time CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite, who was often referred to as “the most trusted man in America.” Brinkley discusses Cronkite’s early life in Missouri and Texas and his reporting from the front lines of World War II as a correspondent for the United Press wire service. He shares stories of Cronkite’s rise through the ranks of CBS News, including the task of anchoring the 1952 political conventions and the expansion of the CBS Evening News from 15 to 30 minutes in 1963. Cronkite’s opposition to the war in Vietnam, and his meeting with Senator Robert Kennedy urging him to run for president in 1968 are discussed. Brinkley suggests that while Cronkite’s Evening News broadcasts aimed for political objectivity, his radio commentaries were what he terms “left leaning.” Brinkley describes Cronkite’s retirement at age 65 from the nightly newscast and his subsequent regret at making that decision. He states that while Cronkite had a hand in choosing Dan Rather as his replacement, he felt he was mistreated by Rather and his staff. Brinkley asserts that Walter Cronkite didn’t like Dan Rather and Rather was aware of that feeling. Brinkley discusses his research methods for the book which included access to the newsman’s private papers as well as interviews with over 150 individuals, some on multiple occasions.

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