September 2, 1963: The CBS Evening News becomes the first network TV news broadcast to go from 15 to 30 minutes. NBC and ABC will follow suit later in the month.
CBS' first installment includes videotape footage (which is still not all that common), in black and white, of their anchorman, Walter Cronkite, who had taken over as anchorman a year earlier, interviewing President John F. Kennedy, spending Labor Day weekend at the family compound at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. It was taped in the morning, Cronkite and the videotape were flown to New York in the afternoon, and the footage was broadcast that night, at 7:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time.
Among the subjects discussed is civil rights. In June, Kennedy had asked Congress to pass a civil rights bill. He was planning to run for re-election on the success of that bill, which was still working its way through Congress:
Cronkite: How seriously do you think this civil rights situation is going to affect your chances, assuming you will be the nominee of the Democratic Party next year, in 1964?
Kennedy: Well, obviously it is going to be an important matter. It has caused a good deal of feeling, I suppose, against the administration in the South. Also, I suppose, in other parts of the country. Whenever you have an issue upon which people feel so strongly, quite obviously, it has its political effects, so I would say it would be an important matter.
On the other hand, I am hopeful that both parties, Republicans and Democrats, will commit themselves to the same objective of equality of opportunity. I would be surprised if the Republican Party which, after all, is the party of Lincoln, and is proud of that fact, as it should be, I would be surprised if they did not also support the right of every citizen to have equal opportunities, equal chance under the Constitution...
Cronkite: Do you think you will lose some Southern States in '64?
Kennedy: I lost some in '60, so I suppose I will lose some, maybe more in '64. I don't know. It is too early, to tell but I would think -- I am not sure that I am the most popular political figure in the country today in the South, but that is all right. I think that we will have to wait to see a year and a half from now -- a year now. It is not that long.
Cronkite: Are you making any estimate as to who your opponent might be in '64?
Kennedy: No, there are a good many of them. There are a good many of them.
Cronkite: Do you have any choice as to who you would like to run against, either to put the issues before the people or otherwise?
Kennedy: No. That is a great mistake. I know some Republicans chose me in '60 as their favorite candidate, so I don't think I can choose anybody. I will let them choose.
Cronkite also wanted to discuss the war in Vietnam. The interview has been cited as evidence by people who think JFK would have ended the war in 1964, or early in his second term, in 1965:
Cronkite: Mr. President, the only hot war we've got running at the moment is of course the one in Vietnam, and we have our difficulties there, quite obviously.
Kennedy: I don't think that unless a greater effort is made by the government to win popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam, against the Communists.
We are prepared to continue to assist them, but I don't think that the war can be won unless the people support the effort, and, in my opinion, in the last 2 months, the government has gotten out of touch with the people.
But, a minute later, JFK said something that suggested the opposite, that he would keep troops there beyond the next election, comparing the struggle against Communism in Southeast Asia with the struggle against Fascism in Europe, 20 years earlier:
Kennedy: But I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake. I know people don't like Americans to be engaged in this kind of an effort. Forty-seven Americans have been killed in combat with the enemy, but this is a very important struggle even though it is far away.
We took all this, made this effort to defend Europe. Now, Europe is quite secure. We also have to participate -- we may not like it -- in the defense of Asia.
We'll never know: Just 81 days later, the decision was taken out of Kennedy's hands. Cronkite would deliver that news, too.
A related note: A survey showed that 1963 was the first year in which a majority of Americans said that they got more of their news from TV than from newspapers. Of course, the New York newspaper strike of December 8, 1962 until March 31, 1963 may have had something to do with that.
*
September 2, 1963 was a Monday. Since it was a holiday, Labor Day, several baseball teams played doubleheaders. These games were played:
* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers, at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Yankees won the opener, 5-4. Whitey Ford outpitched Frank Lary, known as "The Yankee Killer" for several wins against the team earlier in his career. Joe Pepitone hit a home run. Yogi Berra went 0-for-2 with 2 walks, Roger Maris went 0-for-3 with a walk, and neither appeared in the nightcap. Mickey Mantle only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
The Tigers won the nightcap, 2-1. Hank Aguirre outpitched Stan Williams. Mantle went 2-for-4 with a walk. Over the 2 games, Al Kaline went 1-for-6 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
* The New York Mets split with the Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds. The Mets won the 1st game, 5-3. The Reds won the 2nd game, 1-0. Jim Maloney pitched a 3-hit shutout, striking out 13, to gain his 20th win of the season. Frank Robinson left the 1st game early, returned for the 2nd game, and went 0-for-5 on the day. Pete Rose, soon to be named the National League Rookie of the Year, went 4-for-9 with 2 RBIs.
* The Boston Red Sox swept the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 and 2-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Though a Red Sox fan, President Kennedy did not make the 75-mile trip northwest from Hyannis Port to Fenway that day. Bob Heffner pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 2nd game. Over the 2 games, Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-7 with a walk. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3 in the 1st game, and did not play in the 2nd game.
* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians won the 1st game, 15-3. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 8-7.
* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Los Angeles Angels won the 1st game, 7-5. The Chicago White Sox won the 2nd game, 8-7.
* In the only single game of the day, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Braves, 9-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron hit the 334th home run of his career. He was not yet 30 years old.
* The Minnesota Twins swept the Kansas City Athletics, 6-2 and 3-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Over the 2 games, Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-8 with a home run and 2 RBIs.
* The St. Louis Cardinals swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1 and 6-2 at the first Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Bob Gibson won the 1st game, and the only run he gave up was a home run to Roberto Clemente. In 1967, Clemente would hit a line drive off Gibson's leg, breaking his fibula, and causing him to miss a month of the season.
Stan Musial, entering his final month as an active player, did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 with an RBI in the 2nd game.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Houston Colt .45s, 7-3 and 7-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Sandy Koufax won the 1st game, Johnny Podres the 2nd game. The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965.
* And the Chicago Cubs swept the San Francisco Giants, 7-5 and 6-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Ernie Banks went 0-for-1 before getting hurt in the 1st game, and didn't play in the 2nd, in which Ron Santo hit 2 home runs, in support of Glenn Hobbie, who pitched a 2-hit shutout. Willie Mays went 0-for-2 in the 1st game, and did not play in the 2nd.
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