When I grew up in a small Tennessee town, every afternoon at 5:30 pm…the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite would grace our living room. I didn’t understand half the news he was talking about but I liked him. He didn’t scowl, growl, throw a fit, cry, or visibly pull for one thing or another. He was a newscaster who was for the most part unbiased (yes they did exist).
Cronkite conveyed fairness and honesty with actual integrity. You felt like you could trust Uncle Walt with your news to have it fair and factual. He started off as a radio announcer and newspaper reporter in the Midwest. He joined United Press, where he became a war correspondent during World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe and witnessing historic moments such as the Normandy landings.
1962, Cronkite became the anchor of the CBS Evening News, which he led from a 15-minute to a 30-minute format in 1963. Cronkite took us through the Kennedy assassination, the Moon Landing, the Vietnam War, Watergate, Jimmy Carter, and finally ending as Ronald Reagan became our 40th president.
He did have a moment where he did open up about something in a commentary. After his trip to Vietnam in early 1968, anchorman Walter Cronkite broadcasted his coverage of the Tet Offensive. Cronkite concluded his report with a personal commentary, voicing his skepticism of official assertions of military progress.
“To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. 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.”
Lyndon Baines Johnson (The then President): “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
This wasn’t something he did regularly at all. He was human and I have no doubt that at times he might tilt one way or another on issues…but when I go back and watch some of his old newscasts…they stuck pretty much to the cold hard facts. That seems so hard to do today.
And Thats the Way It Is…November 14, 2024.
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We watched him overnight as well as after our local news ended my parents would turn the channel to CBS News…TV was of limits during local and world news for a hour everyday haha
I was asking obbverse last night if he saw him in New Zealand…I wasn’t sure if he appeared in other countries. Yep….I wish news would go back down to that…
Yeah back in the day we received the main networks and PBS from Duluth Minnesota.
Years later they changed that we got our US Feeds from Detroit Rock City (see what I did there haha)
LOL
We so agree with you and were just telling my daughter about Walter Cronkite a day or two ago! He was a journalist of such integrity. My maternal grandmother would watch him religiously. It’s a beautiful memory for ne—remembering all the evenings I spent with her, watching Walter Cronkite.
His precense felt like he was a part of us…. I don’t see a new Cronkite under the formats we have today.
You’re right, Max. We watch a half dozen or so experts on YouTube now, to piece together information we used to get from Cronkite. On the upside, we can choose what parts to believe or not and do deeper dives.
I learned 20th century history from Walter Cronkite, watching “The 20th Century” between Green Bay Packer games and “The Ed Sullivan Show” (with “Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour” tucked in there somewhere). I watched more TV on Sundays than the rest of the week combined.
It’s hard to believe now that a TV newscaster was The Most Trusted Man in America.
That notion seems unfathomable now… I saw that show on youtube I believe…I’ll have to recheck.
You mean “The 20th Century”? That was a weekly show for several years. Ted Mack’s show was sort of an earlier version of “America’s Got Talent”, though it started on radio and with a different host – before my time.
Yes…some of them are on youtube. I want to watch one since you mentioned it. I wish I would have mentioned that in the post.
I remember my grandfather (Mother’s father) watching him faithfully every weeknight & reading his evening paper when my younger brother & I spent 2 of our 3 months off in the summers in Cincinnati as kids in the 70’s. He stopped what he was doing to be able to watch Walter Cronkite & read his evening paper on his couch. He wasn’t the only one I suspect. Different time that was than what the times are today Max.
Yea with today’s formats it’s almost impossible to find anyone that is unbiased.
I agree Max…it’s infotainment now.
So ingrained in our history, watched him every night! Whenever something big was happening you knew you could tune in to Cronkite and trust him to give you all the facts you needed.
Trust is the key word…it’s hard to find that trust today in any media person.
Agreed!
I too grew up with Walter Cronkite. He was a real journalist, unlike these hacks we have today. You could trust Walter Cronkite. He is an American classic.
Yes…they are…it’s a shame to see it come down to this.
It is. 🙁
I vaguely remember him, we’d sometimes watch US network news up north in Canada, and of course, when on vacation in Florida. He was as you suggest, a pillar of integrity. It was a better time actually when there were only 3 networks and each had reputable anchors and people could agree with what reality was, even if they differed in their interpretation of it was good or bad.
Yes it was much better at that time for news…not as much of it is one thing…and what you heard for the most part was fact based.
America has no clue how to win a war and since a lot of people make money from wars, they find ways to make them unwinnable.
Yes I agree…and the public loses their desire for them as well as in Vietnam
A legend. He’s rolling in his grave to see what the media has become, I’m sure….
Yes he would dude.
Different more caring trusting times indeed. I maintain the BBC news remains the least untarnished. The big American channels- I’m sure you know the two usual suspect(s)- are less news, more propaganda.
Yes they are…I won’t watch them. The lines between news and commentary are blurred.
Good call. Who needs all that Sturm and Drang? ‘The facts, just gimmie the facts ma’am.’
That is all I want but it’s hard to be found.
That is great dude I appreciate it. When I saw Robert Gordan’s name…I thought it woud be another one because of the skit…but that is really cool. Love the Cronkite lol.
Nothing short of a legend. Didn’t he also host “You Are There”? I remember that being on Saturday mornings.
Yes he did…I saw it on youtube…I should have mentioned that one.
Cronkite read the news straight. Very rarely did he give his opinion, something we need to get back to. There’s plenty of opinion out there masquerading as news…
I so wish the media would get back to this John. The lines are so blurred between commentary and facts.
I agree Walter Conkrite was an extraordinary anchor. While I don’t mind opinion journalism, it should be clearly indicated as such and separate from reporting the news in a factual manner. Unfortunately, nowadays where we live in a world of alternate facts that oftentimes is not the case.
Yea the lines are so blurred now. It seems like the more communication we have…the worse it is.
Well said. Agree that all news these days is slanted with some worse the others. The one the bothers me most is NPR which is funded by the government. They are far from being impartial. Walter was the best.
I agree with you on NPR. I mostly get my info from other sources than the normal ones we grew up with.