Oral history transcript, Frank Stanton, interview 3 (III), 8/26/1987, by Michael L. Gillette

LBJ's refusal to participate in a debate; JFK and Richard Nixon's second, third, and fourth debates; LBJ seeking Stanton's advice on improving his television appearances; LBJ using a lavaliere microphone; Morley Safer's 1965 broadcast depicting the burning of a Vietnam village; television news coverage of Vietnam; Stanton's belief that the Vietnam war would have been shorter if there had been presidential debates in 1964; Walter Cronkite's effect on public opinion and LBJ's concern over Cronkite's opinion; the military's truthfulness in reporting what was happening in Vietnam; Don Cook talking to LBJ about Vietnam; CBS News program Harvest of Shame about migrant agricultural workers and hunger in the United States and the BBC's efforts to show it; conflict of interest between journalists and government employees and between Stanton and LBJ; public interest in programs like Harvest of Shame; Stanton's role in arranging for Cronkite's interviews with LBJ after LBJ left office; Arthur Krim's and LBJ's dissatisfaction with the interviews; The Vantage Point.