“Most Trusted Man in America” Dies at Age 92: Walter Cronkite, RIP
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 17, 2009
Legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite has passed away at age 92
Even when the news was catastrophic, he was always calm, reassuring.
Nicknamed “The Most Trusted Man in America,” Cronkite, although a liberal, was one of the most balanced, respected newsmen in the industry. He was passionate about being objective, thorough, and fair in his news reporting, consistently pursuing an objectivity in his role of journalism that seemingly few journalists strive to achieve today. While many believe he did not exemplify true journalistic integrity, others feel he did, or that he did the best he could when up against the media head honchos.
When compared to the wobbly standards of so many MSM hacks today, Cronkite’s standards rise above them.
Cronkite was the face and voice of the CBS Evening News for nearly 20 years, from 1962 to 1981. Those were troubled, violent times in America, often heartbreaking. He covered the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the 1960s race riots and anti-Vietnam protests. Cronkite covered Watergate, Pres. Richard Nixon’s resignation, the cold war, and the Iranian hostage crisis. Cronkite helped broker the 1977 invitation that took Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem, the breakthrough to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.
Excerpt from MSNBC:
A former wire service reporter and war correspondent, he valued accuracy, objectivity and understated compassion. He expressed liberal views in more recent writings but said he had always aimed to be fair and professional in his judgments on the air.
Off camera, his stamina and admittedly demanding ways brought him the nickname “Old Ironpants.” But to viewers, he was “Uncle Walter,” with his jowls and grainy baritone, his warm, direct expression and his trim mustache.
When he summed up the news each evening by stating, “And THAT’s the way it is,” millions agreed. His reputation survived accusations of bias by Richard Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, and being labeled a “pinko” in the tirades of a fictional icon, Archie Bunker of CBS’s “All in the Family.”
Two polls pronounced Cronkite the “most trusted man in America”: a 1972 “trust index” survey in which he finished No. 1, about 15 points higher than leading politicians, and a 1974 survey in which people chose him as the most trusted television newscaster.
Like fellow Midwesterner Johnny Carson, Cronkite seemed to embody the nation’s mainstream. When he broke down as he announced Kennedy’s death, removing his glasses and fighting back tears, the times seemed to break down with him.
And when Cronkite took sides, he helped shape the times. After the 1968 Tet offensive, he visited Vietnam and wrote and narrated a “speculative, personal” report advocating negotiations leading to the withdrawal of American troops.
Ironically, Cronkite has passed away just one day before the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, which is tomorrow. Here’s a CBS video of his memories of that momentous event in space:
Walter Cronkite remembers Apollo 11 lunar landing
In this next video, Cronkite announced to America the shocking death of Pres. John F. Kennedy.
Cronkite announces JFK’s assassination
Walter Cronkite had almost finished broadcasting the CBS Evening News when he received word of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1968 assassination. His report detailed the shooting and the nation’s reaction to the tragedy.
Cronkite’s 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King assassination report (CBS News)
This final video is of little-seen footage of Walter Cronkite as a mystery guest in 1956 on the popular game show What’s My Line? He was joined by Charles Collingwood, Douglas Edwards, Eric Sevareid, and Robert Trout, all from the CBS News team.
Walter Cronkite on What’s My Line?, 1956
He married Betsy Maxwell in 1940, and they were married until her death in 2005. She passed away two weeks before their 65th anniversary.
From the Kansas City Star:
He met Betsy Maxwell, who had just been hired from the University of Missouri’s journalism school to write advertising copy for the station. She and Walter met on her third day of work and began a lengthy courtship.
“Betsy and I went from the studio to lunch and from lunch to dinner. And from KCMO through life together,” Cronkite wrote. The couple married in 1940 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Betsy Cronkite died in 2005, two weeks before the couple’s 65th anniversary.
Cronkite toiled in print and radio for nearly two decades. In later interviews he referred warmly to these formative years as a “journeyman reporter.”
He was hardly a superstar then, but Cronkite did become valuable enough to the United Press, which he joined in 1939 to cover World War II, that he turned down an offer from Edward R. Murrow to join CBS and work in radio, because United Press countered with more money. Cronkite covered Normandy, the siege of London and the North Africa campaign and the Nuremberg trials for United Press.
Following his retirement from CBS Evening News, Cronkite explored other avenues. He established the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, hosted and/or narrated countless documentaries and tributes, and was hired as a voice talent for the 1993 animation, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story. He even did three cameo appearances on the 1990s series Murphy Brown.
Opposing commentary from Kurt Schlichter, Big Hollywood: Cronkite’s Legacy Includes the Killing Fields of Cambodia:
Cronkite was supposed to be the voice of the people of Middle America, but he was really just a loud voice speaking at them. And soon after they turned and rejected the man Cronkite dubbed the smartest of presidents – Jimmy Carter!?! – and elected Ronald Reagan, he threw in the towel. He passed the torch to Dan Rather, and the sun set upon the Golden Age of Media Liberalism. For all his faults, at least Cronkite maintained a certain dignity, but Crazy Dan is a catastrophe. When Rather dies, the quickest way to find his obits will be to Google the terms “Texas Air National Guard fraud” or “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”
The passing of Cronkite does mark the end of an era, but let’s not fool ourselves. He was human wallpaper to those of us who grew up watching him intone the news every night, a vaguely comforting presence during turbulent times for those of us too young to understand that much of what he was often passing off as the truth was the utter nonsense.
From CBS News:
As Cronkite said on March 6, 1981, concluding his final broadcast as anchorman: “Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away, they just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is.”
There has been no other news broadcaster like Walter Cronkite. He will be missed by many. I pray that out there, somewhere, a young journalist will aspire to the professional integrity and objectivity that “The Most Trusted Man in America” did. Others may disagree, but I have always thought the man to strive each day to embody excellence and objectivity in journalism. Others may disagree, but total objectivity is difficult upon which to reach consensus and often is flawed in the eye of the beholder.
God bless Walter Cronkite, and may he rest in peace.
Additional reading:
Fist of Blog: Walter Cronkite RIP
Dandelion Salad: Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite dies at 92
Hot Air: Walter Cronkite dead at 92
The Washington Post: America’s Iconic TV News Anchor Shaped the Medium and the Nation
Michelle Malkin: Cronkite’s offensive history
Kurt Schlichter, Big Hollywood: Cronkite’s Legacy Includes the Killing Fields of Cambodia
Dick’s World: Walter Cronkite and Me
Around The Sphere: And That’s the Way He Was
Little Miss Attila: Well, Then
PAWaterCooler: On Cronkite’s Passing
Neoavatara: Apollo 11 Landing On The Moon… 40 Years Later
Life In The Slow Lane: Death Of An Icon
Horiwood’s Blog: JOURNALISM’S GREATEST: WALTER CRONKITE DIES AT 91
Sarahriverascott’s Blog: “Uncle Walter” :The most trusted man in America
The Quiet Man: Goodbye to a legend
Jack & Jill Politics: Walter Cronkite Has Passed Away At 92
Moving Images: Walter Cronkite (1916 – 2009): And that’s the way it was…
Country Contemplative: I will remember
Drex Files: God Speed Walter Cronkite
Deke Rivers: ‘Uncle’ Walter Cronkite In That Console TV Will Never Be Forgotten
Lewp’s Weblog: Traditions, always a way to anchor yourselves
Good News About News: Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite dead at 92
Pajamadeen: Walter Cronkite Dies, and That’s the Way It Is
About the author
WALTER CRONKITE’S JOURNALISM WAS EXCELLENT.
CRONKITE LEAVES BEHIND A GOOD LEGACY.
CRONKITE POSITIVELY INFLUENCED OTHERS.
_____________________
SCANDALS! SCANDALS! SCANDALS!
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
GEORGE W. BUSH IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CRIMINAL STALKER AND SERIAL KILLER!
“In her suit, Margie Schoedinger states that George W. Bush committed sexual crimes against her, organized harassment and moral pressure on her, her family members and close relatives and friends. As Schoedinger said, she was strongly recommended to keep her mouth shut. . . . Furthermore, she alleges that George Bush ordered to show pressure on her to the point, when she commits suicide” (go to Google, type “blog of drizzten Margie Schoedinger,” and hit “Enter”).
“George [Bush is personally complicit] in the death (murder to be precise) of my friend Margie Schoedinger in September of 2003. Determining the exact whereabouts and contacts of . . . George Bush on September 21 thru 22, 2003, should be entirely lacking in difficulty” (Leola McConnell—Nevada Progressive Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010).
McConnell is correct: Bush applying pressure (continuously criminally stalking Margie Schoedinger) purposefully to force Schoedinger to commit suicide does in fact constitute murder where it culminated in her death.
Bush’s method of murdering Schoedinger cannot exist in a vacuum: he must have murdered other people in the same way.
During Bush’s presidency, of course Bush would have desired to kill people whom he hated or get them out of his way. Insofar as Bush was clearly capable of murdering Schoedinger—even in “broad daylight”—and is clearly capable of getting away with it, in consideration of common sense and the laws of human nature, Bush of course murdered numerous people in the disgusting way he murdered Schoedinger. One can examine public information; in various situations where people who sought to oppose or disadvantage Bush ever so frighteningly ended up “committing suicide”—specifically—Bush murdered them just like he murdered Schoedinger. For example, Bush murdered James Howard Hatfield by continuously criminally stalking Hatfield to the point that Hatfield could not get away from it—purposefully to force Hatfield to commit suicide—and Hatfield committed suicide in desperation to escape. However, the vast majority of such scandalous cases will never come out (the grisly details are typically hard to substantiate). A prosecutor really can lawfully charge a former president with murdering one or more people in the disgusting way Bush murdered Schoedinger. The American people unfortunately live in a world where evil presidents can murder any number of people—figuratively—with a wave of a magic wand and get away with it.
(There are thousands of copies of the information above on the Internet. Please feel free to go to any major search engine, type “GEORGE W. BUSH IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CRIMINAL STALKER AND SERIAL KILLER” or “George W. Bush continuously criminally stalked Margie Schoedinger to the point that she could not get away from it, and she committed suicide in desperation to escape: he murdered her” or “George W. Bush applying pressure (continuously criminally stalking Margie Schoedinger) purposefully to force Schoedinger to commit suicide does in fact constitute murder where it culminated in her death” or “George W. Bush murdered James Howard Hatfield by continuously criminally stalking Hatfield to the point that Hatfield could not get away from it—purposefully to force Hatfield to commit suicide—and Hatfield committed suicide in desperation to escape,” hit “Enter,” and readily find hundreds of copies.)
(Please feel free to go to Google, type “GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY blog of Andrew Wang,” and hit “Enter.”)
_____________________
Andrew Wang
(a.k.a. “THE DISSEMINATING MACHINE”)
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
Since this is definitely off topic and left-wing bizarre, I usually delete such comments. However, I found it intriguing and thought, “Oh, hey, why not, just for grins?” We’ll see if any readers have comments. Lefty readers, do NOT consider this open season on off-topic comment posts. This one has such delicious left-wing hate I couldn’t resist, but it’s not likely to happen again.
I, myself, do not have any comments to offer and do not put any validity whatsoever into this over-the-top anti-Bush rant, but thought others might be interested in reading it. Thanks for the strange input, Devoirs (or are you Andrew Wang? If so, I’d recommend not including your college and high school information in the footer of a blog comment. Kinda loopy.)
Your post “Most Trusted Man in America” Dies at Age 92: Walter Cronkite, RIP « Frugal Café Blog Zone was very interesting when I found it over google on Wednesday by my search for kenneth alford. I have your blog now in my bookmarks and I visit your blog again, soon. Take care.