Audie L. Murphy Memorial Website Message Boards

Surprises, surprises! Today I went to the mailbox and what do we have here? Hmmmmm!
I opened the envelope and there was the endorsement of Dan Rather, whom I had written on January 25th!
Mr. Rather, who needs no further introduction left a very noteworthy comment as well.
I give him more credit than Tom Brokaw who responded some time ago to the petition effort with this comment "As a journalists I cannot be involved in such recommendations, although I think it is a good idea."
That coming from the guy who wrote the forward to "To Hell and Back"!
At least Dan I. Rather doesn't lack moral courage.

Here is Mr. Rather's endorsement:







More and more optimistic each day!

Thanks,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

Man o' Man! This does my heart good to hear about Mr. Rather endorsing the petition. I just have to tell a little side note......Dan Rather and I went to the same Jr. High school in Houston. He was a year or two older than me, but we had the same algebra teacher. Her name was Mrs. Brewer and there was another Dan in the class and she ALWAYS called him Mr. Rather (which was NOT his last name). Of course, at that time, I had no clue about who he was or what he would accomplish. Pretty neat memories!

Job well done Dave. Again, your hard work is paying off!!!!


***Teri

Teri:

Thanks, cool story! I hope you saw how callous Brokaw was in the narrative I related above. I find it despicable that he is that way!

Thanks,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

Dave,

Another great get and you are correct that Dan Rather needs no introduction. I agree with you about Tom Brokaw. He was a journalist still doing the NBC Nightly News when he did the foreward for To Hell and Back so now that he is basically retired from the news grind how can use "being a journalist" as an excuse to not sign the petition when he even admits it is a good idea. The whole thing is ludicrous and it only makes Dan Rather look better and more real than Brokaw obviously is.

Also I love your story Teri about going to the same junior high school. I know that Dan Rather has always been a loyal and proud Texan and has never forgotten those roots in his long career in journalism that has taken him all over the world. If Audie does get the Presidential Medal of Freedom the Murphy family is going to owe you big time for sticking with this when it seemed like a pipe dream that could never really happen but it does seem to be coming closer to a reality rather than a fantasy...........almost like something out of a Disney movie!!!

Sharon

Sharon:

Thanks for the note. Yes, I feel kind of 'burned' by Brokaw as he doesn't seem to mind being appear on MSNBC 2-3 times a week in the morning giving political commentary. Regardless of his reasoning, I have much more respect for Rather now than Brokaw.

Thanks,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

I'm not really a fan of journalists as a species, Mr. Rather and Mr. Brokaw included, but I do think it's nice that Mr. Rather got back to you fairly quickly and with a cool comment.

Hi Dave,
As always, great catch with Dan Rather's heartfelt endorsement and signature !!! I had always liked
Tom Brokaw's news casts and his many appearances on both Dave Letterman's and Jay Leno's Tonight
Shows. When I learned of his decline to sign the petition and his LAME EXCUSE for not doing so, it
suddenly dawned on me that all of those appearances on the Tonight Show, and on The Dave Letterman
show were really "All About HIM".The fact that Tom Brokaw wrote the forward of THAB does not in my
opinion really amount to much. It is quite obvious, that Tom failed to do his homework, in really learning
what Audie was really all about. He missed the mark by a country mile, when he gave you the lamest of
all excuses for not signing. Audie in his lifetime would always say how he felt, and was never afraid to
say it to the press, whereas Tom had to hide behind the fact that he was a journalist, which I must say
Audie probably did not have to high of a regard for most journalists that were alive and reporting when he
was alive... Just my Thoughts, Shirley Jean.

This is a major endorsement, Dave. I agree with a lot of the comments on "professional journalists" too. Shirleyjean pretty much summed it up when she said that Brokaw was really more interested in himself. While I appreciate the foreword by Brokaw in the latest publication of THaB, I am convinced these guys are doing everything they can to market themselves and make themselves "popular" in the average American's eye.

Rather had a lot of bad publicity in the last 10 or so years. Maybe this run of bad luck brought him back to reality and has reminded him of the things that matter most. Rather is also a native Texan. I am glad he acknowledged that in his endorsement.

As everyone has pointed out, Rather deserves the credit for doing what the other journalists didn't have "journalistic guts" to do. Journalists today will not blink an eye when it comes to sensationalism and opinionated discussion disguised as fact if it means better ratings for them and more payola when their salary and bonuses are collected. But they also seem to be morale cowards if they suspect an endorsement will jeopardize their popularity polls.

I guess the reason why politicians publically ridicule and declare their disgust so openly when it comes to the media is because both politicians and newsmen are so similar. Ironic, isn't it?

Once again, Great job, Dave!

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

Richard:

Thanks for the excellent commentary. You summed it up perfectly!

Thanks again,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

I have to agree that once he did the foreward to To Hell and Back it makes no sense to all of a sudden "fall back" on some kind of journalistic credos because Brokaw expressed his opinion of Audie as a soldier and a man when he did the foreward. So how does he justify in his own mind that he can say those things about Audie in a book but as a journalist he can't show "favoritism" to that same person when it comes to an award like the Presidential Medal of Freedom??!! Obviously Tom Brokaw has forgotten how to spell the word hypocrisy or maybe if he does look up the word in the dictionary he will see his own face there........OOPS!!

Sharon

Sharon:

Thanks for the excellent comment! I concurr! Brokaw has issues. I assume he was paid to write the forward; so if it is for his financial benefit he doesn't mind being involved; but for "a worthy cause"....ooops!

Thanks,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

I wanted to revisit the Tom Brokaw issue in regards to Audie and the petition. I'm sure most of you get cable or satellite and have the station AMC (which is the one that airs Mad Men). This weekend beginning tomorrow night the station will be airing war movies through Monday night. On Sunday morning around 11 a.m. EDT To Hell and Back will be on ( there will be a repeat airing at 2 a.m. Monday morning). There will be commentary of each film airing throughout the weekend by none other than..........Tom Brokaw. What will be interesting in light of what he told Dave about why he could not sign the petition, is what he will say about Audie and the movie To Hell and Back. Even if he says good things about Audie, it will feel tainted because he did not have the backbone to stand up and be counted if he believed Audie to be what he wrote in the foreword of the book. It is just ironic that AMC would choose Brokaw to talk about its war movies in War Heroes Weekend and about Audie in particular since he does not seem to have the courage of his own convictions which begs the question of why did Brokaw even do the foreword of the book in the first place if he could be so easily swayed into that world of "political correctness!" Let's not offend anyone else who served or some minority group with their own agenda. IMO Tom Brokaw is a sad commentary in his own right.

Sharon

I agree Sharon. Maybe we should do an email blitz on AMC and tell them they need to mention the petition. That would put Brokaw on the hot plate, wouldn't it? Of course, he has probably pre-taped his comment for those movies.

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

Richard,

I don't think there is any question given the marathon lasts 3 days that he would have pretaped several weeks ago his comments for each film. But I still think it is hypocrisy whatever he will say about Audie and To Hell and Back given what we know about his reasons for not signing Dave's petition. Also I got the hour wrong, the movie starts at 10:05 EDT 9:05 CDT so please take note of the time the movie starts because his comments will probably be at the beginning and end of the film. I wish I had a water gun so I could squirt him while he was talking out of both sides of his mouth......DAN RATHER ROCKS!!

Sharon

Mostly I feel embarrassed about not checking the AMC website in time to post THAB in Now Showing. Sorry, guys!