the bubble overlooking the mission control center and we saw earlier david brinkley, and i rememberedt so much. i was just off camera when david was making that remark. he and ted came down and because of we were sponsored by gulf oil, gulf was playing a lot of money and didn't want somebody like jay barbree. they wanted the big stars. the unit got the emmy for it. it was led by one of the greatest producers ever at nbc. he was the right arm of reuben frank, who was really the father of nbc news. he was the executive producer of huntly brinkley. it was a great time, a very historic time. i've got to tell you something funny that nobody else knows. when they came back and landed, david and tamron, when we got them back safely, everybody began to drink. we called it the splash down party. that whole street was filled with drunks, if you will. ted huntly was the nicest guy you would ever meet, a perfect gentleman, unless you gave him a drink. as soon as you did, he became honorary and mean. he did not appreciate the piano players playing by the pool so he decided to push the piano and pi

john chancellor was on the air with david brinkley.i think, a distinguished job to stay competitive. it was tough. they were the gold standard. you knew when the big story broke there was this inclination to go to cbs. you had to say, look over here for a moment. we've got something going on here, as well. the nice thing about walter was i hadn't been on the job too long and this super-heated environment when i met him at a white house correspondent dinner. he said, young man, we are keeping our eye on you at cbs. you are doing too well for nbc. he gave me a slap on the back. he wasn't patting me on the head, he took me from a colleague the moment we first met and i must say it grew into a nice friendship. it meant a lot to have that. >> tom, we are going to ask you to stand by and stay with us. we are going to continue our coverage and remembrances of walter cronkite with tom brokaw. cbs news announcing walter cronkite's death. announcer: here's ryan getting ready to make his approach... to the men's room. second announcer: looks like

they, you know, chet and david brinkley were dominant in the early years.s had a big leg up on cbs and then walter sat in that chair and they built a remarkable team around us and they caught us and eventually passed us. and in both cases, what i learned from them is that this new form of reporting the news on television was a great gift to democracy because every corner of the country could get the news simultaneously and find out what was going on. the two the great events i think of that time were vietnam and the civil rights movement in which people had an opportunity to join in a common dialogue about the war and then importantly could see what was going on not just in the south but in the industrial north, as well. with the shameful treatment of people of color. and the great eloquence of dr. king moved this country, but dr. king and andrew young and all the others so critical of that movement said it couldn't have happened without television. now, you know, the golden age it certainly was that because they established certain traditions and a great f

is this walter cronkite or david brinkley? how are you, walter? mr.r war. they're the ones who have to win it or lose it. >> there has been an attempt on the life of president kennedy. from dallas texas, the flash apparently official president kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time. 2:00 eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago. and now, three weeks after the offensive began, the firing still -- it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victims, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. and that's the way it is. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

or i guess david brinkley had an interview with him. and if we can see that quote, i'll show mr. cronkite--i guess we don't have it. anyway we're at the point in that particular quote--that's not the quote. anyway, i'm sorry. we don't have it. the idea was that he said in another interview that he doesn't see us getting out of there for a long time. >> guest: well, i think that there--this was a result of considerable unhappiness in his official family over the comment on our broadcast. they reacted to that with considerable concern that he had tipped the fact that shortly thereafter--well, there was an assassination, as you know, of bod zem, the emperor leader of vietnam. and the united states cia was very much involved in the plot to depose zem. th--there are various representations of what precisely happened in the actual murder of zem. the attempt is made to disclaim any american responsibility that it got out of hand, the entire revolution--coup d'etat, which was supposed to get rid of bod zem but not cause his death. others maintain that the cia involvement--the american em

is this walter cronkite, or david brinkley? how are you, walter? mr.hot water we have got running at the moment is the one in vietnam. >> it is their war. they're the ones who have to win it or lose it. >> there has been an attempt on the life of president kennedy. from dallas, texas, the flash apparently official, president kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time. 2:00 eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago. and now, three weeks after the offensive began, the firing still -- it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victims, but as an honorable people, who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. and that's the way it is. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i eat anything that i want. key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake, raspberry cheesecake... ... yeah, every night is something different. oh, yeah yeah... ... she always keeps them in the house. no, no, no. i've actually lost weight... i just have a high metabolism or something... ...l

david brinkley was one and walter cronkite, who stood out above the rest. now, people tried to copy david brinkley because of his voice, style, here we are, and how are you? but you couldn't copy cronkite's voice style, and you couldn't copy the fact that he was authentic from the stand point of just being an american. so, yes, people understood that pretentiousness was out, pomposity was out, to the extent that you didn't have to explain it. but cronkite didn't have those things. campbell, i want to bring up one point that john mentioned, since the early '80s. he was forced to retire at the age of 65 by bill payly who had founded cbs and who had one rule. you turned 65 and you had to go. frank stanton, payley's very important president was forced out at 65. and cronkite at the heighth of his power with the largest news audience in this country ever was forced to retire by bill payley. he could have gone on, what, another ten years easily and gone on to be number one easily, but he stepped down and dan rather took over. and as they say in the old country, t

listen to david brinkley, of nbc news, the night before the launch, 40 years ago today. >> to say thatomebody is about to land on the moon and walk around on it, while almost everybody on earth watches, is just about too much to swallow. i almost don't even believe it. but it is true. and if this is not a permanent enduring event in human history, then nothing is. and it certainly will be remembered as long as mankind remembers anything. >>> he was right. and so, good night, david. good night for all of us here at nbc news. thank you for being with us. i am brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

. >> is this walter cronkite's station or david brinkley's? how you doing, walter?s is walter cronkite. good night. then, i thought, why a cold "good night"? all these famous broadcasters have their catch lines. murrow... >> good night, and good luck. >> so why not have one of those? and a nice one might be, "and that's the way it is," because i could say it almost any way. and that's the way it is. that's the way it is. and that's the way it is. >> and that's the way it is. >> now that's the way it is. or ironic, you know, "and that's the way it is?" >> we'll be right back. >> and now, let's all play "what's my line!" and now, let's meet our first contestant. will you come in and sign in, please? ( applause ) we'll begin our questioning with dorothy kilgare. >> mr. contestant, would we recognize your name or your face rather than your costume? >> probably. if your kids can go onward and upward, no matter what. if you get side-lined from work. insuring your family's ifs can be hard to figure out. so metlife removed the guesswork, by combining the most essential insu

chet huntleigh and david brinkley, long before walter cronkite became number one., shook his hand and said well, it's about time they sent me some competition. of course, he laughed. he thought that was really funny. he was a good guy. i love competing against him. then, of course, when i went to cbs it was a real pleasure to actually work with him. >> eric: what was it like to work with him? >> tremendous. you know you had a firm hand. you had an editor who knew the language, knew you. and again, made accuracy the first thing. had to be accurate. had to be accurate. the writing was not flawed. the writing was good old fashioned english. i will say one thing now that i've criticized the "new york times," one thing in their favor, that is that the story of his death was announced in a story the began in the first paragraph began saying he had plain-spoken grace. that really sums it up. >> eric: keep it simple. simplicity. it's amazing. his legacy, what he left with us. i used to sneak in cbs news and look at him. one man in the typewriter near the cbs news desk. qui

and we owe so much to those early pioneers of network news, david brinkley, chet huntley, and walter cronkite and the people who put them on the air for taking this mission so seriously, establishing the standard when they did, and making sure that broadcast news would become as it has i believe such a critical element in american life. and no one personified that more than walter cronkite did. >> tom, when you think back over the types of milestones that mr. rather milestones mr. rather was describing earlier, the kennedy assassination, the space program, civil rights, vietnam, all the things we associate this great voice of authority, this great voice with american authority with, what stands out to you in terms of broadcast excellence? in terms of setting that bar so high, being the gold standard in terms of integrity and broadcast excellence? >> i think two things. you left out the beginning of his career which is that he covered world war ii. i wrote a piece for "the washington post," which he assume will appear tomorrow morning, where i said nowhere else in american history has

being introduced to him and i was working for nbc news at the time, the old chet huntley and david brinkley said -- says -- days and i looked at him and said well, it's about time cbs news has sent me some competition. he was very good natured about it. it was a memorable occasion. he also endorsed my first book and did so very graciously because he knew and i knew and we had discussed this, did not agree on his views on the vietnam war. i don't think he should have said what he said in 1968, that the war could only end in a stalemate. i believed it then and believe it now but that didn't get in the way of our friendship. he was very good about it, he was open minded. 9 man had character. as brit hume touched on earlier, the monday -- man had modesty and humility, which is very much absent in the qualities of so-called anchormen nowadays. but i have very fond memories of walter cronkite. >> and his ability to stay on a story. the stories that you tell about his work in vietnam, he was no prima donna. he was out there in the field getting his boots dirty and wet. he waded ashore with some of

>> well, there were two people, there was walter cronkite and david brinkley. and there were others, of course, i don't want to minimize the other people. but when i got into the business in the early '60s, 1961, walter cronkite, i worked for a cbs station, the cbs anchor who took over for douglas edwards, began to build the broadcast. huntley/brinkley was still the number one broadcast through, oh, most of the '60s, but cronkite with his great team of reporters, roger mudd at the capitol, later dan rather at the white house, marvin kalb at the state department, daniel shore who covered watergate, they were the horsemen he led in the sense that you watched that broadcast because of walter cronkite and because of the people that he was surrounded with. and into the '70s, of course, no one could touch him. >> and, sam, stay with me. we just read president barack obama's statement. i want to read you a statement now from senator john mccain who, of course, was president obama's opponent in the last election, but a man who has a personal history with walter cronkit

chet huntley and david brinkley, obviously in the early days of news really set the pace, and then when walter sat in that chair and began to build that remarkable team that cbs had, chet decided to retire, and cbs caught us and then with walter in the chair, passed and became the dominant news division in the evening news. nonetheless when i first met him irs was young correspondent in washington covering watergate at one of those big white house, white house correspondents' dinners i think it was. he came over introduced himself and said, we're keeping our eye on you and over the years we really did become good friends. meredith and i have often talk about how walter and betsy were a model of how you get through this kind of superexposed life, and keep your marriage intact and your eye on the professional ball and move forward. we had a lot of great times together. what a lot of people don't know about walter cronkite. at a party after maybe drink or two he loved to put on a kind of a fan dance. he would come out and imitate sally rand or one of the grand scriptese artists and drift o

which i have worked all of these years, i grew up in a brinkley household because they were the first ones on the air. i was so taken with david'se were competitive in those years. they were the only two choices you had. the country became the beneficiary of that because they went at each other trying to be the best they could be every night, 5:30 in the east, supper time. the news shows at these big networks became the center piece really of the networks. entertainment programs came and went. news stayed. it's because these guys took what they did seriously and the country took them seriously. >> and what -- you bring up a great point, too, tom. it is easy to forget he was the challenger when he first started. >> remember it was 15 minutes. i don't remember that, but it was 15 minutes originally. then it went to half-an-hour. when was that? >> i can tell you it was the fall of 1963, shortly before john kennedy was assassinated. they both broadcast, had interviews with john kennedy. i was a young reporter in omaha. the chicago bureau chief for nbc came out to omaha and said, we're going to be expanding the huntly-brinkley report

i grew up in a brinkley family and that's one of the reasons i'm still at nbc, but i am eternally grateful to chet and to david and to walter for setting the bar so high for all of us and making this not only something that was exciting, but it was an honorable calling. and serving the country so well. and they all did this and they were white males. that's changed, thankfully, but they did this by earning their way to those positions and then taking the news very seriously. and we can't underestimate the importance of that. a lot of people have been saying what a sad day that walter has died. i look at it in another fashion altogether. we did get to be friends. i see this as a celebration of a great life. he was a great american. he did everything that he wanted to do. and now he's getting the appropriate salute as he leaves us. >> and let me just add, when you say earned it, i was stunned -- i knew that he worked for the united press during world war ii. i knew all of that. i never realized he have not only at the normandy beach head, but went into north africa first, was in the battle of the bulge with patt