and even walter cronkite allowed himself a little broadcaster pride as glenn's rocket lifted from the earth, cronkite rooted for the home team saying go, baby go! the context of all this was important. five years earlier, the soviet union beaten us into space with an unmanned satellite and now the u.s. sleeps under a soviet moon. and that's where the other three men we honor today come in. seven years after glenn circled the earth, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and michael collins put to rest any doubts about the position of the united states in the world. the cold war was being fought in space and these men proved that the u.s. was winning. it wasn't easy. as president eisenhower stated at the outset, america's space program would be civilian rather than military led, so no one would doubt our intentions. this meant it would be conducted in the open so every hitch and hold up could be scrutinized. and this is just as it should have been. these missions spanning two democratic and two republican administrations showed not only the power of the four men we honor today, they showed the po

walter cronkite walked in with him one time. >> reporter: carol dodda is someone cain loved to talk aboutshe pushed the envelope of social acceptable. back in 2000, bob mackenzie told us the story of the woman who became a major attraction on broadway for years. >> reporter: they called it body broadway. a sleazy, flashy mumble of lights offering the oldest attraction ever known. in 1964 carol dodda was a cocktail waiter at the condor. every now and then she amused the customers by getting up on the piano and danced. then the club owner got an idea. >> basically here's your new costume. i said, oh, okay. great a new costume. i go upstairs and in the bathroom, i put this on and i noticed i said, this is a strange costume. so i go down and i said, you know, i don't think i can wait on tables anymore because they won't be grabbing the change, they'll be grabbing me. >> reporter: when she got up on the piano that night, rose nburg was ready with the photographers. topples entertainment was born. >> there's this doctor doing these silicon injections maybe you should check it out. i said i gues

because of that they felt a responsibility, that we got to try to be objective, and so we had walter cronkitetera, but other than that -- >> the fairness doctrine. >> exactly. >> which is something deeply opposed by the people of fox who portray themselves as fair as balanced. >> yeah. but the whole fair and balance everyone understands is tongue in cheek. >> but you and i understand that but the people on the air at least sell it like they believe it and the people who watch this absolutely believe it. >> i hope you are wrong. i got to think that -- >> they are not watching that stuff because there aren't any good cartoons on at 7:00 in the morning anymore. >> i think people like to listen to what -- to things that agree with what they already believe, and i think there was a constituency out there of -- i'm probableably labeling it but the angry white men. the same people that go to talk radio, and that constituency was perhaps not being met in the national media, and so roger ails brilliantly said hey, here is a market. let's go after them. >> the host of the jerry springer show good to se

. >> reporter: but when the rocket left the launch pad, apprehension faded and walter cronkite gave voice to the nation's excitement. >> looks like a good flight. oh, golden! >> well, it was a surprise because it was so gentle. you don't get the high acceleration until you're in orbit. >> reporter: as glenn began his descent, there were more anxious moments. >> mercury, do you read me? >> reporter: mission control thought his heat shield might be loose so they left a rocket pack on to keep it in place. the rocket pack burned up on reentry. >> there were chunks of something coming by, burning chunks. >> reporter: burning chunks? >> yeah, they were flaming. >> it's breaking loose down here. >> reporter: how did you feel about being named a hero? >> i didn't look at myself as any different from before the flight. i thought i had a great and wonderful experience. i never went along with the hero theories at the time. >> reporter: with the end of the space shuttle program and no certainty when the u.s. will launch astronauts again, glenn worries america may be losing its edge. >> i hope we kee

. >> moyers: walter cronkite said to me ten years after he had retired... we were in vienna together for one of his great hostings of the vienna symphony orchestra, broadcasted all over the world, a billion viewers every year on new years day with that great symphony. we were having our, we were about to leave vienna the next day and we were having lunch and he said to me, you know, you are smarter than i am. i said, what? come on, walter. i could see it coming. he said, yeah, you haven't retired. i retired too soon. i retired at 65. i was then 75. you have had another ten years than i have, he said. i said, well, you know, i decided a long time ago watching my father, watching that generation, that retirement is the enemy of longevity. when you have work that is easy like i do, work that is fun like i do, work that i can... you know, journalism has been for me a continuing course in adult education. ever since i went to work at sixteen on the marshall news messenger in marshall, texas, it has been the way i learned about the world and it has constantly enl

walter cronkite, the "60 minutes", but we were allowed to read and read.ad an end those they don't belong to geographically to any tribe. was one of the theory -- first african-american and a first liaison to the british embassy we grew up in europe, japan, 17 different it and we do need to help privileged writing on the before not the first talented painfully aware on the shoulders of the giants of which i stand. not just my parents. but if you think the efforts that it took for me to stand here it is truly amazing. i could not have been anybody but here. they don't understand struggle the mothers to barbara bush my tin can of a civic them lowered dented it is the more it is worth when it is stolen. and i keep a terrible cough. can and car and i marched in their because the family is moving into the american fabric housing project. five the generations of public housing nobody has ever worked provide estimated the unemployed rate was 70% back then. what we face right now with our sustained recession/depression they would be throwing a party over what we s

walter cronkite did a famous interview at hyannis port. drops the bomb on cronkite's first half an hour nightly news of distancing america from vietnam to a degree. you started seeing in the fall kennedy wasn't -- hadn't bought into the idea that if the dominos were going to fall if we lost south vietnam. even though the domino theory was in effect. >> every time i hear a candidate for president say i'm going to listen to the generals on the ground and take their instructions i go, you are running to be their boss. you are running to be a u.s. commander in chief. your job is to tell them what the mission is. thank you so much. kennedy was already thinking about color tv at the '64 convention. i guess he figured he was going to win the nomination and he was going to get re-elected. already planning ahead there at the end. it's sad but also positive in the way he was so optimistic. david brinkley, thank you for coming on from rice university, as always. >>> when we return, let me finish with the duel. it's a duel of words between newt and mi

when you look at the set it's got the map that walter cronkite used.n number one since "captain kangaroo." so we need you, audience. >> jimmy: that's a high bar to set. >> we need you. >> jimmy: i mean, yeah, the "captain kangaroo" show, yeah. >> that's okay, that's okay. >> jimmy: i'm into -- i'm into super bowl mode now. i'm in the football mode. >> me too. >> all the way. >> me too. >> i mean, this is big time. now, who are you going, patriots or giants? >> uh, i'm going with the giants because i'm in new york. >> jimmy: new yorker, yeah, you're new york yeah. [ cheers and applause ] >> i'm going with the giants. >> jimmy: yeah. it's going to be an interesting game, right? because tom brady is amazing. and the patriots are amazing. >> well, here's the thing, i'm going with the giants but you can never be mad at tom brady. >> jimmy: yeah, girls can't. yeah, yeah, yeah exactly yeah. >> girls can never be wrong, can never be mad at tom brady. but definitely, definitely going for the giants. >> jimmy: what are you doing? are you throwing a party? are yo

i have been writing on walter cronkite, he did a famous interview with kennedy, he dropped in your books first half an hour nightly news of distancing america from viet nam to a degree. so you started seeing in the fall kennedy wasn't -- hadn't bought in the idea if the dominos were going to fall if we lost south viet nam, even though the theory was in effect. >> every time i hear a kennedy for president, i'll listen to the generals on the ground, take their instructions, i go wait a minute you're running to be their boss. you're running to be a u.s. commander in chief. thank you. kennedy was thinking about color tv at the 64 convention. he figured he would win the nomination and he was going to get reelected. already planning ahead right at the end there. sad but also positive in the way he was so optimistic. doug brinkley, thank you for coming on from rice university. >>> when we return, we finish with the duel of words between newt and mitt, will it get worse? you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. wouldn't it be cool if you took the top down on a crossover? if there were buttons

i love walter cronkite. but we were allowed to read and read and read. at age three and four. because we traveled i became a nomad. you grew up as a nomad. and nomads are particularly said for dangerous work because we don't belong geographically. we don't belong to any try. i have many, many times. we all belong to tribes. i don't identify with one single drive. i have many tries but i don't we belong to any of them. and so when you grow up and move as much we did go and we move more the most air force families and we knew to other black officer families. the air force was not integrated when i was coming up. my dad was one of the few african-american officers and he was the first liaison to the british embassy in london. so we grew up in europe or quit growth in japan. we grew up in 17 different places in the united states. and grew up a lot in taxes. they graduate from high school in texas. i do think we need to help texas. we need to help texas. we really do. we need to help texas achieve its aspiration which is to secede. i think -- [laughter] i thi

country in this shape and that is the fact i think the media should address -- we used to have walter cronkite dan rather and people who sat down and addressed the issues and now we have news channels that put both sides on and have an argument and never really get to the fact and a point but it is good for ratings. what party says big business doesn't run government? guest: i was thinking of a quote by the late irish finance minister who said, as his country faded into debt and they required a belt out from the european community that all the parties were responsible. we were all partying. the same could be said of the members of congress. both parties are not without sin when it comes to spending tax dollars and not making hard decisions early. i agree with you on that host: this is from spring hill, west virginia -- guest: i'm not sure about that. i would like to see a straw poll about that issue just to settle it. i hear that a lot and when i talk to people individually, i find that is not the case or is certainly is not as overwhelming as people talk about. the only thing i can talk about

like millions of americans, they watched and listened to walter cronkite set the scene. our nation was in the midst of the cold war, worried about russian nuclear aggression, worried about the space race. cronkite later said -- "it was a time when the intricacies of science were complicated by deep american doubts and anxieties over where we stood in the race with russian science. with the arms race in a dead heat, space had become the scoreboard of cold war competition. that's why a few years earlier, president eisenhower launched project mercury, the first human space flight program in the united states to put our country on the playing field. hundreds of our nation's bravest and patriotic aviators signed up. only seven were selected in the original -- as the original mercury seven -- john glenn of ohio, m. scott carpenter of colorado, gordon keeper jr. of oklahoma, virgil "gus" grissom of indiana, alan spep arrested of new hampshire, and donald slayton of wisconsin. john glenn later wrote of the original astronauts, the world was at the door of a new age. we were the