Walter Cronkite aka Uncle Walter

He was "the most trusted man in America." In an era when there were only three television networks, Walter Cronkite dominated American television sets for more than a decade. His amazing career spanned from World War II to the Reagan Presidency and beyond. He not only covered historical events, he made history. He was the reason I became a journalist. He was the reason I went to work for CBS.

I was a teenager when Cronkite announced President John Kennedy's death on November 22, 1963. "From Dallas Texas, a flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 pm central standard time." In a rare show of emotion, a shaken Cronkite paused briefly, removed his glasses, then pulled himself together and continued reporting the story. President Kennedy had died, but the power of television had been realized. Cronkite anchored the dramatic events of the next three days for a nation gathered in front of their television sets watching history unfold live before their eyes.

Cronkite had dropped out of college to pursue his passion for journalism. The legendary Edward R. Murrow had recruited him for CBS News in 1950; he had been so impressed with Cronkite's reporting during World War II. Like many other kids growing up in the fifties, I watched You Are There and the Twentieth Century, two programs about historical events anchored by Cronkite. In 1962 Cronkite took over as anchor of the CBS Evening News and the program was expanded to a half-hour. This newscast became part of my family's daily routine.

The sixties were a turbulent time in American history. The surging civil rights movement and the controversial Vietnam War unleashed a tsunami of protests across America against authority and the establishment. Young men were being drafted and sent to fight and die in what was clearly an unwinable war. Yet forces were being increased while the Pentagon touted misleading military assessments. I watched coverage of the war on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and the painful images of death and destruction would take their toll on public opinion.

The Vietcong and North Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive in early 1968 against South Vietnamese and American targets. Although the offensive was a military disaster for the Viet Cong, it had a profound affect on the American public. Cronkite had gone to Vietnam to cover the offensive. When he returned I watched as Cronkite took the unprecedented step of editorializing on The CBS Evening News. "For it seems now more certain than ever," Cronkite said, "that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate." After watching Cronkite's broadcast, President Lyndon Johnson was quoted as saying. "That's it. If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."

Cronkite covered America's space program with enthusiasm and exuberance. In 1961, President John Kennedy had made landing a man on the moon within a decade a goal for America. The Soviet Union had embarrassed the United States by being the first to launch a satellite into space. In an amazing display of American know-how, on July 20, 1969 American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. I watched Cronkite's historic broadcast with several friends. As the manned lunar module landed on the moon Cronkite exclaimed, "Man on the moon!" "Oh, boy!" and then, "Whew, boy!" He was speechless.

As a new producer for CBS News a couple years later I soon learned that a "WW" story was a "Walter Wants." He set a high standard for journalism. He wanted to inform, not entertain. He was a reporter first. Facts and accuracy won out over style. He was incredibly competitive and engaged. He asserted his authority as managing editor, and came to be known as the first "800 Pound Gorilla." As the leader of CBS News's worldwide news organization, Cronkite drove the news organization's outstanding Watergate coverage, which helped lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Three years later he helped bring Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin together using what was dubbed as "Cronkite diplomacy."

Walter Cronkite not only covered history, he was himself a historical figure in American history. It is unlikely, with the Internet, Twitter, Facebook and cable, that one journalist will ever command the attention that Cronkite did. He succeeded because he demanded excellence. He surrounded himself with talented producers, writers and reporters, because he attracted the best people. I am deeply grateful to "Uncle Walter" and incredibly fortunate to have worked for him.

Three months after President Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his first term, Walter Cronkite was signing off as anchor of The CBS Evening News. "It's a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness." he would say. "Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981. I'll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night."

That is the way it was.

Follow Joe Peyronnin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joepeyronnin

Comments

[JavaSavant]

All these hypocrites lamenting his passing really drive me nuts.

If Walter Cronkite had been a modern journalist, he would have been dismissed as a left-wing hack for not spouting the status quo.

[surfcitysteven]

Who peed in your Wheaties?

[distributorcap]

excellent post......­....

Walter Cronkite - Feb 27, 1968, the beginning of the end

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.

13 days later, on March 12, 1968, incumbent and sitting President, Lyndon Johnson barely wins the New Hampshire primary
4 days later, on March 16, 1968 - Robert Kennedy enters the Presidential race
15 days later, on March 31, 1968 - Lyndon Johnson announces he will not run for President
5 days later, on April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King is assassinated
61 days later, on June 4, 1968 Kennedy is assassinated

who says Cronkite didnt change the world.....

[scorpio09]

This is an excellent tribute to a legend. As a graduate student in a MidWest University in America, from the Indian subcontinent in early 1970s, I watched without a miss for 3 years, Walter Cronkite's excellent presentation of news. Be it was news on Yom Kippur War, Watergate hearing and Nixon's resignation he brought an authority to them, very singlar the like of which I have never seen since. Living in England later I missed his evening news program. He brought to the broadcasting journalism a richness of experience from the WWII battle front to Vietnam War reporting. I am a computer scientist by profession and despite the wonders of technology these days, I still long to go back the days of the CBS of early 1970s and Walter Cronkite's unadulterated journalism. His voice was authentic, his presentation carried truthfulness and authority and he was the colossus among journalists. The world has lost an icon and a legend.

[Vic in Chicago]

Joe:

Thank you for this excellent post.

Walter Cronkite was a one-of-a-kind broadcast journalist. (I also had an opportunity to meet him once, and he was a truly nice and decent gentleman.­)

And in this era of juvenile and idiotic "unfair and unbalanced" cable TV news, I'm afraid we won't see his likes again.

[mrbadmood]

. . . and that's the way it is.

Good Night.