(Photo: CBS/The Early Show) VIDEO: Cronkite looks back on the day, with footage from his emotional broadcast. For million of Americans, the news of the president's death came from former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite. Forty years later, Cronkite says his memories of the day, and the man, are still vivid. On Nov. 22, 1963, it was possibly the last thing viewers expected to see in the middle of an afternoon soap opera. “As The World Turns” was interrupted by a CBS special bulletin. The anchor, Walter Cronkite, said: “Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting.” On that most frantic of days, Cronkite's composure wavered only once: at the moment when the unthinkable was confirmed. His report: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash - apparently official - President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central standard time, 2 p.m. Eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago.” Looking back, Cronkite tells CBS' "The Early Show," “My gosh, the president's dead. John Kennedy, this young president, is cut down, is dead. And it hit me pretty hard, just for that moment, while I gathered myself together, and went on again, beginning to think about, now where do we go?”