From. Washington Straight

On Thanksgiving night, CBS presented an hour-long interview with General Eisenhower, skillfully conducted by newscaster Walter Cronkite. The show, part of a series “Eisenhower on the Presidency,” included a blast by Ike against “extremists” and “super-patriots.” It followed by less than a week President Kennedy’s denunciations of the radical Right at the Hollywood Palladium and was picked up—and played up—far and wide.

The story behind the curiously-timed Eisenhower slam at the belligerently anti-Communist Right is this. Some months ago, CBS sent Cronkite to Gettysburg to tape several days of conversations with the former President. The resulting interview was intended for use as a rare historical document in which an ex-President would discuss his concept of the Presidency based on his experience in office.

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On Thanksgiving night, CBS presented an hour-long interview with General Eisenhower, skillfully conducted by newscaster Walter Cronkite. The show, part of a series “Eisenhower on the Presidency,” included a blast by Ike against “extremists” and “super-patriots.” It followed by less than a week President Kennedy’s denunciations of the radical Right at the Hollywood Palladium and was picked up—and played up—far and wide.

The story behind the curiously-timed Eisenhower slam at the belligerently anti-Communist Right is this. Some months ago, CBS sent Cronkite to Gettysburg to tape several days of conversations with the former President. The resulting interview was intended for use as a rare historical document in which an ex-President would discuss his concept of the Presidency based on his experience in office.