Walter Cronkite dies at 92

[Underdog]

Walter Cronkite, who earned the accolade “the most trusted man in America” for his earnest and stalwart style as the anchorman of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly two decades, died Friday. He was 92.

CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. ET after a long illness with his family by his side.

Cronkite, recruited by Edward R. Murrow from the United Press wire service, joined CBS News in 1950. He served as “Evening News” anchor and managing editor of CBS News from April 16, 1962, to March 6, 1981. Beginning in 1937, his career spanned more than six decades in radio, print and TV.

During a period of great national stress -- like the one brought on by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 -- Cronkite’s demeanor soothed a nation whose sense of reality had been threatened. With his pipe in hand and his manner like a kind relative, he was the authority figure the nation turned to for explanation and solace. He was often referred to by the media as “Uncle Walter.”

At the height of his career, Cronkite was the only journalist included in U.S. News and World Report’s “Most Influential Decisions Makers in America” rankings. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981, the highest honor a civilian can attain, and a Peabody Award in 1980 for his “unsurpassed skills and integrity in reporting the news.”

In 1985, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.
When Cronkite joined CBS News, its nightly newscast was only 15 minutes long. On Sept. 2, 1963, it became the country’s first half-hour evening news show, debuting with Cronkite interviewing Kennedy.

When JFK was shot and killed roughly two months later, Cronkite calmed the nation with his humane, steadfast style.

When Cronkite voiced objection to President Lyndon Johnson’s Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, it was a major setback for Johnson and his Vietnam policy: “If I’ve lost Walter Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America,” Johnson lamented.

Cronkite closed each “Evening News” newscast with the line, “And that’s the way it is,” followed by the date.

Following his departure from CBS News, he served as the correspondent for CBS Reports’ “Child of Apartheid,” which won an Emmy and an Overseas Press Club Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding documentary. He also produced and hosted an eight-part Discovery Channel series “Cronkite Remembers,” which traced historical events of the 20th century.

Ever a great champion of the network news division, Cronkite declared that the news should not be judged in a numbers-crunching/profit fashion as is the rest of network television.

“There’s no reason why they should believe the news has to develop the same profits as the rest of their schedule,’ he told TV Guide in a 1966 interview. “The news has sanctity to it, that sacredness that should be observed, and they should be willing to accept a far lesser degree of profit. I don’t think they should even require a profit.”

There goes the last honest journalist...