The aging leviathan had a dual mission. I am dumbfounded that there hasnt been a crackdown with the libel and slander laws on some of these would-be writers and reporters on the Internet. The story was always the story at hand, not the man telling it. A 1994 American Journalism Review article reported on Cronkites growing pessimism about TVs impact on American society: In the face of rising competition from cable, videocassettes, and more aggressive local newscasts and tabloid shows, the Big Three newscasts frequently go too soft, Cronkite says. Assassination of the Rev. Later, the 101st Airborne had to keep open the narrow corridor to Arnhem that the Allies had won at the cost of so much blood and treasure. We measure it in two ways: by the length of an obituary and by how far in advance it is prepared. He rose to the top when the medium of television was still young. He reported aboard the USS Texas, an old battleship well past its prime. The family moved to Texas when Cronkite was a child, and he became interested in journalism during high school. WebJul 18, 2009 at 7:08 pm. Lt. Col. John Frost of the Second Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, made it to Arnhem Bridge, seizing the northern anchorage, but the regiment was quickly surrounded and cut off by superior German forces. Notable guest stars included:[citation needed]. The Dutch Resistance was one of the fiercest of all the read more. Each week a team of CBS correspondents headed by Cronkite would report on a critical historic event: the death of Julius Caesar, the Louisiana Purchase, the Salem witch trials, or the trial of Galileo. Born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, in 1887, OKeeffe grew up in Virginia and first studied painting at the Art Institute of read more, In the year 2000, a new company called Napster created something of a music-fans utopiaa world in which nearly every song ever recorded was instantly available on your home computerfor free. Japans brutal conquest of China was also being avidly followed by millions of American readers. Puzzled but friendly, Cronkite jocularly referred to himself as a sort of jackass Episcopalian. Pressed further, the reporter admitted he did not go to services that frequently. Anyway, a religion-beat friend recently send me a photocopy of a 1994 interview with Cronkite that ran in The Christian Century, the influential mainline Protestant journal. As a United Press reporter, he covered a number of battles during World War II. The 20th Century Struggles for Democracy, Veilles d'armes: Histoire du journalisme en temps de guerre, That's The Way it Is: Celebrating Cronkite at 90, Frame 313: The JFK Assassination Theories, Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, Black/White & Brown: Brown Versus the Board of Education of Topeka, Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Congress and the Presidency in the Television Age, Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII, Killer at Large: Why Obesity Is America's Greatest Threat, America's Cup 1987: The Walter Cronkite Report, The Cronkite Reports: Legal Gambling - The Dice Are Loaded, Home Away from Home: The Yanks in Ireland, Celebrate Man on the Moon with Walter Cronkite, Brother Can You Spare a Billion? In the spring of 1945, he covered the end of the war. Boy! These were my first words, profundity to be recorded for the ages., 7. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for read more, On March 6, 1902, the Madrid Foot Ball Club is founded by a group of fans in Madrid, Spain. Some episodes of the radio and television version are available for sale commercially. Radio stations in Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Mo., can lay claim to having him on their staffs. I still feel pretty much that same way. Irritated at the colonels brash manner, the reporter explained his helmet was lost in a minefield. Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (19621981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Malenkovs tenure was extremely brief, and within a matter of weeks he was pushed aside by Nikita Khrushchev. About his own career on the evening news, Cronkite told Reuters his work was rewarding, but not entirely satisfactory due to time limitations that prevented deep reporting of any one story. Cronkite was given credit for inspiring the two men to meet and eventually forge a peace treaty between their countries. The news clip of a clearly emotional Cronkite taking off his glasses and, with watery eyes and a shaky voice, announcing Kennedys deathis one of the defining images from that day. He developed an early interest in America's early space program, reading anything he could find about newly developed missiles and plans to launch astronauts into space. Cronkite, from his anchor desk in New York City, gave a few words on what was about to happen. He covered the trial of notorious Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, an experience that gave him a sense of real revulsion. That is perfectly ridiculous. Nonetheless, due both to his near-universally recognized credibility and to the century-defining events he reported to the nation, Cronkite remains a singular figure, quite possibly the most respected television news journalist in American history. It [made it seem] like I was more trustworthy than all of the members of the Supreme Court, the president and the bishops. To spend that much money in building more refined systems of murder is not a civilized consideration. In the wake of 9/11, the desire for revenge against Islamic fundamentalists is both understandable and dangerous. All of America watched this event together. Only 75 episodes are known to exist in recorded form.[3]. Though there is a school of journalism named after him, Cronkite didnt actually graduate from college. Cronkite set up phone calls between Cairo and Jerusalem and flew with Sadat to his historic meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Cronkite came to know the airmen intimately, most in their 20s and so young they seemed mere boys. He covered the air war against Germany from England and the Allied invasion of North Africa from the deck of a ship bombarding the Moroccan coast. The 1970s version is currently not available on VHS or DVD. A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, American Presidents: The Most Powerful Man on Earth. Walter Cronkite hosted the reenactments of historical events. I think, candidly, he just didnt want Walter being the wise man looking over his shoulder. After an epic battle, a ragged British First Airborne was forced to retreat back over the Rhine. As Cronkite later recalled, Patton uttered a single word that might have been an expletive well-known among his troops. Patton, who knew how to accept defeat as well as victory, drove on without further comment. Apollo 11 Lands on the Moon, July 20, 1969. That achievement and the everyday work it involved made him happy, and he had the innate good sense not to be arrogant about it. He worked in a time before editorializing was the norm, and reporters were rarely regarded as celebrities. It is not only immoral to kill one another in wars, he said, even the matter of defense expenditures is immoral. Once the towing C-47 dropped its cargo, the Waco plunged like a stone, but then, just when all seemed lost, it leveled off and glided above the flat Dutch countryside. Pattons eagle eye had seen the bare-headed Cronkite, and his jeep stopped just ahead to reprimand the brazen offender. Two months later, Cronkite was first on the air reporting Kennedys assassination. For 19 years, beginning in 1962, the newsman sometimes called Uncle Walter was the face of the CBS Evening News, the countrys first nightly half-hour news program, according to Poynter. Allied paratroops would drop behind enemy lines, parachuting into the Rambouillet Forest just north of the French capital. The cowering quisling, fat and sweating like a pig, vehemently denied he was a Nazi stooge. And, as a result, Americans awarded Cronkite the honor of allowing him to give us the bad news about our world as well as the good. Unfortunately, the mission proved a washouta highly dangerous washout at that. Yes, he assured me, he would go to Jerusalem. Sadat was the first Middle Eastern leader to make any such gesture toward peace. Narrator: What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our CBS Evening News overtook The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC in the ratings during the 1967-68 television season, according to The New York Times. Harris (19912023), American Idol contestant. In 1962, he followed Douglas Edwards as anchor of CBS Evening News. A year later, CBS expanded the newscast to 30 minutes and debuted the new CBS Evening News featuring an interview with John Kennedy. As Senior PBS Correspondent Robert MacNeil observed, Cronkite came to be the sort of the personification of his era and became kind of the media figure of his time. (AP Photo) By: Al Tompkins Cronkite set the standards of television news when the medium was new and malleable. When colleague Dan Rather was knocked down on camera by security, Cronkite commented, I think weve got a bunch of thugs here, Dan. He was clearly angry, later criticizing security for beating on reporters. Birth Place:St. Joseph, Missouri, United States, Profession Decades later, Cronkite said: When I read those polls the first time, I thought, how silly, he says. When the Korean War began in 1950, Cronkite wanted to return to his role asan overseas correspondent. When Cronkite returned to New York after the invasion, Paramount put him in a newsreel reporting on the North African campaign. Legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite, who died five years ago this week at age 92, was often cited as the most trusted man in America, based on a 1972 poll. Cronkite was born in St. Joseph, Mo. In his autobiography, Cronkite described the hot afternoon on the banks of the Nile: The interview was as tepid as the afternoon was hot. He said that in journalism, we recognize a kind of hierarchy of fame. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 1968. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, but there was an interesting postscript to Cronkites war experiences. He died in 2009. US $11.00. There was no one, it was said, that he couldnt get on the telephone. Later known as Real Madrid, the club would become the most successful European football (soccer) franchise of the 20th century. Despite not being an astronaut, he was given the award in 2008. Cronkite didnt want to be a TV personality. However, over the years, Cronkite has gone down in history as one of the greatest reporters of all time, and we've learned more about him. (You can listen to Cronkite recount that story here.). Is that protected free speech? CBS wasnt Cronkites first stop in the journalism world. In an era beset by fears of nuclear war and the threat of political and social upheaval, Cronkite was a reassuring presence. Weve always known you can gain circulation or viewers by cheapening the product, and now youre finding the bad driving out the good., At the local level, he adds, the consultants [have] convinced all these stations that they had to have action in the first 45 seconds any old barn-burning or truck crash on the interstate would do. It was decreed that civilian journalists would be given the unofficial status of officers, at least for the duration. On the day of Kennedys funeral three days later, Cronkite shared his personal thoughts with his viewers in closing remarks that began, It is said that the human mind has a greater capacity for remembering the pleasant than the unpleasant. Declaration of Independence. CBS executives came to recognize Cronkite as something of a star. After he hosted the 1952 national political conventions, pundits began using the word anchor to describe what his role was on television. In fact, he was a sports announcer in Kansas City using the name Walter Wilcox. Reporting on Key Moments in American History. He reported in an editorial that it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. You can read the entire editorial here and watch a video of it. In the early years, Cronkites broadcast was regularly beaten in the ratings by the NBC news team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Suddenly, five German panzers appeared on the road, all heading in the direction of Cronkites jeep. Moments like these led to the perception that Cronkite was more straightforward with the American people than their own elected leaders, an attitude reflected in a 1972 poll that named him the most trusted person in the country. Iran Hostage Crisis, 1980 to 1981. Once the bridges were taken, the British army was to link up with the airborne forces and push on into the Reich. No emotion was added to the trauma of loss, nor was any needed. If a plane was shot down and its crew forced to bail out, the Germans would not know who fired any guns. As he later wrote, Oh, boy! Building on the legacy of Edward R. Murrow, he brought CBS to the pinnacle of prestige and popularity in television news. Cronkite later spoke about that honor and the future of journalism and education. 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