Walter Cronkite has passed away

[ixcuincle]

Famed news anchor Walter Cronkite has passed away.

May he rest in peace. He was one of the great broadcasters of his era, and at one time we all tuned in to watch his nightly news, which he dominated.

When I google searched him for news a few minutes ago much was discussed about how Americans all over had tuned into Cronkite for their coverage of the Moon landing. He was an icon of the industry, one of the best anchormen who delivered news every night to millions of Americans. He will be missed

RIP

[Baculus]

RIP, Mr. Cronkite. :(

I am in the last, most recent generation which actually remembers him broadcasting live on TV. Whenever I hear his voice, for some reason, I think everything's going to be OK; maybe I associate it with being a youngster and sitting at the feet of my parents while watching TV.

[ixcuincle]

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-walter-cronkite18-2030oct20,0,212871.story


Walter Cronkite, the former CBS news anchor whose steady baritone informed, reassured and guided the nation during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s, died today, CBS News announced. He was 92.

As anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981, Cronkite was arguably the most respected and recognizable media figure of his time.

Although he rarely displayed emotion on camera, those moments are seared into the nation's collective consciousness -- Cronkite tearing up while announcing the assassination of John F. Kennedy, decrying the "thugs" at the 1968 Democratic presidential convention or exclaiming "Go, baby, go!" as Apollo 11 lifted off for the moon.

In 1950, legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow recruited Cronkite for CBS' young television division after Cronkite distinguished himself as a World War II correspondent for the United Press wire service.

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.

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was born Nov. 4, 1916, in St. Joseph, Mo. An only child, he grew up in Kansas City, Mo., and Houston.

By his junior year at the University of Texas at Austin, he had dropped out to become a Houston Press reporter. In 1936, he returned to Kansas City and was hired at a radio station, where he met his future wife, Betsy Maxwell.

In 1939, he joined the United Press and enjoyed the deadline-pressure reporting. He stayed for 11 years.

By 1942, Cronkite was a war correspondent in London. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg war-crime trials of Nazi officials and worked in the wire service's Moscow bureau.

He became a Washington correspondent for a string of radio stations in 1948 then joined CBS.

The 1952 Republican National Convention helped propel Cronkite's CBS career. He would anchor more than a dozen political conventions and subsequent elections.

After retiring from CBS News, Cronkite produced dozens of documentary programs for the Discovery Channel, PBS and other networks.

He also pursued his lifelong passion for sailing and wrote books, including the 1996 autobiography "A Reporter's Life."

He and Betsy had been married for 65 years when she died in 2005.

Cronkite's survivors include his son, Walter Cronkite III, who is known as Chip; and daughters Kathy and Nancy.

[Sticksboi05]

He was expected to be the next one.

R.I.P. Walter

"The most trusted man in America"

[Larry]

And just a few days short of the 40th anniversary, too.

I agree. To me, he's the voice of the Apollo program.

[ACW]

:(:(:(:(:(

[Burgundy Burner]

And that's the way it is.

[ECU-ALUM]

He was the best example of what a journalist is supposed to be.

Hail & Farewell Mr. Cronkite

[DCranon21]

RIP Walter Cronkite. :(

[fullnelson9999]

The man who made me want to get into journalism in the first place.

I wasnt really around to get to see him do his thing, but his work has still impacted me.

[Sticksboi05]

He's also one of the reasons I decided to be a journalist. I always thought it was nothing but self absorbed heartless writers but not Walter.

[Dan T.]

It's hard to describe how large he loomed in the nation's consciousness. He was the voice of news in the pre-Internet, pre-cable age, when the choice of national news was NBC, ABC, or CBS. Only.

And good point Larry on the NASA thing, Larry. His enthusiasm for the NASA program came through in his broadcasts. It would have been nice if he could have participated in some of the 40th anniversary commemoration.

[TK]

Man.

I grew up on Walter's Nightly News. He was literary the voice of the Nation.

And that's the way it is. July 17, 2009.

RIP to a true American pioneer.

[Mark The Homer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8Q3cqGs7I

[Sticksboi05]

Man, we've lost 4 major media icons in a span of three weeks and what's crazy is they all did it in different ways.

[Rdskns2000]

R.I.P. Walter.

[Buford]

Sad Day. RIP

[Henry]

And that's the way it is.

:(

Man I miss those days when the news was still really news.

[skinscountry]

It's a sad day. Rest in Peace Mr. Cronkite. It's a shame news programs are the way they are nowadays. It is all partisan on both sides. There will never be another anchor the likes of you. Rest in Peace

[skinscountry]

Also for those who years ago had ever been to Epcot at Walt Disney World. He was the voice of Spaceship Earth as you went thru the attraction until they revamped it. I always like that ride hearing his voice while you went thru time.

[KAOSkins]

RIP, Mr. Cronkite. :(

I am in the last, most recent generation which actually remembers him broadcasting live on TV. Whenever I hear his voice, for some reason, I think everything's going to be OK; maybe I associate it with being a youngster and sitting at the feet of my parents while watching TV.

I couldn't have said it better myself. RIP to an American Icon.

[#98QBKiller]

RIP Walter, from an English/Journalism Major...what a sad summer :(

[SpringfieldSkins]

He was a great, great man. Thoughts to his family.

[ljs]

RIP .... well respected and too bad there aren't more like him.

[Sticksboi05]

RIP Walter, from an English/Journalism Major...what a sad summer :(

I'm majoring in journalism also and I almost decided not to because I was so disgraced with how they took their jobs but Cronkite was one of the people who influence my decision to stick with it.

[Sandman69]

RIP to one great journalist. I wasn't around during the time, but have seen it many times. But the clip of him saying JFK was shot and killed always gets me.
A truly sincere man.

[Hubbs]

For those who want to understand what the true role of a journalist is in society, why the profession has an "Estate" unto itself... he was it. Maybe this was just a merciful way of not forcing him to watch the sad state of what his field has turned into.

RIP, Walter, from a kid who wishes that this one area of life could go backwards about thirty years.

And that's the way it is.

[HogNose]

R.I.P Mr. Cronkite....:peace1: :(

[rdsknbill]

This nation lost a TRUE Icon . RIP Mr. Cronkite. They don't make them like you any more.

[Drockvb]

and yet we lose another great... R.I.P.

[#98QBKiller]

I'm majoring in journalism also and I almost decided not to because I was so disgraced with how they took their jobs

Not sure if I follow you...do you mean how seriously they take their jobs?

[Sticksboi05]

Not sure if I follow you...do you mean how seriously they take their jobs?

No, just the general lack of sincerity you see nowadays and lack of care for the consequences of what you say.

[#98QBKiller]

No, just the general lack of sincerity you see nowadays and lack of care for the consequences of what you say.


I agree with that. It's in all forms of journalism these days too.

[Burgold]

Another sign that the 20th Century is behind us. He was of the day where he was a reporter and a wire journalist first, not a pretty boy who was fed the news and didn't digest it or understand it, but a guy who did his leg work and really cared about fact checking.

The biggest sin of the internet age is that people are in such a rush to be first that they often don't care if they are right.

[Sticksboi05]

Another sign that the 20th Century is behind us. He was of the day where he was a reporter and a wire journalist first, not a pretty boy who was fed the news and didn't digest it or understand it, but a guy who did his leg work and really cared about fact checking.

The biggest sin of the internet age is that people are in such a rush to be first that they often don't care if they are right.

The # of 20th century icons that have passed recently is really telling and sad.

[jnhay]

I thought he was already dead?

[Park City Skins]

RIP Walter. You have been and shall be missed. Like others,I grew up watching him. From his time covering the Vietnam war and the Robert Kennedy assassination,the space program,to his time covering 3 mile island and the Iranian hostage crisis. He did his job on T.V.,not with a matter of fact attitude,but one of genuine calm. Walter could report the most dire news,yet the way he did so,instilled in you the belief that things would be okay. You trusted this man and believed what he said was real. He reported news. Actual news. As it was,just like he stated at the end of each broadcast. And didn't do it for the ratings. When he gave an opinion via an editorial,you tended to believe it. Walter was special indeed. And that's the way he was and will always be remembered by me.