November 4, 1979: Ted Kennedy's Disastrous Interview

November 4, 1979: The Iran Hostage Crisis begins. Islamic militants take over the U.S. Embassy in Iran, and take 80 hostages, a number that will drop to 52. At first, the nation rallies around President Jimmy Carter, as the nation tends to rally around the President when a crisis occurs.

It helps Carter that, on this same day, CBS Reports airs "Teddy," an hourlong program focusing on Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is rumored to be running for President. (He confirms the rumor by announcing his candidacy 3 days later.) Ted made the huge mistake of making what turned out to be his only run for President in the 1 election between 1972 and 1996 when the incumbent President was a fellow Democrat.

He hurts himself further by taking the simple question of host and interviewer Roger Mudd, "Why do you want to be President?" and, unlike his brothers Jack in 1960 and Bobby in 1968, coming up with an answer that is neither direct nor brief.

Roger Mudd

And while both Jack and Bobby had made their announcements in the Senate Caucus Room at the Capitol, Ted literally had the home-field advantage: He was at his house in the so-called "Kennedy Compound" in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Then 47 years old, older than either of his brothers lived to be, he was seated, and apparently relaxed. He seemed prepared to answer The Question.

He even agreed to do the interview, because he thought it would help Mudd in his bid for a higher office: The choice to succeed Walter Cronkite, who had famously interviewed Jack across the compound on Labor Day 1963, as anchor of The CBS Evening News was down to Mudd and Dan Rather.

Here's how the announcements went:

Jack, January 2, 1960: "The Presidency is the most powerful office in the Free World. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for our people."

Bobby, March 16, 1968: "I run for the Presidency not merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policy. I run to seek new policies, because I believe our country is on a perilous course, and I feel obliged to do all that I can."

Ted, November 4, 1979: Well, I, uh, were I to, to make the announcement to run, the reasons I would run is because I have a great belief in this country, that it is, there's more natural resources than any nation in the world, has the greatest educated population in the world, the greatest technology of any country in the world, the greatest capacity for innovation in the world and the greatest political system in the world.

And yet, I see at the current time that most of the industrial nations of the world are exceeding us in terms of productivity, or doing better than us in terms of meeting the problems of inflation, that they're dealing with their problems of energy and their problems of unemployment.

It just seems to me that this nation can cope and deal with its problems in a way that it has in the past. We're facing complex issues and problems in this nation at this time, but we have faced similar challenges at other times and the energies and the resourcefulness of this nation, I think, should be focused on these problems in a way that brings a sense of restoration in this country by its people to, in dealing with the problems that we face, primarily the issues on the economy, the problems of inflation and the problems of energy, and I would basically feel that it's imperative for this country either move forward, but it can't stand still or otherwise it moves backward.

• MUDD: What would you do different from Carter?
• KENNEDY: Well, in which particular areas?
• MUDD: Well, just take the question of leadership.
• KENNEDY: Well, it's, on what, on, you know, you have to come to grips with the different issues that we're facing. I mean we can, we'd have to deal with each of the various questions that we're talking about, whether it's in the questions of the economy, whether it's in the areas of energy.
• All he had to do was say pretty much the same thing either of his brothers had said. Instead, he stammered, he rambled, and he sounded more like one of the George Bushes than he did like a Kennedy.
• He also seriously mishandled Mudd's question about the 1969 Chappaquiddick Incident that cast a shadow over his life and career from that moment onward.
• His campaign never really got off the ground. On February 26, 1980, in the Primary in the next-door State of New Hampshire, he got 37 percent of the vote, to Carter's 47 percent. It shattered his aura of invincibility: If a Kennedy couldn't win New Hampshire, what chance did he have nationally?
• By April 25, 1980, when the failed "Desert One" rescue attempt occurred, Carter had the Democratic nomination for a 2nd term sewed up, and people (including some Republicans crossing over) started voting for Kennedy as a protest vote, knowing he could no longer win the nomination, but the Primaries he might win could, and did, damage Carter.

Cronkite's last broadcast as anchor was on March 6, 1981. The following Monday, March 9, the new anchor was Rather. Mudd would be forgotten, except for the Ted Kennedy interview. He died in 2021.

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November 4, 1979 was a Sunday. The baseball season was over. But the NFL held games:

* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 16-14 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 27-22 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-19 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 26-6 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins, 38-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-28 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-14 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 35-7 at the old Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 37-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-14 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the New Orleans Saints, 10-3 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* The next, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Houston Oilers beat the Miami Dolphins, 9-6 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

There were 3 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Kansas City Kings, 101-98 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (It's now named the Jersey Mike's Arena)

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 114-101 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-124 in overtime at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. George Gervin led all scorers on the night, with 32 points.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The Rangers trailed 2-1 with 4:16 left in regulation, but they got an equalizer on the power play from Anders Hedberg at that point, a go-ahead goal from Phil Esposito with 3:07 to go, and an empty-netter at the end from Don Maloney.

* The New York Islanders played the Winnipeg Jets to a tie, 4-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

September 2, 1963: The Birth of Half-Hour Evening News On National TV Networks

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.

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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.