Walter Cronkite, ‘The Most Trusted Man In America’ Dies at 92

For 20 years, America’s main source of news was CBS’s Walter Cronkite. Cronkite took on the  powerful  of any kind and reported the news. He was a real journalist, and he will be missed.

His last broadcast was in 1981, he covered the Vietnam war more extensively than any other journalist. When Cronkite anchored CBS news, the editorial division of CBS was strictly independent from consideration of corporate advertisers.

To help him on the Vietnam beat, Walter Cronkite had a talented young reporter: Dan Rather. Rather would eventually replaced his mentor to anchor CBS evening  news.

Walter Cronkite’s sign off line, every night was: ” And that’s the way it is“. Somehow, it made Americans feel that they knew the essential of the news, and took away some anxiety from their daily life. Cronkite told Americans what they needed to know, not what they wanted to hear.

Walter Cronkite reporting was so authoritative that when he expressed that a victory in Vietnam was becoming elusive and very unlikely back in 1968, Lyndon Johnson told his press secretary ,after watching the broadcast, ” If I have lost Cronkite, I have lost America”.

Today, President Obama made the following statement about Walter Cronkite:

” His rich baritone voice reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter Cronkite set the standard by which all others have been judged. But Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was family, he invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down. Trough it all, he never lost the integrity he gained growing up in the heartland.”

For a bio of Walter Cronkite click here.

The BBC pays tribute to Walter Cronkite in this obituary.

An Interview With Walter Cronkite