Revered newsman Walter Cronkite dead at 92

Walter Cronkite, the revered news anchor and managing editor who presided over "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981, has died.  Cronkite was 92.  From The Times' obituary:

Beginning with the Kennedy assassination in 1963, Cronkite shaped coverage of some of the most tumultuous times in U.S. history, including the 1968 assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

In the early 1970s, an opinion poll identified Cronkite as the most trusted public figure in America, a label that stayed with him for decades.

Indeed, Cronkite invaded the American consciousness like few other journalists.  Times television critic Robert Lloyd recalls that, during his childhood, "I conflated him in my mind with Captain Kangaroo, another graying man with a mustache who ordered the world in a voice of quiet authority, and with that other grand-paternal Uncle Walter, Disney -- men who gave you the feeling that things would be all right, in the near future and the far."

How did Walter Cronkite affect your life?  Share your memories and thoughts about his life and work here.

Photo: Cronkite during the 1963 CBS News broadcast when he announced to the world that President John F. Kennedy was dead.  Credit: cbsnews.com

Comments

[David]

I grew up with Mr. Cronkite's picture and voice on the television. No one I knew doubted Walter's dedication to the truth, his convictions or sincerity. He was a pillar of television journalism all the current crop should inspire to emulate. "And that's the way it was."

[jes]

It's a sad day when we lose Cronkite.

The lions are leaving the arena.

[jay chapman]

Walter always closed his news broadcast with "and that's the way it is". But now having passed over into eternity he will very keenly aware of the way things really are!

[michelle anderson]

I was 15 years old when JFK died. To this day I feel the loss. It was the saddest day I have ever experienced.

Walter Cronkite was there, to help a bruised and shocked nation cope with this unbelievable tragedy. His calmness and professional manner was a balm on a wounded soul.

I was 20 years old when the first man landed on the moon. Walter Cronkite was there to rejoice and celebrate this stellar achievement of mankind. His exuberance and thrilling commentary ignited a nation to pride and a feeling of accomplishment.

Where are the leaders now? Where is there another Walter Cronkite? Unfortunately, his kind has gone the way of the newspaper, the typewriter and thoughtfully prepared news.

God bless him.

[Duane Sandvick]

Walter Cronkite was as genuine as you can get. We all trusted him with the new at 6 PM every evening. He was a biproduct of another era.
We are going to miss him surely.

[Julie King]

I grew up with Walter Concrite!!....I am over 50 years old....and I can remember...watching him, when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon!!...I watched it looking out from our back stoop...looking up at the moon......

I remember, when Mr. Cronkite, he took his ole glasses off and said,...
The President of the United States is Dead!!!!!!
I grew-up with Walter Croncite.....Many people of the same age, should be mourning his passing, because that means...life passess....and we are older now!!
He was the News Man of all New's Men...He was the Best of the Best Newsman!!!.. This Country has yet to see another one like him........Walter Croncite

He and his Wife are forever in perfect harmony..in Heaven!!

God Speed and God Bless America!!!

[Rochelle Kern]

At 6 days shy of turning 16 in November of 1963 like most in my generation I was attending (high) school. In the school's crowded cafeteria a teacher came in, called for quiet and announced Kennedy's death. The school quickly & wisely set up a television set for students to watch and it was not until I saw Cronkite announce JFK's assasination that I believed it had happened. Kennedy's death was profound for my generation (as were the later deaths also announced by Cronkite of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and RFK (among other political leaders). Later in 1968 it was with glee that we heard Cronkite refer accurately to the "THUGS" unleashed by Daley at the 1968 Democratic Convention! While late into the War and Anti-War Movement, Cronkite's announcement after a fact-finding trip that Viet Nam could "not be won" put one of the final nails in LBJ's presidential coffin. At that time Cronkite gave "middle american" legitimacy to the claims, actions and outrage of those of us who were already well into the Anti-War Movement. He was not perfect but he was a valuable part of the culture in which I came of age (1960's). I believe watching his daily new program contributed to my own intellectual and political growth. Peace to his family.

[jim haynes]

He had the persona of a father image which gave the image of trust and honesty in his career as an news journalist. Not many like him or will be in the foreseen future.

Jim Haynes

[jtbwriter]

What a sad day it is when the most trusted man in America, now and then, dies and leaves few to carry his torch. Walter Cronkite was truly our "Uncle Walter", the wise man we came home to from school and work, trying to understand what was going on in our world. As a child he made me feel safe, as an adult I depended on him to tell "it like it is". When he cried in rememberance of President Kennedy and the image of John, Jr...I cried. He was truly "a fountain instead of a drain". My prayers and thanks go to his family who shared him with the rest of the world.

[Tim]

Now there is the man to be revered..It's time to get past Michael Jackson..
Walter Cronkite was Mr. Newsman..Not many can fill his shoes.. Do you think the President will call his family?

[Glen]

His death may be an "anniversary reaction," coming on the 40th anniversary of his most important anchor job, that of relaying "Man on the moon!" just after the Eagle landed, along with coverage of the entire flight of Apollo 11.

Maybe less well remembered is that he got it wrong about the first step on the moon. He had announced that Armstrong was on the moon, when in fact Armstrong was standing on the lunar module foot pad just before he stepped onto the moon.

[Squigman]

This has got to be the saddest day America has had in a long, long time. I never missed his coverage of the news. I always felt that when his broadcast were done, I was given the complete story, where facts were more important than the selling of time slots to corporate ad executives. No one in the news media today can, or will be able to fill his shoes. What a loss to our nation.

[Carmen Gonzalez]

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite, our family's preferred evening news channel being CBS. When he came out against the Vietnam War his integrity became unbesmirchable in our household. We knew what courage it took to say what he did on national TV. We were under no illusions about the economic pressures the sponsors must have brought upon the network for that. The lap-dog response of our present-day media to assist the Bush administration's pursuit of war in Iraq made clear how rare Cronkite's wisdom was and how it will never be reflected in today's newsrooms. I weep for what we've lost and I bid a sad farewell to the last true icon of the 20th century. Farewell, Mr. Cronkite.

[Luis Corral]

I WISH THAT HIS LEGACY HAD NOT DIED WITH HIS LEAVING HIS ANCHOR JOB.

TODAY WE GET SPIN FROM ALL OF THE NEWS STATIONS. ALL OF THEM ARE FOLLOWING THE RATINGS AND NOT THE TRUTH. CRONKITE. FOLLOWED THE TRUTH, aBOUT VIET NUM.

I DON'T CARE IF HE CAN SWAT A FLY IN A SINGLE SLAP, i WANT TO KNOW HOW THEIR POLICIES AND ACTIONS ARE EFFECTING AMERICA.

I WANT SOMEONE I CAN TRUST- HE WAS LIKE A FATHER I COULD TRUST BECAUSE HE CARED ABOUT ALL OF US.

i CAN ONY HOPE A NEW ANCHOR AND NEWS CORPORARTION WILL STEP UP TO FOLLOW THE STORY AND HIS LEGACY WILL BE REBORN.

i WANT TO TRUST A NEW ANCHOR, LIKE i TRUST fATHER, CRONKITE.

[Kerouac]

When the news was given by Mr Cronkite, we were sure we were given the whole unbiased story of the days happenings. There will never be another Walter Cronkite. What a sad day for our nation, and the entire world.

[Ambergris]

Bless you, Walter Cronkite. I've missed you since the CBS Evening News was taken from you so ingloriously.

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite on the news. I remember his daily comments on the United States' Bicentennial celebration ("and that's the way it was...200 years ago, today")

And then Dan Rather took over the news chair at CBS News and Mr Cronkite was roughly pushed aside for the younger Rather. The News hasn't been the same without you, Mr Cronkite. Neither will the world. Dan Rather has never commanded the kind of respect Walter Cronkite did, and ultimately, Rather's credibility came into question and he left CBS's anchor chair under a cloud of questions.

Mr Cronkite never lost that credibility. When Walter Cronkite spoke, people listened. We just couldn't help it.

I miss that beautiful voice.

My deepest condolences to his family.

[Jerry Bruton]

Walter Cronkite was my source of knowledge about the world beginning when I was nine years old watching You Are There and the Twentieth Century. As a student during my days in graduate school during the early 70’s at the University of Chicago student dormitory, the International House, a large group of students including myself watching CBS Evening News anchored by Walter Cronkite would forego dining in the cafeteria until we hear those final words “And that’s the way it is”.

[bc]

I will always remember him for helping the USA lose the war in viet nam and then pulling out leaving millions to die. What a man what a legacy, windbag communist

[besignsman]

Cronkite was a newsperson, not a pundit. He lived by rules that guaranteed his objectivity rather than just thinking he was objective. He toiled at corroborating "facts" rather than spewing them without checking. In short, he was one of the last independent corporate news anchors. Is it any wonder that he was the most trusted man in America? How sad that we won't see his likes again!

[Doug Sleeth]

It's been a sad month of losses. But Walter Cronkite may be the greatest. I'm an American living in The CIS for the last nine years. The Mass media here is lame and anti-American. There is only one exception. Vladimir Pozner. "And that's the way it is." July 18, 2009.

[Gayle]

For those of you who asked, the president did make a statement on Cronkite's death, even his employer, CBS did have his reaction.

But giants like this will be missed and unfortnatly people like Bill O' Relliy, Sean Hannity or even that big mouth, Rush Limbaugh could not handle a candle to this man. This man was televison journalism is all about.

[Big Sam]

Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were giants among men in the newest, upcoming medium for the news: television. They were not the prissy, infomercial, snake oil salesmen dingbats who like to whip the country into a frenzy over inconsequential matters they think is important to be broadcast to the viewing public.

TV news personalities need to keep their personal biases off of the air. What they say to their alma mater or the Daughters of the American Revolution is one thing. To try and pass their opinions while on the air during their news programs as is inexcusable.

All of the pretty boy and girl news anchors that blast onto our screens in the evening should take some time today to measure themselves against Walter Cronkite and do so honestly. If they are honest with themselves, they should be ashamed at what they have become.

I am grateful that I can still obtain my news from newspapers which provide more depth to a story (although newspaper editors are allowing their personal biases to creep into stories).

Walter Cronkite got his start as a newspaperman. I imagine that if he remained lucid up until the very end. I also believe favorable news stories and access to both the media and the movers and shakers in Washington was being sold by the Washington Post probably killed him.

[tonyE]

IF there ever was a man who deserved a memorial at Staples Center, it was Cronkite.

The world is indeed changing, the era of thoughtful reflection is giving way to a period of staccato innuendo and prevalent anxiety. Cronkite was master of the art of thinking and penchant for delaying action until the meanings of the facts are measured, weighted and analyzed.

His kind is sorely needed today.

[E]

In the 60s and 70s the only channel we received was CBS, so Walter Cronkite was a fixture in our home. Later, my beloved stepfather came into our family. He bore an uncanny resemblance to Walter Cronkite -- people would stop him on the street and nervously stutter, "You' re, you're..." My father would grin widely, extend his hand and say, "I'm Al, it is really nice to meet you." Then he would wait patiently while they collected their wits and went on their way. Not only did WC deliver the news with grace and clarity, he created a space for reflection and peace in the midst of some very unsettling times. Godspeed, Walter.

[Erich von Steiner]

he should have kept his mouth shut on Vietnam; otherwise, he was the best at his craft!