Remembering Walter Cronkite

That's the Way it Was: The World of Politics, News and Entertainment Remember a Broadcasting Legend and American Icon

(CBS)  "In those 20 years while he was on the air, occurred probably some of the most, you know incredible things, I would have to say in our lifetime. He was there and reporting it," said Robin Williams.

"America ate to Walter Cronkite, they sat on the couch to Walter Cronkite and Walter gave it to them in as comfortable a way as you could pass on some of that bad news that he was passing on," said Ted Koppel.

"He learned long ago, I think, a very important lesson that some of us have yet to learn," added Brian Williams. "If you’re gonna work as hard as he did and shoulder the responsibility that he did, you’ve got to play in equal amounts."

Of why she thinks America trusted Cronkite, Diana Sawyer said, "You knew he had a real life, you knew he had that family. The good, muscular newsman in him always had the ballast of family, too."

"I don't think there was ever a more difficult parental period in our history as there was for us who had teenage children in the 1960s," Cronkite explained in an interview. "I'll tell ya how out of touch I was. I was way out of touch.

"Our daughter called and said, 'Some of us have been invited to go to a concert.' Her mother and I just jumped to a conclusion that this was something probably with the New York Philharmonic. My gosh, the next thing we know, coming on television is this wild bunch in the muck and the mud up at Woodstock with the dope running rampant," he recalled.

"My father, of course, was reporting the Woodstock Festival and was just going, 'Oh, my God,'" Kathy Cronkite remembers of her father's reaction.

"Woodstock? Concert!," Cronkite laughs as he retold the story. "Could that be where Kathy is? We got the first phone call from her [saying] 'I'm alright. I'm alright.'"

Cronkite called America's conquest of space "one of the great stories of the 20th century."

Cronkite and the Space Program

"He was the eyes that the country got to watch that through, as well, 'cause he was like a kid watching those. He couldn't believe it," said George Clooney.

Not only did Cronkite believe in the program, Mike Wallace said he knew all of the astronauts and cared about them.

When America's first three Apollo astronauts - Gus Grisson, Ed White and Roger Chafee - were trapped and killed by a flash fire that swept Saturn 5 during a launch pad test at Cape Kennedy, Cronkite once again reassured the country.

"This is a time for great sadness, national sadness, and certainly the personal sadness of the people in the space program. But it's also a time for courage. And if that sounds trite, I'll change the words to guts," he told viewers.

"I think we forget that the space program wasn't just about exploration, it was about phenomenal bravery in the face of complete unknown," said Diane Sawyer. "We were looking at nightmare scenarios, one after the other. The possibility that they would head to the Moon and not be able to come back. It was scary. And [Cronkite] so believed in it, and so saw it as what mankind had to do. That it really did help make us stronger."

Cronkite called Apollo 11 "the beginning of man's greatest adventure" and said there'd never be anything like it. He admitted the moon landing presented him with an "interesting emotional challenge."

"I had just as much time to prepare for that landing as the space program did," he said. "I'd watched it from the beginning… And yet, when that vehicle landed on the Moon, I was speechless. I really couldn't say a thing."

Epic Journey: Cronkite Recounts Apollo 11's 1969 Journey to the Moon and Back

Ted Koppel said, "When Walter rejoiced over man landing on the Moon, America rejoiced with him. I hope they put his ashes in an urn and stick it on one of those space probes when they go up. I think Walter would feel good just knowing that."

"Walter Cronkite's embrace of that program gave people American heroes at a time when they really needed them," Katie Couric said.

"There are stories that probably do some good in pushing people in the right direction," Cronkite explained in an interview about his role in brokering peace in the Mideast.

"Prime Minister Begin of Israel and President Sadat of Egypt have been bitter enemies, as all the Arab nations are with Israel. We got President Sadat on the television by satellite… And the first thing he always said to me when we talked was, 'Well, hello Walter. How's Barbara?'" Cronkite said imitating Sadat.

"And I didn’t care how Barbara was, to tell you the truth, and we got over that quite quickly. And then I asked him, I said, 'There’s talk about your going to Jerusalem," he said.

Said Barbara Walters, "It was Walter who said to both Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, 'Why don't you get together in Jerusalem.' And to everybody’s amazement, Anwar Sadat said, 'Yes!'"

"And we got him on the television and I reported what Sadat had said, and Begin kinda looked back and he said, 'He said that?' And I said, 'Yes. He said, 'Well, tell 'em he can come. Tell 'em he can come," Cronkite recalled.

It's not that surprising that Cronkite would know heads of state or politicians, but rock musicians?

"Certainly Walter had no idea that he was gonna fall in with the Grateful Dead," said drummer Mickey Hart. "I invited him to a Grateful Dead show... and it was Walter Cronkite at the soundboard at Madison Square Garden. He came back at halftime and he said, 'I was thinking of a thousand reasons to leave early. But I can't think of one now! You guys really get to somebody. I love your music.'"

"And that's how it all began," said Hart. "I feel very fortunate to be his friend. He's seen it all."

"He was on the air at the time Lyndon Johnson passed away. And Tom Johnson, who was Lyndon Johnson's press secretary at the time, called Cronkite while he was on the air. And he took the call during a commercial," Charlie Gibson explained. "But he didn't have all the facts by the time he was back on the air, and so when the camera came back up, he said, 'Wait a minute. Hold on. I'm learning something here,' and stayed on the phone talking to Tom Johnson until he had the who, what, why, where, when. And then told the American public that Lyndon Johnson passed away.

"Now, in all this day, when it has to be perfect, and it has to be right and you can't make a mistake on the air and all of that, Cronkite understood, 'Hey, we're about learning stuff here. We’re about finding out things,' said Gibson.

"And so, he just told the American public watching his broadcast that night, to wait a minute while I find out what's going on. And then I'll tell ya."

[libroberts]

Is there a DVD available of this show? (That's the Way it Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite). I watched the show, and absolutely loved it, but my Dad wasn't able to watch it, and I'd love to give him a copy, as he used to watch Walter Cronkite religiously when we were growing up.

Please let me know how I can get a copy!

Thanks very much!

Elizabeth

[wersalj]

My heart ached when I heard my favorite Uncle Walter had passing away. I began to have flashes of memories from when I was little to grown man about how be was part of my life and how he affected me when some horrible things have happened. I still do not know how he did it but he always made me feel good about the world and my life in it. I still remember many times through out my life when he broke the news to me, such as assignation of president kenedy,race riots after Doctor Martin being killed and the Apollo astronauts being killed on the launch pad where just a few. He was always there and he always new just what to say to make me fell everything would be alright. He was the man that I look to for the right answers all though out my life.

In recent years I often wondered where my Uncle Walter went and I missed him being there for the answers I so desperately needed. I have grown away from the TV news for the truth and looked at our modern news reporting more as a soap opera dramatizing events to gain ratings instead of reporting the news as it really was. Uncle Walter I will miss your voice of wisdom and most of all the security that your life brought to my life. I miss you, I love you but I know that God has called you to heaven to help him make sense out of this chaotic.

In loving memory your nephew Joseph

[amkucner]

Dearest Andy,

I am almost 50 and have grown up with You, Walter and 60 Minutes.
Tonight was the first time I have ever known You to be at lose for words.
Thank you my friend, no words can articulate such a loss.
Volumes can be said by silence.
Respectfully
Annemarie M Kucner

[aka_KJB]

All of my earliest memories of the news are of Walter Cronkite. I remember sitting with my family, eating dinner with the portable TV in the kitchen playing the CBS Evening News & Cronkite giving the current death toll in Vietnam. As a kid I was a huge fan of the space program like most kids who were old enough to be aware of it in the late 60's. It was "Uncle Walter" who had the voice that opened the galaxy for me and millions of other kids across the country. It was that same Uncle who broke the news to us that our President was, indeed, a crook and guided us through the ugly & messy aftermath of those events.

I was born almost exactly a month after the assassination of President Kennedy and still wasn't quite old enough to understand what was going on when he reported the murders of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Those reports were required viewing later in life, however, part of the official record of the those events.

I made a decision at an early age to become a writer & journalist and Walter Cronkite has always been the standard by which all other work in this field has been and will be judged.

And that's the way it was....

fade to black.....

[HGOODGUY]

IF WALTER CRONKITE'S MENTORS EDWARD R MURROW-CHET HUNTLY--DAVID BRINKLY ETC COULD SEE THE WAY THE NEWS IS HANDLED TODAY, THEY WOULD TURN OVER IN THEIR GRAVES!!

WHAT A JOKE!!!

FIRST THE NEWS IS REPORTED--THEN A PANEL DECIDES WHETHER THEY LIKE IT--AND THEN THEY TAKE A POLL!!!

I REMEMBER WHEN THE NEWS WAS JUST "THE NEWS"!!!

DOES ANYONE REALIZE THAT OUR INFORMATION IS BEING DRIVEN BY TWITTER--BUZZ--FACEBOOK ETC???

NO WONDER PEOPLE CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT!!!

[PlanoRandy]

And That?s the Way He Was

We call them national treasures, those handful of Americans we have in mind when we say they don?t make ?em like that anymore. Walter Cronkite was one of those people.

If Alexander Graham Bell was there to witness two cans getting strung together, Walter was no less pioneer-in-chief when the first television camera began broadcasting its blurry black and white image into our homes.

He was the voice from Middle America, the man who, although every region wanted to claim him, had an almost undetectable accent and whose political views were equally as undetectable.

Growing up in a North Louisiana in the early 60?s, our antenna could only get three TV channels so we had to choose each evening between Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley. We chose Walter.

When the world seemed on the brink of something historic, our family especially turned to Walter. He had a calming effect.

Like the meteorologist you prefer to watch when the weather is beginning to turn bad, getting the news from Walter Cronkite was like getting the skinny from a kindly old grandfather who could pat you on the knee and say, ?Due to a malfunction, the astronauts are trapped in their space capsule and are in danger of not being able to make it home again. But don?t worry. I?ll be here to keep you informed if there?s any new news to report.?

We studied Walter?s face and knew he would do just what he said. You don?t get to be known as ?the most trusted man in America ? for nothing. We trusted him because he never gave us a reason not to.

If you are old enough to remember when Walter removed his glasses long enough to compose himself during his reporting of John F. Kennedy?s death or as he rubbed his sweaty palms together upon hearing the eagle had landed, you too got a peek inside of who the man was, just enough of glimpse to know that Walter was one of us.

As an experienced World War II United Press war correspondent, Walter had seen war up close. He covered battles in North Africa and Europe including the famous Battle of the Bulge. He had seen first hand what little glory there is for those who fight our wars.

In Viet Nam during the 1968 Tet Offensive, Walter donned a helmet and flak jacket to cover what was to be one of his toughest assignments.

After years of reporting to us that we were winning that war, he returned home to tell us the hard truth:

?To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion?But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.?

After hearing the broadcast, it was later reported that President Lyndon Johnson said, ?If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America.?

Now not just Middle America, but all of America, has lost Cronkite.

Since he retired, we?ve had a sampling of those who have followed in his footsteps and, with the possible exception of Tom Brokaw and his work with the Greatest Generation, it seems few have the potential of filling his journalistic shoes, few of his successors have the potential to become a national treasure.

So that?s the way it is, Uncle Walter. We?ll just have to live with the fact that they just don?t make ?em like you anymore.

May you rest in peace.

[scottscooter]

Hello Katie couric,I just wanted to say when i was born in 1961.Mr.cronkite Always made me so calm and comfortable.When I was about 3 years old my first and only presidet was shot down and murdered!!MR cronkite Sadly told us all the truth!!!Jfk was dead!!Wow my father had been in ww2 just to stop things such as this????Some how Mr cronkite explained It would be okay!!Some years went on and the apollo missions did go to the moon!!!Again Mr. cronkite Explained and told us the play by play. I was about 9 or so..I was playing with my german neighbor friends..My father said that we are going to walk on the moon!!!ALL the children from the hood watched with AHHH!!Mr Cronkite thank you....I watched you until you retired..And thats the way it is!!!I salute you Mr.cronkite..And to have such a remarkable person such as Katie couric to carry on...I have to rush home every night to get the truth from katie couric!!!!luv yu walter ..luv you Katie..Scott

[marcleap]

To: CBS management and especially to the Producers of 60 Minutes ?That?s The Way It Was, Remembering Walter Cronkite?

Along with millions of other viewers, your program treated us to delightful glimpses of Walter Cronkite?s life and a wonderful chronology of world events over much of the last half of the 20th Century. But for me it was more than a review of his many contributions to reporting the news.

In this 60 Minutes we saw a perspective of the very American experience of world events through the eyes and voice of a non partisan reporter. The program portrayed a range of the human experiences we felt as the events of those past days unfolded - the deeds and emotions, mankind?s good and evil mixed with the joy and grief the news produced. Walter showed us the emotions he felt, not telling us how we should feel. He understood his role to provide us with the highest quality information on what he felt to be the most important events of the day, letting a better informed public make their own decisions about how to deal with it.

I believe we saw the powerful value of a free press, news presented in a very personal way, setting a very high bar for television journalism. Walter Cronkite understood the value of trust, both in his personal and professional life, earned over a lifetime with the potential of being lost in an instant. While his audience benefited from and was comforted by his reporting style, let us hope the ?Fourth Estate? reflects and uses his body of work as their standard.

My congratulations to CBS for supporting Walter Cronkite?s approach to reporting the ?way it was? and for commemorating him with this extraordinary piece.

Your Regular Viewer,

John M. Leap

[maxcarroll]

One News broadcast in the late 1980s closed with 'Uncle Walter' reading a letter from a little boy, who said he had to go to bed every night when Mr. Cronkite said, "Good night", and would Uncle Walter please, just once, NOT say, 'Good night"? So, after reading the letter on-the-air, Cronkite said, " And that's the way... This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News.". He left the "Good night" out of his sign off that one time for the boys sake.

[maxcarroll]

May I correct myself? I should have written "... the 1970s" instead of "1980s. He retired in the early 1980s. Sorry for the mistake. maxcarroll

[bhockey47]

I wanted to separate this comment from my previous. While I've been a big fan of Michael Jackson, as a nation we offered a giant of a man, an honorable man, Walter Cronkite a fraction of air as compared to Jackson. Cronkite deserved better, and in the end I truly feel that CBS was flawed in their coverage no differently then when then ran Mr. Cronkite out of town because of his age. On that day, on that day when Cronkite closed his last newscast, it was on that day that CBS not only lost a brilliant star, but lost it's presence in quality evening news. Since then, the ratings speak for themselves.