Don't blame Cronkite

I am astounded by those blaming the failures of the Vietnam War on a truly great American and journalist, Walter Cronkite. Is it AM radio or Fox News saying this, hoping to avoid comparisons to the Iraqi war?

Could victory really be acquired without our best ally, Great Britain, against an enemy who was willing to sacrifice everything, even women and children, for their cause?

Were we willing to fight against the Soviet Union and China?

How could democracy survive when a "significant part" of the southern Democratic side preferred communism?

Was peace and victory resulting in the stable independence of a free Vietnam really that close at hand when Cronkite did his report?

Americans were told to "stay the course" despite long years of unproductive and costly irresponsible attrition warfare that was even criticized by our own military generals. Were they brainwashed by Cronkite's reporting? Our own Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said, "The achievement of a military victory by U.S. forces in Vietnam was indeed a dangerous illusion."

Was he also brainwashed by Cronkite?

Blame the Vietnam War on those who started and conducted it, not on those who served courageously and not on one single journalist.

Dane Henderson

Orem