Comments on: Walter Cronkite Dies

Television Pioneer, CBS Legend, Passes Away in New York at 92

[proudmilvet]

Perceptions 5, are you going to tell us now that Fox(Faux)News doesn't always present the RNC propaganda or ONLY the opinions of your "Dear Leader" Limbaugh? Fair & Balanced my A##!!

[mtwdo]

Thank You, uncle Walter. You were truly a journalist. The next generation will never know honest, objective, unfiltered, unspun news. I wish for the old days when the news was reported and Americans were left to form their own opinions!

[robo1415]

Enough already!Walter Cronkite had his negatives as well as his positives...the man spouted some silly anti-Catholic and anti-freedom views as well some things good....Do you honestly think a conservative who had said the same things about say,someone Jewish,Gay or black would still have as many accolades?

[pozjetsfan]

America has lost it's public voice of the last three generations. It is a loss of staggering proportions. Journalism in america has died......and thats the way it is........have a great flight Mr. Cronkite.

[geeeberry]

Walter, Great man, THE LAST HONEST PERSON THAT C BS HIRED

[scubbasteve01]

Walter Cronkite
1916-2009

?? And that?s the way it is?.? Walter Cronkite used to say on TV across America for many generations from 1950 to the 1980?s long before cable TV and 24 hrs News Shows and 200 cable channels from black and white images to living color. Who became the most trusted man in America. A true TV legend, a news pioneer. He proved that television journalism could be great if it?s in the hands of the right person. Who worked for years as an anchor and managing editor of the ? CBS Evening News??.
Walter Cronkite was the CBS Evening News. He was able to personify his grand presence into every decade and was able to be as big as the stories that he covered.
Because he was that great without flinching a muscle. From the UP covering the troops rushing the beaches on the D-Day Invasion to the Nuremburg trials, to a sportscaster guy, to the CBS Studios in the 1950?s, from Pick The Winner, to the Morning Show, to the Farmer?s Almanac on the Morning Show, to the Olympics in the 1960?s, to Scott Carpenter orbiting the great blue planet in 1962 in the Aurora 7 spacecraft, to the CBS Evening News on Nov.22, 1963, to announcing to the world that President John F. Kennedy had just been shot, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and covering the Vietnam War to Watergate.
To holding up a copy of the Daily News to show America: Man Has landed On the Moon on July 20, 1969. ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN.
ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.
This was the career of Walter Cronkite. From interviews with President Truman, President John F. Kennedy, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Astronaut John Glenn,
President Richard M. Nixon, President Lyndon B. Johnson, First Lady Bird Johnson,
President Jimmy Carter, Senator Ted Kennedy to Sadat, Castro to covering his last election in 1980 when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter and began his 8 year reign as one of the greatest Presidents Of All Time.
March 6, 1981 was Cronkite?s last day as the anchor Of the CBS Evening News.
You could always have somebody sit in his chair. But you can truly never replace somebody that great. Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr was born in St. Joseph, Mo. on Nov 4, 1916. The clouds opened up on that day and the stork delivered a gift for the ages.
He learned his ABC?s so he could say CBS.
Mr. Pioneer: The Eagle Has Landed.
Walter Cronkite. A true American Icon. A Legend. Yes, Mr. Cronkite YOU ARE THERE!
You are an Eyewitness to History and the Twentieth Century.
If you wanted to be a newsman or newswoman. Who was a better role model than him? He never let his commentary take over the story but with his analysis and commentary. He had content and character.
THAT?S THE WAY IT IS! Mr. Walter Cronkite and That?s They Way It Was.
Rest IN Peace.

[ekucrew]

What a cool story on the CBS tribute special last night. Cronkite at a Grateful Dead show at MSG? Some radio station should play "Touch of Grey" and dedicate it to Cronkite!

He was part of a news frat that will never exist again in the media.. Murrow, Huntley, Brinkley, etc. Reporting INSTEAD of getting opinionated!

[toldyouso29]

I WAS SHOCKED TO LEARN WC HAD DIED. I could have sworn he died a couple of years ago...

[joe11144]

All of the superlatives have been used. He was a rare man; a bastion of honor in a sometimes less than honorable world. I have not been so sad at the loss of an icon since the assassination of JFK. It is remarkable that CBS opted not to donate the single hour of prime time as a tribute, choosing instead to sell commercial advertising. As further example of the differences in men. Walter would have understood. I do not. Godspeed, Uncle Walter.

[ladytinarglenn]

And for the record, I am not one to call names, but the entire cast of "The Early Show" can go! It is a morning circus! Katie Couric is a little better but I just don't watch her -- I'm very discouraged with the news. Everything in society has changed and dignity is no longer the order of the day. I hope CBS not only makes a platform for us to leave messages but that they read them and see that we are all unhappy with the lackluster quality that they give us. If I wanted to watch Entertainment Tonight, I would, but I don't so why should I have to see that quality on Nightly News on morning news shows. I get my news the best way I can but I will not subject myself to what I see today. I just miss yesterday...I miss Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley and the others. They didn't depend on sensationalism to get people to listen...they just told the truth. I can't say the same today. Truly a sad day!

[gqbq73]

We just lost another GREAT person

[MsRedlady]

I posted a comment earlier and now have read some other comments not all good and again not all bad. But think about it everyone, "God Bless America" we have the "freedom" of speech!!

[ladytinarglenn]

I was born in 1965 and I remember Walter Cronkite being a permanent fixture in our home. I heard him being described this morning as kind and generous man who wanted the story only and never sought to "blow himself up" or make a name for himself by humiliating others in interviews. Today I hardly watch the news because those sitting in the seat of Cronkite do not have the integrity that he had. Today I watch news anchors and others cut people down while having no respect for themselves or the person they interview just to make a name for themselves. I will truly miss Walter and I truly miss the news of yesterday. There was honor, respect and integrity then. Today I feel sorry for anchors today who can't tell the difference between a story and their greed and ambition. Walter simply gave us the story and because of his honesty we trusted him. Thank you Walter for simply giving us the story, for making us wiser and for giving us the best you had...for giving us you. Rest in peace.

[MsRedlady]

Let's face it, he could never be replaced, nor would anyone want to. I remember the coverage of JFK, Apollo XI, the Vietnam War and yes he was "trusted". He didn't just report the news, he investigated what he was reporting and what he shared with us was the "truth". A true "Journalist". God Bless his family and know that he and Betsy have been reunited.

[shemarlene]

I feel like I have lost a member of my family.

Walter Cronkite was with me through thick and thin....from losing my President to bringing me The Beatles and men on the moon...from the march on Washington and MLK's 'I have a dream' speech to losing both the Reverend and Bobby Kennedy...Kent State and then Watergate...and of course, maybe the toughest times for our country...the Vietnam war.

He held my hand through it all...

Long Live Walter Cronkite!

[bigbob_874]

AMEM

Bob Yahraus
Prescott,AZ

[TedYaeger]

It was the summer of 1951 when the Senate Macarthur hearings were happening when WTOP-TV in Washington, DC initiated Uncle Walter's career as a CBS news reporter. We had to set up an emergency "studio" in a garage used to house the remote truck and decorated a backround by "Buddy" Pappas. We borrowed a desk from the business office and fed Walter (LIVE) to the CBS network. This was his very first appearance on national television and, I was there. Ted Yaeger

[Heather530]

Journalism lost one of its superstars yesterday with the death of Walter Cronkite. I have special, personal memories of him.

For years, he lived in a townhouse across the street from my co-op. He might have been an internationally known and immensely respected newsman, but on East 84th Street he was our neighbor. He stopped by our block association fall street fair and our Christmas party when he was in town, and he stood at 84th and First Avenue in November to cheer on the marathon runners, a good neighbor in all ways.

I first met him at the association Christmas party the year after I moved to 84th Street. Later I wanted to put together a journalism book and, although I figured he wouldn?t remember me, I decided to write to him about it.

I was teaching in the graduate journalism school at NYU when I had the idea for my first book, ?Journalism Stories from the Real World.? Since I had always found it helpful -- and fun -- to use an anecdote to teach specific points, I thought I could put together a strong book if I collected stories from journalism professors all over the country with their examples of how they use stories from their days as a reporter to teach the important rules of journalism.

People sent me stories of covering the Kennedy assassinations, busing in Boston and the Vietnam War. I had wanted to ask Mr. Cronkite to write the introduction for me, but was waiting to get a publisher lined up first. When I met with rejection after rejection, I decided it might help if I had Mr. Cronkite onboard first, so I wrote to him, explained my project and asked him if he would write the intro contingent upon my getting a publisher. In return mail I received his generous answer.

?I don?t have the time to labor over an adequate introduction right now, but I have enclosed a letter which might help get the cooperation you require from the professors and a publisher,? he wrote. ?And, as you see, if it all comes about, I?ll somehow find time to do that introduction.?

He kindly included a To Those Concerned letter, which said in part: ?From the first responses Ms. Blaney has received to her request for anecdotal contributions, it is clear to me that she has a marvelous idea for a book that not only would be a worthy and unique journalism textbook, but also would provide a very good read (including a few tips) for us journeymen journalists. If the book materializes as I feel it must, given her dedication and talent and the value of the idea, I shall be honored to do the introduction -- no matter how much that may detract from the volume?s general excellence.?

Well, the book did materialize, published by North American Press in 1995. In it is the thoughtful introduction by Mr. Cronkite, a journalism giant who cared enough to help someone at the opposite end of the spectrum in need.

Thank you, Mr. Cronkite, and may God bless you.

By Retta Blaney

[jtepe]

As a Cuban exile in the early 1960's I would struggle to learn English and keep up to date on the news. Walther was always there on the afternoon news and he was so trusted and serious and then one day he spoke about how great the new medical system and educational achievements of the Cuban Revolution were. I said to myself, "does he really knows what he is talking about?". From that day on I lost some of the trust that he so nicely portrayed. Over the years I have always respected him but would always go back to that moment when I no longer had 100% of his trust, may he rest in peace.

[balsterm]

In 1980 I was explaining dates on the calendar to my 4 year old son: February 12 was Lincoln's birthday-a president, great man, log cabin, study hard, Civil War, etc. February 22 was Washington's birthday-first president, great man, cherry tree, honesty, Revolutionary War, etc. He then asked me "When is Walter Cronkite's birthday?" The CBS Evening News was revered at our house!!