- Artist: Walter Cronkite & Fred Friendly
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1971
- Total Time: 163:16
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Spoken Word
Review
A double CD of soundbites from speeches, press conferences, broadcasts and the like from the '60s, narrated by famed newscaster Walter Cronkite (who wrote and edited the album with Fred Friendly). Note that the history documented on I Can Hear It Now/The Sixties is very much that of the '60s in the United States. There's some coverage of world events such as the 1967 Israel-Egypt Six-Day War and the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, but the overwhelming bulk of it has excerpts from statements and speeches by U.S. politicians. Cronkite and Friendly also made a conscious decision to almost totally exclude coverage of the arts and some other forms of non-political culture, as they make clear in their liner notes. The model for I Can Hear It Now/The Sixties was actually a previous album by celebrated journalist Edward R. Murrow, who compiled an album called I Can Hear It Now devoted to events of 1933-1945; Cronkite and Friendly had the advantage of many more source tapes, in much better fidelity, from which to choose. It sounds a bit staid and staged decades later, but this does include plenty of famous soundbites of the '60s: the Kennedy assassination, the Bay of Pigs, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, escalation of the war in Vietnam, the 1968 presidential election, the 1969 moon landing, Nixon's "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore" speech, Woodstock, student demonstrations, and more. If you want this sort of thing, for the archives or actual listening, it's a good deal, containing about 75 minutes per disc. The fidelity is not always state-of-the-art, particularly in the early part of the '60s, but it's never difficult to comprehend. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Prologue: "I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great..." | (2:12) | ||
| Warnings for the Decade | (4:13) | ||
| Jan. 20, 1961: "Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You..." | (1:32) | ||
| Nov. 14, 1961: Pablo Casals White House Concert | Walter Cronkite | (:27) | |
| "The Problems Are More Difficult Than I Imagined Them to Be..." | (:20) | ||
| Jan. 30, 1961: "Each Day the Crises Multiply..." | (:42) | ||
| Excerpts from 1960 Debate on Cuba | (2:13) | ||
| April 17, 1961: Un Security Council, Ambassador Adlai Stevenson Denies | (1:41) | ||
| April 21, 1961: News Conference: JFK Takes Responsibility for Bay ... | (1:07) | ||
| July 25, 1961: Berlin Crisis; Need for Air Shelters | (1:33) | ||
| March 21, 1962: "Inequity of Life..." | (:27) | ||
| June 26, 1963: "Ich Bin Ein Berliner..." | (1:09) | ||
| Dec. 6, 1961: (Humor) N.A.M. Speech/June 11, 1962: Yale Honorary ... | (2:23) | ||
| Sept. 29, 1960: Chairman Nikita Kruschev Pounds Shoe at U.N. While ... | Walter Cronkite | (:40) | |
| Oct. 3, 1960: Sec. General Dag Hammarskj LD's Fight Against Soviet ... | Walter Cronkite | (:51) | |
| Sept. 25, 1961: Hamarskj LD's Eulogy | (:53) | ||
| Oct. 25, 1962: Ambassador Adlai Stevenson - Soviet Delegate ... | Walter Cronkite | (1:25) | |
| Oct. 22, 1962: Report to Nation on Cuban Confrontation | (2:25) | ||
| Dec. 17, 1962: JFK Describes Andrei Gromyko at White Houe During ... | (1:15) | ||
| Oct. 28, 1962: Radio Moscow - Cuban Missile Crisis | Walter Cronkite | (1:05) | |
| Sums up Cuban Missile Crisis and American Position by Crhistmas, 1962 | (:56) | ||
| Nov. 7, 1962: Conceding Defeat in California Gubernatorial Election | (2:41) | ||
| Feb. 20, 1962: Progress in Space, Early '60s: Sputnik I, Wernher ... | Walter Cronkite | (3:52) | |
| May 8, 1963: Need for a Test Ban Treaty | (:33) | ||
| June 10, 1963: "We All Breathe the Same Air..." (American ...) | (:47) | ||
| July 26, 1963: JFK Announces "Important First Step" - Treaty ... | (1:02) | ||
| June 11, 1963: Deputy Attorney Gen. Nicholas Katzenbach & Gov. ... | (2:36) | ||
| Aug. 28, 1963: Civil Rights March on Washington/Mahalia Jackson; ... | Walter Cronkite | (5:00) | |
| Nov. 22, 1963: Interruption of "As the World Turns" & First ... | Walter Cronkite, |
(4:41) | |
| Nov. 24, 1963: Oswald Interviewed by Reporters at Dallas City Jail | Walter Cronkite | (3:05) | |
| Nov. 25, 1963: Funeral of John F. Kennedy/CBS News Correspondent Roger | Walter Cronkite | (3:58) | |
| Nov. 27, 1963: First Speech to Joint Session of Congress (As President) | (:47) | ||
| May, 1964: Explanation of How Civil Rights Bill Will Get Through ... | Everett McKinley Dirksen | (:58) | |
| July 16, 1964: (Republican Nat'l. Convention in San Francisco) ... | (1:15) | ||
| July 14, 1964: (Republican Nat'l. Convention in San Francisco) Warning | (1:02) | ||
| Aug. 27, 1964: (Democratic Nat'l. Convention in Atlantic City) ... | (1:00) | ||
| Aug. 1964: Harlem Riots | Walter Cronkite | (1:31) | |
| Aug. 4, 1964: Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam Incident & Resolution (LBJ) ... | (2:47) | ||
| May 24, 1964: Goldwater Suggests Defoliation of Vietnam ... | (:58) | ||
| 1970: Reprise on Tunkin Gulf Resolution/Former Pres. Lyndon Johnson In | Walter Cronkite | (2:36) | |
| Feb., 1965: Malcolm X Defines Black Power/ Mrs. Malcolm X ... | Walter Cronkite | (2:00) | |
| May 2, 1965: Santo Domingo Intervention/Lyndon B. Johnson Orders ... | Walter Cronkite | (2:24) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Jan. 28, 1966: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings on ... | (4:09) | ||
| Government Officials Voice Optimism About Vietnam [1964, 1967, 1968] | (1:28) | ||
| Aug. 5, 1965: Burning of Village of Cam Ne | (2:21) | ||
| Nov., 1965: Great Power Blackout/Nov. 9, 1964? Rickover Accepts ... | (1:20) | ||
| Contrasts in Music of Decade: Tony Bennett/The Beatles/Bob Dylan | Walter Cronkite | (2:38) | |
| Oct. 4, 1965: At United Nations | (:51) | ||
| Riots & Civil Disorders: Watts, L.A. (8/65) /Detroit (67) /Newark (67) | (2:24) | ||
| Feb. 29, 1968: Report of President's Commission on Violence | (:30) | ||
| The Times They Are A-Changin' | Bob Dylan | Bob Dylan | (:35) |
| Six-Day War: Israel & Egypt | Walter Cronkite | (:25) | |
| June 5, 1967: Call for Holy War of Vengeance Against Israel | (:59) | ||
| June 5, 1967: War Comes to Cairo | (:54) | ||
| June 5, 1967: First Reports of Israel's "Instant Victory" | (:27) | ||
| June 7, 1967: Israeli Troops at Wailing Wall of Ancient Temple | Walter Cronkite | (:43) | |
| June 9, 1967: President Nasser Resigns. Cairo Crowds Reject ... | Walter Cronkite | (:51) | |
| Jan., 1968: New Hampshire Primary - Sen. Eugene McCarthy ... | (2:20) | ||
| Mar. 16, 1968: Sen. Robt. Kennedy Decides to Run | (:41) | ||
| Mar. 31, 1968: Johnson Announces He Will Not Seek Another Term as ... | (:52) | ||
| Apr. 4, 1968: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Memphis, TN) | Walter Cronkite | (:48) | |
| "We Shall Overcome": Joe Louw Describes Events at Lorraine ... | Traditional | Walter Cronkite | (1:46) |
| Apr. 5, 1968: Kennedy Interrupts Campaigning to Speak of Dr. King ... | (1:52) | ||
| June 4, 1968: California Primary & Robert F. Kennedy Victory ... | Walter Cronkite | (2:48) | |
| June 8, 1968: Robert F. Kenedy Eulogy, St. Patrick's Cathedral, NY | (1:25) | ||
| Aug. 8, 1968: Republican Nat'l. Convention - Nixon Accepts Nomination | (2:24) | ||
| Aug. 28-29, 1968: Humphrey Nominated by Mayor ... | (5:38) | ||
| Aug. 20, 1968: Invasion of Czechoslovakia: Rep. Boggs Interrupts ... | (2:56) | ||
| May, 1968: Demonstrations at Columbia University, NY | Walter Cronkite | (1:10) | |
| Apr. 28, 1969: President Chas. De Gaulle of France Resigns | (:46) | ||
| Sept. 11, 1968: Wallace Campaigns for President as Candidate of ... | (1:50) | ||
| Sept. 30, 1968: Hubert H. Humphrey (Salt Lake City) | Walter Cronkite | (:30) | |
| Nov. 6, 1968: Victory Statement (Waldorf-Astoria, NY) | (1:07) | ||
| Dec. 24, 1968: Apollo 8 Orbits Moon/Astronauts Read from Genesis | (2:53) | ||
| Apollo 11: First Moon Landing/July 16-21, 1969: Blast-Off from ... | (3:44) | ||
| July 24, 1969: Nixon Greets Astronauts Aboard Aircraft Carrier "Wasp" | (:24) | ||
| Aug. 1969: Woodstock Festival - Sly & The Family ... | Walter Cronkite | (3:15) | |
| July 25, 1969: Incent at Chappaquiddick | (2:00) | ||
| Jan. 20, 1969: Inaugural Speech "We Are Caught in War, Wanting Peace... | (1:21) | ||
| Nov. 3, 1969: Vietnam Policy Speech | (1:30) | ||
| Oct. 15, 1969-Nov. 15, 1969: Peace Demonstration & Moratorium | Walter Cronkite | (:54) | |
| Nov. 13, 1969: Agnew Castigates News Media for Coverage of ... | (2:03) | ||
| Apr. 29, 1970: Eric Sevareid Answers Vice President/Elmer David Memori | Walter Cronkite | (1:58) | |
| Chief Justice Earl Warren: In One of His Rare Replies to Congressional | (1:35) | ||
| Jan. 20, 1969: "We Find Ourselves...Reaching for the Moon, But ..." | (:32) | ||
| Epilogue: July 9, 1965 "Passengers on a Little Spaceship..." | (:55) | ||
| Dec. 25, 1968: "To See the Earth as It Truly Is..." | (3:39) |
