Cronkite -- Words Fail

Walter Cronkite 1916-2009. But for him, we would not know ourselves even as well as we do. He took us, gently, to the edge of what we could bear to hear. He bade us look and held our trembling hand as we saw. Adieu...Newsman.

Comments

[MontanaBlue]

Your post put me back there, too. I was a 16-year-old news junkie when The Man retired, and am so glad now that I made a point of watching his last broadcast as anchor. I've told my son — he's 22 and a news junkie — many times about Mr. Cronkite's decency and why we trusted him ... now he can read Mr. Cronkite's words for himself and understand. Thanks, JFaye, for the trip back in time.

[JFaye]

Just read Mr. Cronkite's farewell speech the night he resigned from CBS ... Surreal ... I was sitting in front of the television all over again ... Good Night Mr. Cronkite.

This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of The CBS Evening News; for me, it's a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness. For almost two decades, after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and I'll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I'm afraid have made too much. This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman, Doug Edwards, preceded me in this job, and another, Dan Rather, will follow.[1] And anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists; writers, reporters, editors, producers, and none of that will change. Furthermore, I'm not even going away! I'll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries, and, beginning in June, every week, with our science program, Universe. 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.