Walter Cronkite - "The 21st Century" March 12, 1967

March 12, 1967 episode of CBS' show "The 21st Century" with legendary newsman Walter Cronkite bringing news of what we'd be doing at home and work in the future.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. No infringement is intended as this historical video is meant to be used for educational, scholarship and research purposes.

[@theRappinSpree]

Seems we spent the 60s & 70s looking forward to what would be in the 21st century......once we got there we spend our time looking back to how things used to be :)

[@eldmaster]

I'm 4 years into the future and you read my mind

[@JimFarm]

The future ain't what it used to be.

[@mikenekosama4426]

I was kind of creeped out by some of the future predictions in The 21st Century. I wanted to remain a naive kid, well into the 1980s.

[@TheMaxx111]

In the 21st Century it may be that people watch old film strips of Walter Conkite on their Computerized Communication Consoles.

[@brianarbenz7206]

Hey, don't knock it -- the C3 may arrive!

[@lisacabello8624]

I used to watch this show as a kid. It was on Saturday's.

[@fromthesidelines]

Sundays, 6pm(et).

[@delavalmilker]

It would be great if CBS released a "restored" version of this outstanding series. So many of us Boomers have fond memories of watching this. Then it would be great if CBS had a "follow-up" to each episode. They could discuss how closely the predictions in the 1960s came to reality today. And then also speculate on how "today's" early 21st century technology might look 40 years from now.

[@evanhammerman616]

Holy Shit! What an AMAZING idea! Too bad though television won't make a show specifically for us older folk.

[@Caban1970]

Walter Cronkite lived until 2009. He lived long enough to see how these predictions were so off.

[@yveslaflute9228]

+Antonio Caban Cronkite was a presenter. vision is from the Philco-ford company, and actually, the predictions are more right on than off. You didn't live in 1967 obviously, to understand where we were coming from...

[@markvahlkamp5443]

yves laflute I was 10 in 1967 and I’d say about 10% of what they predicted was accurate.

[@rossonerodiavolo8074]

@@markvahlkamp5443 Not too far off, but the interpretation of such can be related to things today

[@karlnemo8658]

OMG I saw this as a kid, 9 years old. I used to watch these and wonder how much they would get right (or even if anyone would be alive then courtesy of a possible WW3). Kind of dispiriting how much has _not_ changed. Thank you for finding it!

[@MichaelSHartman]

Karl Nemo Same on all counts.

[@BradiKal61]

I remember watching this as a little kid first run. I still miss the ambitious goals that designers had for your kitchen or living room or the futuristic home exteriors. We had the Apollo program back then and the futuristic future was in fashion. Now it feels like everything is falling apart and cutting costs is the goal.

[@timdub70]

This was actually an extension of The Twentieth Century, with the focus on the future instead of past events. I noticed the McGraw-Hill Films at the beginning. Episodes of The 21st Century were shown in schools. I remember watching one in a science class in the late 1970s. The only thing I remember about that film I saw was that it was the first time I saw the 1939 GM Futurama To New Horizons film.

[@JimFarm]

I watched this series when it aired originally by CBS on Sunday evenings. Later on, when I was in high school, they had repackaged episodes from this series for viewing in schools, so I got to see some of these episodes again in school.

[@doginstine]

I remember watching this in 67 on CBS.

[@eldiablo8019]

I remember watching these as a kid with my jaw hanging open. Microwave ovens in every home. NO WAAY Computers in every home. NO WAAY People working from home NO WAAY I have an inflatable chair, but it sprang a leak.

[@markvahlkamp5443]

El Diablo Get your “robutt “ to fix it!

[@gottalivehappy]

El Diablo NOO Way PEOPLE WORKING FROM HOME oh just you wait.

[@MrGchiasson]

I loved this show when I was a kid. America was still in the Gemini space program. Working to get to the moon. Everything seemed possible. 'Home computers' and 'cordless phones' were a dream. The funny thing is... I'm watching this video on my laptop and sent it to my Smartphone to show a younger guy at work.

[@TheDaveHowardSingularity]

I genuinely wish that CBS would release this series. I'd buy it. I watched this show every week at the time and since then have been impressed with some of their descriptions of what life would be like today such as a computer in every home. On the other hand I also remember another episode that said there would be moving sidewalks everywhere. Only in airports .

[@zelphx]

I am glad that the vision of the 21st century, foreseen by some in 1967, did not come to pass for this kindergartener of '66-67. What a nightmare it'd be, now that I am retired... and in no mood for a "blow-up" easy chair.

[@Hillers62]

At 14:10 ..."By the 21st Century, home computers may be as common as today's telephones" ...Today, out telephones ARE our computers!!!

[@zooeyhall]

What I always liked about these programs was the awesome music over the ending credits.

[@-danR]

+zooeyhall Yes. I believe the composition was by Alfred A. (not E.) Newman, uncle of Randy Newman. I never was able to properly verify it; I believe he was credited, but you can see above in the vid there is a slight jump near the beginning. It may be in that gap, I don't know.

[@TH-nf1eo]

"In the 21st century, you will watch me doing this program even though I will have been dead for many years."

[@kernals12]

It's surprising how accurate this turned out to be, this is probably this first time anyone predicted that the future would be built on computer chips and copper wires not rocket engines or nuclear reactors,

[@kaliboo60]

visionaries fascinating to watch after all these yrs.. I would love the rest of this series...

[@phantomcruizer]

It was good to see this program again....I was 10 when they first ran it:-) The sad thing is a middle class10 year old today doesn't have the same limitless expectations/possibilities that we had! Thank you for posting this video.

[@Pimp-Master]

We had it wrong. 1967 was one of the great years, much better than today.

[@jameswhite1910]

You knew who you were then, girls were girls and men were men! Mister, we could USE a man like Herber Hoover again.... (ya gotta be old to get this one!) We forget how BAD it was in 67 too. Were you a christian white man? Well that WAS awesome! But for everyone else, they have it better today.

[@EugeneAxe]

Great years, except for Nixon's draft lottery later on.

[@centerfield34]

+James White Now it's completely the opposite....

[@michaellincoln9631]

.....Except For The Vietnam War....AND.... The Passing Of John Coltrane.....

[@cigarsmoker999]

Yes but 1968 sucked as bad as 2018.

[@bradwooldidge6979]

I never missed this show when I was a kid!

[@tonysam1955]

Microwave ovens came on the general market right around the time this show was broadcast. My mother was one of the early purchasers when she bought an Amana Radarange back in around 1969.

[@mikenekosama4426]

They were pretty expensive back then.

[@JimFarm]

Microwave ovens were already a thing back in the sixties. Some of my relatives had them. The diffrerence is that back then they were damn expensive.

[@katetx2001]

@@JimFarm and we thought we’d be injured, or at least sterile, from radiation.

[@Zoomer30]

The only thing AMF knows how to make is pin spotters. (They were the one making the automatic fast food machine).

[@DIAMONDGIRL57]

Remember watching this series growing up in the 60s. Now here we are in the 21st Century.

[@randybargar6334]

This was pretty accurate on several things and aspects of life now.

[@monsterhobbiesonlinestore]

By the time the Crawshaw daughters have grown up, they will be stone deaf from that cumbersome printer head bashing out their math homework on that piece of paper striking the cast iron backing plate.

[@jjandkw8274]

Haha, well I'm the Crawshaw girl sitting at the teletype and I'm not deaf. We only had the teletype for about 6 months. Headphones and rock n'roll did more to damage our hearing than that teletype.

[@BRuane-pw6xq]

Very few accurate predictions of the future. The World s Fair of 1939 had us much more advanced than we became.

[@ahier]

We tend to overestimate technological progress in the near term and underestimate advances in the long term. When do you expect to see machines be able to imitate humans (pass the turing test or human level artificial intelligence)?

[@ThePantherproof]

I was fascinated by this show as a child. Of course predicting the future is fraught with error, but much of it came true. Some of the technology seems so dated today. Of course, McMansions weren't envisioned back then. And some of the technology, such as automated cooking, rejected by the public.

[@allengurl8891]

Its year 2022 and still watching

[@56bluegold]

I wish you could see all the Episodes, on KZbin .

[@ValleyoftheRogue]

I remember this episode. It's fun to look at it all of these years later. Things didn't change a whole lot, other than the advent of the personal computer, from that time to this.

[@oldjack-mi8gk]

The 21st Century was series of programs, 1967-70. I would like to see other episodes posted. One I remember in particular was "Atomic Medicine."

[@jchow5966]

This was a terrific series.

[@brianarbenz1329]

At 18:57 wouldn’t your downstairs neighbors love waking up to the patter of those not so little feet!

[@wgaff6313]

"A package for quick food might have a disposable electric plug. You just plug it in, the package would heat, you eat the food, and you might even eat the package. With all the wasted paper in the world, it's conceivable that if the package was heated, it would turn into part of the food." This is the kind of future that I've always dreamed of.

[@anonymousperson748]

The designs for the furniture and the homes are so rooted in the 1960's that they remind me of the scenes from "A Clockwork Orange." At the time, they were unconventional and modern, but today, they look a lot like 1960's - early '70's relics. Not to take anything away from that movie, which is a huge favorite. And the one thing they didn't predict about the future was computer hacking which is evolving so quickly that I read that the computer scans are now outdated.

[@moosefactory133]

Forget the home of the future, where's my flying car!?

[@dashfatbastard]

I had completely forgotten this show. I was born in 1960, and Cronkite's facination with history, science, and the race for space fueled my facination for all three.

[@apl175]

19:12 I feel like professor would have a heart attack if he saw what Boston Dynamics was up to in the year 2022

[@michaellincoln9631]

.....Thank You Brian For Publishing This Classic '60s Video....Walter Cronkite Was a great Journalist And Commentator...It may Very Well Be That Our Future Has Already Disintegrated... How Depressing.....

[@Texas3Step]

By the time those robots get breakfast made, it will be lunch time.

[@markvahlkamp5443]

Texas3Step You mean “robutts “!!

[@OldHeathen1963]

That looked like Fred Flintstone's house!

[@Hillers62]

I thought the same thing when I saw that rounded house..."WILMA!!!!!!"

[@kohaku1821]

I wish the 30 hrs a week was true!

[@JimFarm]

If you want it then organize. If the labor movement was as strong today as it was back in the sixties then the 30 hour week would have become a reality a long time ago.

[@RollsRoyceFanatics]

They got the 30 hour work week wrong. You either work 10hrs casual or 60 hrs full time per week instead.

[@JimFarm]

If the labor movement had remained as strong as it was back in the sixties then the 30 hour week would have become a reality a long time ago.

[@softdorothy]

Remember how around the year 2000, the 30 hour work week became the norm? Me neither, LOL.

[@JimFarm]

If you want it, organize. If the labor movement had remained as strong as it was back in the sixties, the 30 hour week would have become a reality a long time ago.

[@CoolBreezeAnthony]

Thank you for sharing.

[@nickdiamond7595]

18:57 "...wake up to the patter of little feet. Robit feet." CLUNK! PNKCHNK-CLUNK! PNKCHNK!!

[@kaliboo60]

OMG I cannot believe I found this cli9 of the 21st century. I loved this show when I was a kid... I wonder if the whole series is available?

[@kernals12]

3:17 the opposite would happen in the 21st century, individual homes would get bigger while families would shrink

[@1646Alex]

gotta love the classic 60s graphic design!

[@juamont]

I cant believe they got so many things right!, like it looks different, but it does the same things

[@josephwonderless1258]

juamont I use to watch this too, and you are right about what you said. It's kind of funny too.

[@jjandkw8274]

OMG! That's my family in this show! I haven't seen this since it aired. How do I get a copy???

[@MichaelSHartman]

jjandk W I am unsure, but I think KZbin Red allows copies.

[@pnartg]

Dad works; mom's in charge of the kitchen. Right. Got it.

[@MichaelSHartman]

Thank you for the interesting video. I was looking for the opening music which fascinated me as a kid. I looked forward to seeing the series every Saturday. Cheaper, faster, smaller, and sometimes more convenient. Always look for the profit margin.

[@AarHan3]

And that's the way it was, Sunday, March 12, 1967.

[@MichaelSHartman]

Aaron Handy III For you almost 50 years to the month.

[@ahier]

*The home of the 21st Century ~ as foretold by Walter Cronkite in 1967*

[@ahier]

30 hour work week?!?! Not in this economy...

[@ahier]

Some aspects of this video are spot on - some, not so much

[@jmcenanly1]

Brian Ahier I consider myself fortunate if I am allowed to work 30 hours.

[@Seer11665]

Brian Ahier Like the big screen TV and computers but the future is never what we make it out to be

[@MrGchiasson]

James Mcenanly My best wishes go out to you. I have a number of friends in the electronics service field who have been looking for full timework...same painful story. I'll be 61 tomorrow. I never could have imagined a time like this. We've probably lived thru 4 or 5 recessions in our lives...this is the worst and the longest I've seen. Again...best of luck.

[@rickey5353]

I saw this episode when it first aired. Many ideas became our reality.

[@epaburke]

These programs can be fun to watch, but I have to wonder if we don't believe in the future anymore. In the 60's we wondered how the population of the world would survive when it doubled ( which it did ), and how so many people would live, and how they would eat--and yet programs like this one were popular, and envisioned a bright future. Now programs about the future are more likely to be dystopian than utopian, or even realistic.

[@brianarbenz7206]

Sitting here in my home of the 21st Century watching Walter Cronkite tell me what my home will look like.

[@Hillers62]

At 14:16 ...Holy Moley!!! Walter predicted the Corona Virus would have students learning by computer from home?!?!?!?!

[@williamclarke4510]

My father, who died In 1971, once commented about this program "The Twenty First Century! Hah! I'm glad I won't be around for that.'

[@Mikey300]

The 21st Century Brought to you by Union Carbide-“The Discovery Company”

[@ericp_ski]

"Americans will only work 30 hours as a rule..Ha Ha Ha" Maybe 30 hours at 3 different jobs just to live in the slums. Thats how it is in NY anyway. One thing they didn't take into account as efficiency increased was human greed. Sure, we could all only be working 30 hours a week and all have moderately luxurious lives, but why? That would only cut into the top 10%s profits and the Governments taxes.

[@MrGchiasson]

In the mid 60's..the gov't put out a 'Public TV AD' concerning our future work. Their 'experts' said we'd have 30 hour work weeks in the future..due to ongoing prosperity. They worried that we'd be bored with all the extra leisure time. ( I'm not kidding...the AD ran for a few years) All the gov't & corp' scam artists did was take free market business and screw it all up...for our own good, of course..

[@duranddavis7710]

Very cool. I remember these shows.

[@Hillers62]

Most of these predictions are partial hit or misses...But at 12:00 ...this is a home run!!!!!

[@RenegadeFury]

30 hour work week? yes please...

[@aussiebeachut0]

not BAD for a FUTURE view .. when you think of how many of these dieas were in the realm of fantasy and conjecture in 1967 .. it's back to the FUTURE .. 46 years ago CBS and Walter Cronkite took TV viewers on a tour of what might be in the 21st Century .. flat screen computers .. access to information worldwide .. home printers .. skype .. widescreen wall mounted TVs .. none of which existed at any house anywhere in 1967 .. THANKS for posting !!

[@dean8842]

Flying cars! Where's our flying cars?! They promised us FLYING CARS!!! Ugh...

[@HeShoeTooBig]

Still waiting for those Robutts

[@Timeyy]

I love this stuff

[@danielleblack1316]

LOL I was born in 1980..and the music at the end of the video reminds me of the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood shows of the 70s and early 80s I grew up with. :)

[@emmettkelly7465]

Thanks. I remember this from my childhood. Great program.

[@Zoomer30]

The 60s: Plastic RULES!

[@ZnenTitan]

Who could have foreseen that the greatest changes the future would bring would not be technological but social?

[@DAVIDSDIEGO]

I wish I could live in that world...

[@mortensenegbert6619]

All this future-tech stuff looks like the set of Woody Allen's "Sleeper". About as silly too. Cronkite's somber voice-over makes it even campier.

[@douglasdriver8746]

I watched this program every week as a preteen and found that it exposed me to near-term future that few of my peers and very few of the young people I know today are anticipating. What this program shows that did not develop as expected is even more interesting than what turned out as anticipated. All of the devices shown had discrete, dedicated switches with very limited graphics. The television show Star Trek, made about the same year, offered a view of interactive computing considerably closer to today's technology although touch screens had to wait for Star Trek's 1990's version. I expect that much of our technological vision dating from that time, was seeded in our heads by forward-looking writers. Note that the wooden props Mr Spock called "memory tapes" in that series were recreated as functional 3.5 inch hard, shell floppies in the 80's.

[@MichaelSHartman]

Douglas Driver Or giant flash drives.

[@JimFarm]

It's no secret that there is a whole generation of engineers who grew up watching Star Trek and were inspired to create the kinds of technology that were depicted in the TV series.

[@evanhammerman616]

This show was part of the regular Sunday lineup of Lassie, Mutual of Omaha's Live Kingdom, and the Disney show.

[@mikenekosama4426]

I think Mutual of Omaha's show was actually "Wild Kingdom"

[@katetx2001]

And Ed Sullivan

[@Vahmrick60]

Sure would like to know what happened to that 30 hour work week.

[@mikenekosama4426]

And the one-month vacation.

[@breakingVIE]

i love watching future view vids of the past because it shows how far we have come OR how far we should have gone... @Brian: I'm pretty sure that we would have flying cars by now if they were (nearly) as cost efficent as ground vehicles. But when I watch people driving i'm thankful as hell that flying cars haven't become reality (yet) :)

[@brooklynspeaks5716]

Amazing that we have surpassed the predicted living conditions for the 21st century. We now have a robot, Sophia, that is a citizen of Saudi Arabia.

[@josephcope7637]

Predictions about the future tend to be overly optimistic in the short term and insufficiently imaginative in the long term.

[@Moribus_Artibus]

In 34 years, I wonder how things will look in 2055

[@Sassyjass2012]

No mention of difficulties getting mortgages in a bad economy, so you can actually buy one of these new-fangled modular homes!

[@ReinaHW]

Such cute fantasies they had back then. I'm still waiting for a hoverboard, self adjusting and self drying coat and self lacing shoes, and flying cars. While technology has progressed in a few areas, it's still backwards in others while social progress still has a long way to go.

[@barbarasmith7432]

Robots would help us with our housework - Roomba.

[@Hillers62]

At 9:17 a blow up chair sounds great in a bag...but where do you store the clearly visible acetate structure that is supporting the chair?...it looks quite large, and wouldn't fit in a bag...

[@mrgiosb123]

This Is A CBS News Special: The 21st Century. Reporting From The Year 2001 Here Is Walter Cronkite.

[@ahoog69]

While it is obvious that the scope of this program was limited, areas of further exploration that come to mind upon watching this include: urban tower farms, personal rapid transit (PRT), robotic surgery (which is coming along), nano tech, fresh water conservation, bionics, a more equitable global economic system (to eliminate hunger/homelessness), global information access (voice-controlled Wikipedia), maglevs, the (re)growing of human organs, and stem-cell/gene therapy.

[@softdorothy]

Computers are going to have to get a whole lot quieter if we're going to have them in our kitchens. And never mind how loud the robots are!

[@mmurray1983]

Inflatable furniture turned out to be the WORST. Hey everyone, would you like to have to blow into this gasket to the point of passing out every couple of hours because your couch leaks?

[@Hillers62]

They didn't mention the rise and fall of waterbeds!!!!!!

[@lamontburton1233]

I remember watching this show back 50 years ago in Atlantic City N.J.off the CBS tv affiliate in Philadelphia WCAU Channel 10 Sunday's at 6 p.m.Back then being 11-12 years old I thought the show & info was cool.I wish the entire series was on DVD or uploaded on KZbin.May favorite was the cars of the 21st Century which now is somewhat eerily accurate.

[@paulpowell4871]

Dick Tracy had more of it right, he had writers, this show had scientists and political figures

[@TerryB751]

Waiting for Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons.

[@Zoomer30]

My BS meter pegged when he mentioned that "30 hour work weeks and month long vacations" would be the standard by 2000. What does he think this is, France?

[@JimFarm]

If the labor movement had remained as strong as it was back in the sixties then the 30 hour work week would have become a reality a long time ago. And concerning France, the workers there have a very long history of militancy. They have a shorter work week and longer vacations because they were willing to fight for those things. Employers don't grant those sorts of things out of the goodness of their hearts.

[@mikenekosama4426]

@@JimFarm The thing is, US labor unions did not necessarily exist in all 50 states. Starting as early as the 1950s, for example, production facilities were being moved from unionized states like Ohio and Michigan to "right-to-work" states like Arkansas and Georgia. If you tried to unionize in a right-to-work state, chances are you'd lose your job, as there would always be someone willing to take your place.

[@JimFarm]

@@mikenekosama4426 What you say is certainly true. Indeed, things started to "go south" for organized labor, shortly after the Second World War with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which as the Wikipedia article on it states: "The Taft-Hartley Act amended the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), prohibiting unions from engaging in several unfair labor practices. Among the practices prohibited by the Taft-Hartley act are jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, secondary and mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. The NLRA also allowed states to enact right-to-work laws banning union shops. Enacted during the early stages of the Cold War, the law required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with the government." It basically outlawed many of the practices that had helped to contribute to the organizing success of the CIO unions back in the 1930's. And in the South, there was very strong resistance to attempts by labor unions to organize there. Most of the Sunbelt states had adopted a low wage/low taxes strategy for economic development. That meant that they were to develop their economies by luring away industry from the Northern states with guarantees of low wages, the absence of unions, and low taxes. To a considerable degree they were successful in attracting industries there from the North. Later on, of course, many Third World countries, adopting similar strategies, lured away from the US, industries that had migrated to the southern US, So that was one of the factors that contributed to the decline of the labor movement in the US. And with that decline, progress towards the shortening of the work week and improvements in wages and working conditions came to a halt. People should keep in mind that when the labor movement was strong, many of its successes benefited all workers, whether or not they were unionized, since non-unionized companies would have to offer their workers similar benefits in order to keep the unions out. That pressure on the non-unionized employers no longer exists.

[@JimFarm]

@@mikenekosama4426 Many of the companies that migrated to the South in search of locations with lower wages and lower taxes have since gone overseas, since other countries were able to offer even lower wages and lower taxation. Ultimately, the low wage/low tax strategy for economic development leads to a race to the bottom. That might be fine for the owners of these companies. But it's not so fine for the workers who get left behind.

[@zxy78267]

Thanks for posting, Brian.

[@arthurweems2839]

Isn't this the same setup with the Wink Martindale dramatization? Actually some of this is TODAY. Microwave Ovens, thinner TV sets now LED, etc

[@DataWaveTaGo]

At 23:40 an awkward & dangerous play space ... Didn't Buckminster Fuller predict a type of personal tent-home, so small it folded up to be carried around when not in use?

[@jchow5966]

Wow!!!!!!!! 😊

[@scubawrestler]

I loved this show!

[@bienvenidorodriguez9326]

sexualidad

[@Sassyjass2012]

Month long vacation? A majority of companies now fold vacation days, personal days and sick days into a much smaller total amount of days you can take for any of these reasons. Plus with a majority of employees now working pretty much constantly (even at home), vacation days are often not taken due to work constraints.