Eric Sevareid Farewell Nov 30, 1977 

I used to listen to Eric. God damn it...I miss those days when there was some integrity in the news. And I understood everything he said. Men like him will never be seen again...it's over and so are we.

The U.S. hasn't seen the likes of this type of journalistic professional in decades! One doesn't realize how far U.S. journalism has fallen until you watch someone of Mr. Sevareid's caliber, Certainly, Walter Cronkite, David Huntley, Chet Brinkley, Bob Schieffer, Sam Donaldson and others are included in Mr. Sevareid's caliber. R.I.P. - all. You are missed!

Always a class act. Most of the newsmen and women of that era were well schooled in effective writing and reporting and did most of it themselves, not a pretty talking head. I miss those days more than you could know.

As a boy, I remembered watching Sevareid's commentaries which usually came at the end of the CBS News with Cronkite broadcasts. There was no self-hype; just a man giving news commentary in a calm, thoughtful way. Is there any way in the world that American News Broadcasts can return to this manner of journalism?

THIS is veneration. THIS is what the newsmedia has lost sight of. THIS is a lesson to be learned by every journalist in the profession. THIS is their beacon, their North Star. THIS... this is lost. Forever. The last vestige of journalistic excellence will die with Bob Shieffer, the only remaining icon of his ilk.

I remember Eric Sevareid when i was a small child in the early-mid 70's! I grew up watching CBS...newscasts, docs, 60 minutes, and SAT morning cartoons(I'm "only" 44yrs old now).

Arnold Eric Sevareid (November 26, 1912 -- July 9, 1992)...one of the true greats.

I remember this night. I watched. I knew it was the beginnning of the end of an era. But who could have predicted how far we could have fallen? God, forgive us.

I admired this guy even as a kid. I was 17 when he retired and had listened to his commentaries for years w/my father.

(The Late) Eric Sevareid did his job with the utmost in terms of integrity and fairness to the viewers. Brilliant Clip!! A Solid 6!! He was one of the more underrated journalists in our time. Nobody did the job better than him back in November 1977.

As a fellow broadcaster, I thank you for this gem from one of the true giants and a class act in our business.

This farewell by Mr. Sevareid is the literal definition of the First Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees Freedom of the Press. Mr. Sevareid reaches out to me, each time I watch, from 40+ years ago and squeezes my heart, until I weep.

I am so happy to view this video. I had the great fortune of spending time with Eric Sevareid in his home as I was completing my Ph.D. dissertation on Walter Lippmann. Thank you so much for preserving this!

I always looked forward to Sevareid's eloquent commentaries they were usually well crafted literate opinions a pleasure to listen to. One broadcast I vividly recall however during one of his observations he either lost track of what he was going to say or forgot something he was intent to mention and in his frustration tossed his every present pencil to the desk and said without reservation "DAMN!" Within a moment Walter Cronkite appeared and said in a very calming tone. "We'll get back to Eric's commentary in a moment. There were seemingly no repercussions for it I suppose due to Sevareid's well earned reputation as journalistic icon.

Ryan, your great grandfather was a mighty man, a real hero who was a pioneer in days when the world was hovering on the edge of destruction. He, along with his colleagues at CBS News, were a part of a great heritage of reporting. May you always cherish his memory and use his example to motivate you to greatness.

I always knew about great uncle Eric but only recently began to watch the preserved clips from his show. I am struck by his eloquence and intelligence and I am honored to be related to him. I will do all I can to live up to his memory. Thank you for posting this video.

Eric was the best! Such pure class and elegance!!

I am not only impressed that you still have the videocassette (and that the electromagnetic media still function) but that you have a Beta deck that still works in order to do the transfer to digital. Thank you for preserving history and for sharing it with us.

Oh god this clip depresses me. TV journalism, at least at the network level, was really something else back then. It's sad to look back and see what we've lost.

During this election year I find myself searching for journalists who are intelligent, honest, direct, decent and kind. Eric Severeid came to mind. I miss his candor. He always challenged his listeners to cling to his words, to ponder, to decide, to respond. His delivery style conveyed respect for his listeners' intelligence. I miss him - there are none like him. Sad for us!

If you were young and had difficulty understanding Sevareid, it was by design. He didn't "dumb down" his phrasing; he never spoke down to his listeners or readers. He spoke to them as they were: adults. If we're saddened by the loss of that in reporting today, it's because of what we've come to expect...only one of many unfortunate symptoms of what we've become.

One of the best ever. I loved watching Eric.

The last of Eric Sevareid's fellow Murrow Boy's was Daniel Schorr. I had the good fortune to be in his presence one evening in 2002. Like Sevareid a man in eloquent pursuit of the truth. Both are deeply missed.....and, by the way, I would add Walter Chronkite to that list.

My dad would say to me when I was a little boy, that’s a smart man.

Wow. I remember that broadcast on KDFW in Dallas back in the day. I watched it in my parents' bedroom at the age of 11 while mom was in the kitchen watching ABC. Cronkite and Sevareid together were part of CBS' proud history.

Absolutely amazing. To see this clip is like a glass of icewater to a man burning in hell. His Eminence Cronkite honoring the irreplaceable Severeid. This clip is the complete antithesis of everything that airs today on television. THIS is what it's about.

"The danger of dangerously passionate certainties." Sleep well, brother.

As a child in the 60's, though I understood little of what he said, I remember being taken with Sevareid's calm, serious demeanor, the cadence of his voice, and his way of momentarily pausing every now & then to check his notes. I remember being fascinated by that---as well as that really cool microphone on his desk that you'd see briefly at the start as the camera moved in for a closeup. I remember commenting to my mom that his head seemed too large for his neck & shoulders but I've never thought that since, so I'm sure that was just childish imagining on my part, oblivious to perspective & proportion. I recall watching & listening to Sevareid's commentary shortly after the death of Walt Disney, and, in fact, still recall clearly to this day, Cronkite's news item about this at the end of his broadcast on the evening of Dec. 15, 1966. I also recall the clip that was shown from "Steamboat Willie", which Cronkite referred to as the first Mickey Mouse cartoon; of course, it wasn't but it was the one that made the animated rodent famous. I remember being amazed at how differently Mickey looked in it from what I was used to. I'd like to see both the Cronkite news report & Sevareid's commentary at least once more before I shuffle off this spinning old globe! I'm curious, though---did Sevareid appear every night on the CBS Evening News or just occasionally. My very vague memory tells me he didn't do commentary every night. Anyone out there know for sure?

Growing up,my favorite moments on the evening news,were the end of the news editorial by Eric Severeid. Bless his soul!

I remember this broadcast. I was 9yrs old and i used to tune in to CBS any night i was at home and not outside playing.

Thank you for this. That it is impossible to imagine any current TV "journalist" delivering such an artful and complex message, full of nuance and unafraid of showing mastery of English, is our loss. Not only is there nobody on TV or radio who has the capacity, but no person would get more than fifteen seconds anyway. Thanks again.

As a little boy, before I was old enough to follow what he was saying, the voice and seriousness of Eric Sevareid's commentaries came across with a God-like sagacity. Although this is his last commentary, it sounds just like Sevareid's others, straightforward and free of sentiment -- surprising for his last regular broadcast. Another thing that jumps out is the quality of the writing, from him and from Cronkite in his coda. We don't hear that level of writing in TV news anymore.

Sure miss these days, honest journalism, thankful I got to grow up with these wonderful guys...

I guess this was a time in which there was separation between reporting the news and offering commentary.

Thank you for saving, then downloading, this Eric Servareid farewell. Even as a kid going up in Pasco, WA where I saw him on KEPR, the local CBS affiliate, I recognizing his intellectual capacity in his essays. We are the poorer, as anchor Walter Cronkhite said, about Sevareid's goodbye in 1977. Even more so as we look backwards from 2016...

Eric Sevareid - one of the greatest Americans ever produced by Norwegian parents! :)

Well worth saving. Thank you.

A most memorable moment listening to Mr. Sevareid was a commentary he made on CBS Evening News as we graduate students were watching the news after dinner at the Nakamura Coop in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the mid-1970s. I recall his saying that a distinguishing trait of being American is that none of us needs to feel that we live in fear of another human being. What a revelation! This myth of equality in America is often real.

Wow, just wow. I was only three when this aired. This very eloquently drives home the point of just how far we have fallen, journalism specifically and our entire culture in general. I have now seen the problem, and the problem is us.

...dang i miss everything about the 1970s...especially the network news casts...

He was the epitemy of news broadcasters, a mold that so many followed and were the better for it. Eric actaully portrayed himself in the move "The Right Stuff" We lost not only a great journalist but a wonderful man when Eric died of stomach cancer on July 9, 1992. Rest in peace Eric. The world of newsbroadcasting will never be the same.

Thanks for posting this historic clip.

Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. Sevareid.

This man was my idol in journalism. I am 62 years old and I loved to to his commentaries. We have lost so much with the passing of all the "Murrow Boys." I feel very sad for my son's generation that they will not be exposed to real journalism. I sometimes wonder what Sevareid would say if he could come back for 24 hours. It would pretty be a pretty scathing analysis of the dumbing down of the human intellect.

One of the giants of Broadcast Journalism One of the Best of the Very Best. A Murrow he was not, as no reporter will ever be. But Eric, like Charles Collingwood & Howard K. Smith & Larry LeSeur, et.al...will always be able to call themselves: One of the Murrows Boys!!!

As a kid growing up in the sixties and seventies I remember watching the CBS evening news every nite with my family during the dinner hour. No journalist ever left such an impression on me as Mr Sevareid. I would listen to his commentaries realizing each and every word had been given the greatest care and thought. When I see these hacks on TV today, Anderson Cooper, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, O"reilly, Chris Mathews,Rachel maddow etc. I sadly realize the best of American journalism is behind us.

Exceptional. I miss them, even as I've never known them.

Eric Sevareid was a fantastic journalist. I wish more people would post videos of him.

Thank you very much for your work in sharing this treasure with us! --Shane Whisler, "clergy-journalist"

thanks for posting it

I'm thankful I grew up getting my news from the likes of men like Eric Sevareid. These men were real news men not the clowns we see today.

That was beautiful! What a well rounded ball of intellect and expression coated with a sweet glaze of Walter Cronkite at the end!

this is what the movie Network was trying to(maybe unintentionally) warn us,that people like Sevareid and Cronkite would be gone and replaced by "entertainers"."we're in the boredom killing business".

Thank you Sir.

This is the epitome of what a newscast WAS. Today's local, cable and network newscasts are a 'production' that might as well be produced by the respective network's entertainment division. Linger Longer!

He was so well-spoken and enunciated that he made Walter Cronkite seem kind of like a mumbler. That was no easy feat, as WC has been looked upon with great esteem. But honestly, the difference is startling in its clarity over the airwaves, and shows that the affected Mid-Atlantic accent had a good purpose.

Wonderful to remember him for those of us who grew up watching him. Such a stark contract to the average goofball on tv today.

Just listening to the articulate tone of both Sevareid and Cronkite (at the end of the clip) it makes me all the more painfully aware of just how much the quality of broadcast news has deteriorated in my lifetime. These were true journalists.

Mr. Sevareid retired here on my 23 birthday. In the 30+ years I have lived since then I have witnessed the media reduced from the honorable fourth estate which bore the responsibility of diligently keeping the government responsible and accountable to the sycophantic insiders that no longer keep the government in check.

As Peggy Noonan of the WSJ just tweeted: "Look how people used to talk on TV." Indeed... comparing this to today's pablum is really an eye-opener.

Wonderful post.

He was 100 years old,had a good life and always was professional.

The. Best. Writer. In. Television. News. Ever. Period. End. Of. Story.

Thank god you posted this video . Take a good look, see what it's supposed to be

I'll never get along with people who listen to Rush Limbaugh, watch Judge Perino or Sean Hannity. This is what I grew up listening to. Decent, honest people who may have made mistakes but were quick to acknowledge it. I wasn't raised on garbage.

They talked up to us back then...Challenging us to understand our own world...Leaving us the task of making up our own minds...Today so many want to be told what to think...And accept whatever they have absorbed from a self appointed wise man as the gospel truth...Never bothering to question the motivation behind the words of "wisdom" that they have been given.

He was great. In today's environment we have news giants like ,Brian Stelter. Both of these news icons takes reporting, and style to the next level.

i come up to the bow of the ship here every now and then,..like tonight when judy woodruff retired, and let the wind and waves hit me right in the face

spoken truth to all powers from days gone by and those to come. grateful

Learned, intelligent, to the point commentating. Something sadly lacking in these "reality tv" times.

I was named after Eric

A great and humble man who only spoke the truth in that self-correcting system of news that was journalism.

This is why I no longer watch "the news" that's regurgitated by phony talking heads of today. Back in Sevareid's time - these reporters were real, and hada deep integrity that came across in their reporting. All we hear now is manufactured and "doctored up" stories with a slant towards "entertainment."

Classy.

And this was BEFORE I was born on 12/06/1977. And I grew up with Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, Jennings, etc., when they anchored the news.

I think I remember this; I was certainly old enough at the time. Thanks for posting. Wonder what his reaction to the rise of the blogosphere would have been...

Back when news was actually news...

"To elucidate....more than advocate.". That should be every journalist's creed. Sadly, we see and hear the exact opposite in today's print and television reporting. Alas.

I was born long after Mr. Sevareid left this Earth, but I don’t care. I love him. He was soooo handsome. Wonder what Mr. Sevareid thought of having twin sons who shared Edward R. Murrow’s birthday. 💕 By the way, I believe he has a grandson named Eric. ❤️

What the hell has been stuffed into our TV sets? Now, seeing something like this these days in TV would be nothing but a pipe dream. Tim Russert was the closest I've seen to this guy, but now he's gone too...

When I was a kid he scared me coz he seemed so stoic.

take a good long look. it’s called CRAFT

Another Golden moment. They do not make them like Eric Severeid. Douglas Edwards, Richard C. Hottelet Dallas Townshend, Howard. K. Smith, Charles Collingwood and others

🌻

3:45 - ...but that's the way it was: Wendesday, November 30, 1977. 😕

The Right Stuff

That was wonderful. Techie nit picking point however: 3/4 is 3/4 Umatic and Beta is BetaMax and ne'er the twain shall meet. BetaMax inherited much of its design FROM Umatic but BetaMax is half inch, not 3/4 inch. I miss Severeid, Bergman, Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley. John Chancellor and WIllard Scott were instructors of mine.

NorthwestCamera, do you still have the 3/4" beta tape of this broadcast (or is it a 3/4" U-matic Tape) in your possession or is the tape gone?

Those were intelligent words of wisdom they were men, mature wise, real men. Unlike the proliferation of these bias, sensationalist fatheads on the tele that runs so rampet now. The old ones spoke to the intellect not to the igorant. We need these types of journalist now, more than ever.

Me too :)

"TO ELUCIDATE WHEN ONE CAN MORE THAN ADVOCATE."

Now that was what a REAL television personality not to mention journalist, reporter, writer, and all around dude full of integrity and would be rolling over in his grave if he could see what this Country has become! But I digress; R.I.P. Mr. Eric Sevaried :) You certainly would have been against a New World Order...

Sevareid retired literally *days* after turning 65 years old.

These sorts of reporters are gone, never to return.

My earliest memory is Walter telling us about JFK's assassination, I think in ingrained in my mind because my mother was crying, seeing her cry was shocking to my young brain.

Eric Sevareid was a newscaster and an unbiased one. His niece Sally Sevareid works at KOOL in Palm Beach, FL. But that's about all remaining of the Sevareid era. Can you picture today's "unbiased" journalists saying what Sevareid said about Eldridge Cleaver in one clip I saw? The problem isn't O'Reilly and Limbaugh; it's their predecessors, working undre the shield of the Fairness Doctrine, who undid Sevareid's work.

Bloated, pompous, and with great self regard he signs off.

Moviedudeinc, This was sevareid's last show because years ago corporations had a manditory retirement rule when one turned 65..or maybe eric felt it was time to retire..

Why is this his last brodcast???

I listened to him when I was younger. I never understood a word he said.