Perhaps if all the peoples of the world understand what war really means, we would eliminate it.
Walter CronkiteRead
Watergate just happened to come along at the same time as the demand for honesty in relations between the sexes, in advertising, in ecology, in almost everything. It just stumbled into that great big elephant trap that had already been built for it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Watergate scandal occurred during a time when society was increasingly demanding honesty in various aspects of life.
Walter Cronkite's quote reflects on how the Watergate scandal emerged concurrently with a societal shift toward a greater emphasis on honesty, integrity, and transparency across different domains, including gender relations and environmental issues. He metaphorically likens the circumstances surrounding the scandal to an 'elephant trap', suggesting that it inadvertently fell into a larger context of accountability that society was beginning to expect from its leaders and institutions.
Themes
WatergateHonestyIntegrityScandalTransparency
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be referenced during a discussion on political accountability.
More from Walter Cronkite
All quotes →The death of Churchill at 90 was one of those watershed moments in which the obituary rises to a special calling beyond the sharing of remembered times. It gave an older generation a rare opportunity to explain something of itself to its children.
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I suppose popularity is measured by ratings. If a broadcaster is known as the leader because of ratings, then that's where people most want to be seen and heard, so there's no question that there's an advantage.
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Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.
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I feel no compulsion to be a pundit. As a matter of fact, I really don't have that much to say about most things. Working with hard news satisfies me completely.
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I think that our comfort is in our history.
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