RIP Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)

[Romann]

I turned on the CNN today to the sad news that Walter Cronkite died at the age of 92 today. May he rest in peace as he was a great reporter who covered a host of major world events during his career as an outstanding journalist.

 

You will be missed my friend! My thoughts are with your friends and family - may they find comfort in all the lives you touched.

[BewareofNick]

And that's the way it is, Friday July 17, 2009. This is Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News. Good Night.

 

Rest in peace, Uncle Walter

[+ purplekow]

Romann thanks for starting this thread. To say Walter Cronkite was a great reporter who covered many major world events barely touches the importance of this man to those of us of a certain age. Walter Cronkite was old the first time I saw him, though he was, in actuality, the same age as I am now. But that wizened and wise man represented to his viewers, the truth of the world. Walter Cronkite would tell you the news of the world and leave you informed and secure in the knowledge you had obtained. While I am sure his personal biases crept in here and there, it always felt as though a caring relative with only your interests at heart was giving you the information that you needed to face an uncertain world. I can vividly remember him telling me, a 9 year old in Queens, about the death of President Kennedy. I know he was telling the world, but to me, right then, it felt as though he was speaking directly to me and that he was consoling me even as he needed some consoling himself. He also told me of the death of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and again, his presence and personal resolve made it seem to a teenager, that while nothing would ever be the same, that he and I and all his other viewers would get through the calamaties that befell us. His was the voice of the moon landing and the election of presidents being announced early in the morning. He made me secure in times of doubt, encouraged in times of loss, joyous in times of great accomplishments. At the end of each broadcast, I felt a little more informed and aware. He aided me in being better able to formulate a view of the world, rough hewn then and with a slightly more polished veneer now. He possessed integrity and courageousness and ultimately a palpable sense of humanity which made him stand out even among the giants of his day. Walter Cronkite would given you more information and more seeds for thought in a single broadcast than the OReilly's and Obermann's give you in a year. Perhaps it was a more innocent time or perhaps it was the genteel manner of the man, but each day, as a viewer, I felt better for having watched. I haven't grieved the passing of a public figure as much since the passing of John Kennedy. He has been missed since leaving the news and the world feels a lot more insecure to me since I have learned of his passing.

[+ glutes]

We've come a long way from Uncle Walter to the bubble heads on Fox Nation.

RIP The Cronk.

[uwsman2]

Modest Walter Cronkite

 

What impressed me most in retrospect about the great Walter Cronkite was his modesty. He knew how popular and respected he was, but he stoutly resisted all attempts to drag him into the political arena. He was implored to run for public office but refused, stating he was a reporter and not qualified to be a public official. He also had a keen sense of humor, and great flare as a documentarian as well. My most vivid memories of him from my child were as narrator of the CBS documentary series "The Twentieth Century," which was one of the few TV shows my father regularly watched. Although Cronkite was absent from the public arena in recent years due to ill health and old age, he will still be missed.

[whipped guy]

... and that's the way he was.

 

I met Walter Cronkite in the late 70’s while he was on vacation. He was an avid sail boater and he docked his vessel overnight at a local marina while he was on his way to Martha’s Vineyard.

 

It was so strange to hear him speak with that distinctive voice, the unmistakable speech pattern, the precision of his words, and be talking about everyday mundane things… and then hearing him address you personally by name was actually kind of eerie. It somehow made me feel as though I were somehow living a CBS newscast, I was part of the news, and was in some sort of peculiar time warp. What you saw on TV was what the man was actually like, with his mode of delivery for TV mirroring exactly his manner of speaking in “real” life... and that’s the way it was…

[Guest MrStevenAdler]

I am so impressed. You all have written some beautiful tributes to Walter. There's some real journalistic talent on this forum. Thank you.

[William]

The Great Walter Cronkite . . .

 

Earlier posters have emphasized Cronkite's DECENCY and his OBJECTIVITY in presenting the news. I could not agree more. The man's decency generated a few breaks in the objectivity, and they had a powerful effect on America. The one I remember is when Cronkite became openly critical of the Johnson Administration's conduct of the War in Vietnam and of the Administration's deceit about the facts of the war. (I think Cronkite's skepticism became clearly expressed after the Tet Offensive, but I am not firm on that.) Public opinion turned with Walter, although the war staggered on for 6-7 more years.

 

There is another quality Cronkite had: PRECISION of expression. I can remember the evening news (both NBC and, I think, CBS) when it was only 15 minutes. Cronkite packed twice as much "news" in those 15 minutes as current programs pack into 30 (and much of what they pack is "newsiness" and "human interest" rather than hard news).

 

The death of a man, the passing of an era. . .

[AdamSmith]

My most vivid memories of him from my child were as narrator of the CBS documentary series "The Twentieth Century," which was one of the few TV shows my father regularly watched.

 

Yes! Thank you for the recollection of that show. I too watched it with my father every Sunday night.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Century_(TV_series)

[+ glutes]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090718/capt.9986adf0970e4a5a8b87bbaffa6e121c.cronkite_illo_gfx504.jpg?x=400&y=294&q=85&sig=JZWwOMMClVhrjPEpD16WYQ--

 

The way it used to be.

[+ cougar]

Walter Cronkite

 

I grew up with Walter Cronkite, but this reminds me also of the other two anchors that were part of my life:

Ralph Renick at WTVJ in Miami and Ann Bishop at WPLG in Miami.

I think both of them had been there since the beginning of time...I miss all three.

[Guest Tristan]

Earlier posters have emphasized Cronkite's DECENCY and his OBJECTIVITY in presenting the news. I could not agree more. The man's decency generated a few breaks in the objectivity, and they had a powerful effect on America. The one I remember is when Cronkite became openly critical of the Johnson Administration's conduct of the War in Vietnam and of the Administration's deceit about the facts of the war. (I think Cronkite's skepticism became clearly expressed after the Tet Offensive, but I am not firm on that.) Public opinion turned with Walter, although the war staggered on for 6-7 more years.

 

After the Tet Offensive, Walter Kronkite decided to see for himself what was going on in Vietnam. He had decided to tell the American people, no matter what his findings were. Soon after returning, he stated in his broadcast that he doesn't usually express his personal opinion, but that on this occasion, he would make an exception. He told the American people that the war in Vietnam could not be won. When LBJ heard that, he was shell shocked. He reportedly told people around him that, if he lost Walter Kronkite, then he had lost Middle America. That prompted LBJ's decision not to run for re-election. So we can thank Walter Kronkite for being a key catalyst for the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War.

 

I watched Walter Kronkite nightly. I also watched his "Twentieth Century" program. Aaron Copland used a well known Shaker hymn, "Simple Gifts" as the basis for the main theme in Appalachian Spring. This theme was used as the closing of each Twentieth Century program. When I hear Appalachian Spring, I also think back to "Twentieth Century" and Walter Kronkite.

 

Walter Kronkite had a profound effect on me. He was everything a journalist should be. He was one of the last of the real journalists, and the best. Sadly, there are few left.

 

I can picture and hear Walter Kronkite saying, "And that's the way it is" as if it were just yesterday.

 

Rest in peace, and thank you for being with us for so many years when the country needed you.