He guided us through the Kennedy assassination, then was awed- like the rest of America- on the first moonwalk (on which the 40th anniversary of that historic event is only two days away. He even- albeit indirectly- influenced an American president. And like the man who would convince him to join CBS, an award is named after him. But most important, he was the news person on which subsequent news anchors would be measured by.
The man, Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., was known for his straightforward, no-bullshit style of anchoring. Cronkite started as a reporter at the Houston Post, as a general assignment reporter and he also did some sportscasting in Oklahoma City. He covered World War II, as part of a group of reporters called "Writing 69th", which covered bombings in Germany, and later, the trials in Nuremberg, Germany. after this, he worked for the United Press International. Edward R. Murrow- who many still consider one of the greatest news personalities (of course, an award is named after Mr. Murrow) offered Cronkite a chance to work at CBS. Cronkite turned it down, but ever the persistent man of encouragement, Murrow tried again, and this time- in 1950- Cronkite took the bait. And the timing was good, as the new medium of television was taking shape. He hosted the show "You are There", which was a re-enactment series of key historic events. Although actors played Sigmund Freud or Joan of Arc, Cronkite made it look real. In the early days of his CBS tenure, he also hosted "The Morning Show", with a puppet named Charlemagne (I guess they were trying to create a morning version of the iconic Ed Sullivan's partnering with Topo). But in the 1952 and 1956 political conventions, Cronkite did what he did best, serious field reporting. He also narrated the documentary series "Twentieth Century".
When he replaced Douglas Edwards in 1961 as anchor of the "CBS Evening News", expectations were not high. After all, Edwards held the fort for several years. However, in 1963, the newscast was expanded to 30 minutes, and Cronkite was given an additional title he had long fought for- Managing Editor. Now CBS was on its way to being taken seriously. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Cronkite interviewed Kennedy at the president's compound. But then, a defining moment took place two months later. November 22, 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was en route to a luncheon in Dallas. a motorcade had drove through Dallas city center, when around 12:30 PM Central Time (10:30 Pacific, 1:30 Eastern), Cronkite broke into the broadcast of the soap "As the World Turns" with this:
maxpowers518/YouTube/CBS NewsLater, he barely held his emotions as he delivered the woeful news:
maxpowers518/CBS News/YouTube
Cronkite's audience grew- and viewers made that perfectly clear when the Tiffany network (one of CBS' nicknames) tried to replace Cronkite with Roger Mudd and Robert Trout in 1964 during the Democratic National Convention. But it would be in 1966 when he would overtake the legendary NBC team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. From 1967 to his retirement in 1981, Cronkite would be number one in the Nielsen ratings for newscasts.
Before he went to Vietnam in 1968, he was a supporter of the War. But when he came back, gave a scathing assessment, which he explains in a 1996 interview with the Newseum:
Newseum/YouTubeThis commentary would so influence the decision of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America." Johnson decided not to run for re-election.
The next year would be a jubilant one for Cronkite. Cronkite was long a fan of the space program, and on July 20, 1969- the fortieth anniversary of that iconic event coming up on Monday- the man could not contain his excitement. Here is some footage from the 27 hour broadcast. Note that on some of the clips, Cronkite doesn't speak, but let the excitement speak for itself:
Videoholic50sthru70s/YouTubeHe was even prepared for breaking news, such as the case here from this clip from 1973, when he learned of the death of former President Johnson:
robatsea2008/YouTube/CBS News
Cronkite was "the most trusted man in America", according to many polls take over the years. But world leaders seemed to have taken notice. In 1977, the president of Egypt, Anwar El-Sadat told Cronkite:
The next day, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin invited Sadat to Jerusalem. The move would bring on the accords at Camp David, and the Israeli-Egyptian treaty. Could one say that Cronkite had anything to do with this? Who knows?
In 1981, Cronkite decided that he had enough of the anchor chair:
librarianbe/YouTube/CBS NewsThe late, great Johnny Carson does a hilarious- yet touching- tribute to Uncle Walter in this clip from "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson":videoholic1980s/YouTube?Carson Productions
A comedy great playing a news great. Don't see much of that anymore, do we?
Cronkite's replacement, Dan Rather, who would hold down the fort for 24 years. But Cronkite wouldn't leave CBS completely. He did a short-lived magazine program called "Walter Cronkite's Universe" shortly after he left the anchor desk; some documentary- including one for rival CNN (on the space program, no doubt); and had a seat on the CBS board of directors (perhaps they should've listened to uncle Walt and told Katie Couric to keep her skinny ass on the "Today" show on NBC. That girl is just so not cut out for network news anchoring...).
Cronkite was married to the former Mary Elizabeth Maxwell for 65 years- she passed on in 2005. Out of this union, three children- Nancy; Kathy; and Walter (Chip) Cronkite III. After Betsy's passing, Cronkite dated opera singer Joanna Simon, the older sister of singer Carly Simon. He is also survived by four grandchildren.
Over the past several weeks, we we've suffered through major losses- Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, even NFL great Steve McNair. But like Jackson, Cronkite had a cult following. He was to news as Jackson was to music. To paraphrase the old EF Hutton commercials, when Walter Cronkite spoke, people listened. And as you saw in the clip on the Vietnam War, Cronkite was not afraid to speak his mind. Oh, sure, he had his critics, but they were so few because Cronkite gave the news with integrity, without bias, and with truth. No matter how hard today's generation tries to emulate him, there will never be another news person like Walter Cronkite. Brian Williams of NBC and Charles Gibson of ABC may come close (Katie Couric...go host "The Early Show". Perhaps you'll drag their ratings down further. I told you, her ass should've stayed at NBC and "Today"...). But Walter Cronkite- like his colleague Edward Murrow- truly deserves to be called "icon", and he made the job of being news anchor honorable. Cronkite was a class act, always professional, right down to the end.
And that's the way it is.
For more on his remarkable life and career, just click on the title, where you'll go directly to the tribute from CBS News.
(C) 2009 by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.
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