RTNDA encourages you to post your best memories of Walter Cronkite to the comments section below.
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Below are two audio clips from the 1997 RTNDA convention in New Orleans where Walter Cronkite helped Mike Cavender pass out the
Murrow awards and then delivered the keynote address.The clips are courtesy of Bob Priddy.
One thing a lot of folks forget about this giant is that first and foremost, he was a hell of a reporter. As a wire service war correspondent, he rode a glider with paratroopers and slogged through the mud. Decades later, when he was "the most trusted man in America", he was still a reporter to the core.
I was working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as senior news editor in the Vancouver (BC) TV news room. The Iranian revolution was in full swing, and the latest in a in a revolving-door of Prime Ministers was a guy who had gone to a university in Nelson, BC. I'd sent a reporter and cameraman by charter up to talk to folks who had known him, and they found some interesting facts. This leader of the Islamist government had been a consumate womanizer and skirt-chaser during his years in Nelson. He'd also shown a fondness for Canada's excellent beers.
As was our practice, we let CBS in LA know we had a story they might be interested in...they were, of course, and we arranged to uplink the story (shot on 16 mm film in those days) once we had it in hand.
I'd given the LA bureau Cliff Notes on the content, but it was going to be close. The story probably wouldn;t go up onto the bird much before their national newscast was to go on the air.
My assistant told me that CBS New York was on the phone and needed some more information. I punched up the line and a somewhat familiar voice said simply: "This is Walter at CBS New York...." He went on to ask me several concise, well-formed questions, confirmed the satellite schedule, and thanked me sincerely for the help.
It wasn't until after I hung up that I realized that it was Walter Cronkite. My desk team told me I looked kinda pale for a couple of minutes.
We made the feed, and a few minutes later we watched as Cronkite intro'd our story, using some of the info I'd given him.
Little wonder the man was so good. With minutes to spare, he wanted to make certain that he was going to be accurate in his report. He could have assigned a researcher or producer to make that call...but he was one of those people who says "If I'm the one saying it, I'd better be sure it's right." He was...tat night...and for so many glorious, wonderful years. My brief contact with him remains one of the highlights of my career.
By Steve Krueger on Jul 18 2009
Farewell
I cannot claim any professional experiences with Mr. Cronkite, but I did have a social brush with greatness that I think illustrates the genuine qualities that this man possessed making him so well respected beyond his legendary career.
As a young broadcast operations type in DC in the early 1980's, I attended many R/TV Correspondents' Dinners at the Hilton. I was in awe seeing the reporters and dignitaries I idolized as a golden age of television child.
I vividly recall adjourning to the network hospitality suites immediately following the formal dinner and program. As I pushed my way to the front of an open bar, I noticed that Walter Cronkite was immediately behind me.
Naturally, I asked him if I could order a drink for him when the bartender got to me. He smiled broadly and gave me his order (a scotch, I think).
Anyway, upon getting our cocktails we moved out of the crush of thirsty journalists and found a quiet corner. I introduced myself and my affiliation with a broadcast technical firm & he immediately struck up a conversation with me about satellites and space. My God! Here was an icon of broadcasting treating me as an equal and seeking information about the workings of satellite newsgathering vehicles, which at the time, were fairly exotic.
As a matter of course, we were joined by some media big shots & pushy producers (you know the type). Our conversation remained his focus. At no time did he make me feel that his interest was to engage with those who joined us that were clearly well above me in the hierarchy.
Our chat soon wrapped up and everyone gracious moved on with their socializing. True, this incident was a brief snapshot of a larger-than-life personality. However, it underscores many of the testimonials I've heard from the longtime colleagues of Walter Cronkite who fondly recall the character of this great newsman. The warmth and sincerity viewers saw on the air was his true nature.
By Jon Schwenzer on Jul 18 2009
The New London School Explosion: Walter Cronkite's first big assignment
Walter Cronkite had just recently been assigned to the Dallas Bureau of the United Press before March 18, 1937 became the date to mark the worst school disaster in American history.
My grandfather Walter Bunting was a survivor of this tragedy. Nearly 300 students and teachers were killed. Almost most of them and 5th - 7th grade children. My grandfather was in the 9th grade and his sister Naoma was a senior (which at that time was 11th grade). She was among those killed.
Several sources quote Cronkite as saying, "I did nothing in my studies nor in my life to prepare me for a story of the magnitude of that New London tragedy, nor has any story since that awful day equaled it."
That's a powerful statement knowing that few people have lived long enough to cover as many wars and disasters as Walter Cronkite.
Being close to this story all my life, I once heard (yes, hear-say) that Mr. Cronkite said something close to this..."I never stopped having nightmares about the death of the children I saw that day. I'm not afraid of dying, but I take comfort in knowing that when I do die, the nightmares will finally end."
By Ilan Goddard on Jul 18 2009
Walter and Betsy Cronkite
I can't think of Walter Cronkite without thinking of his wonderful wife, Betsy, who passed away four years ago. The two of them attended RTNDA conventions together. Betsy would be nearby offering her love and support for the man we all knew as "Uncle Walter." But spending time with Betsy is what made you realize what made Walter such a wonderful man, not just an outstanding broadcast journalist. They both signed Walter's book to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. I always thought of the name Cronkite as a pair; Walter and Betsy. Today, I also think of Walter's longtime writer, Ed Bliss, who was inseparable from his wife, Lois. The four were good friends, and I miss them all. When they got together, the men traded their war stories. But it was the women who clearly provided the foundation and inspiration for the great broadcast journalists' lives. And that's the way it was...
By Nan Siemer on Jul 18 2009
"It was a day like all days..."
Cronkite was an institution wasn't he? He was the optime of the hard nosed, tough minded, ham fighted truth teller. He came along at a time in American History.....that included the likes of John Cameron Swazye, Cleet Roberts and a young Barbara Walters and Mike Wallace. Tom Brokaw was pup. Cronkite made his chops on the history program "You are there!" His coverage of Valley Forge with George Washington in
1953 fitted beautifully...as he interviewed the many historic figures including Benedict Arnold - which was awesome! Cronkite's definitive voice carried the day and brought truth and reality to every situation. Only once did he vary from that format and that was when he came back from
Vietnam after Tet in 1968. Cronkite set the standard.....but because of that one "editorial comment" may have changed news reporting forever!
By Ron & Anna Winship on Jul 19 2009
Lunch With Walter
I won a lunch with Walter at the 1998 RTNDF San Antonio auction. Cost me $1,300 if I remember correctly. I was supposed to go to NYC, do the CBS tour, sit down with Walter at a restaurant for an hour or so and then head home. I called CBS a couple of times but there were schedule conflicts and eventually I stashed the certificate in my desk and almost forgot about it. Until the Summer of 2001 when, on a whim, I made another call to CBS and got Walter's scheduler, Maureen Adler. I explained that I'd be on the Vineyard for much of the summer and perhaps we could take Walter to lunch. I left my phone number and headed back to work.
I'd sort of forgotten the whole Walter deal by August when one day I came back from clamming and was greeted by my oldest son who said "Dad, you're not going to believe the message on the answering machine". It was actually a message from Walter inviting us to dinner at the Edgartown Yacht Club.
By Ed Perry via RTNDA on Jul 20 2009
The Office
I first visited New York City with my mother over the Labour Day weekend in 1979. My brother Byron MacGregor worked at the time for the CBS O-and-O in Detroit, WWJ. He'd made arrangements for us to have a tour of the Broadcast Center on West 57th. I was between my first and second years of J-school and this was a walk on hallowed ground. I watched first from the side of the studio as Douglas Edwards delivered his morning newsbreak. Then our guide, a young PA named Betsy who'd been assigned to show some Canadian kid around, led us into the studio where Cronkite delivered the news each night. I will never forget it. And I was able to take a peek into the doorway of his office. I didn't see the button Dan Shelley spoke of, the one that closed the door, but I soaked up everything I could in that moment. Years later in 1997 at the RTNDA convention in New Orleans I had a chance to relay my experience to him. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to be in this great business at the same time as such a giant.
By Hudson Mack on Jul 20 2009
Walter Cronkite.
Walter came to CBS News two years before I did, he in 1950,
I in 1952.
Over the more than a third of a century I then spent there,
Walter and I worked together a great deal, for example at conventions.
We were among a group who played doubles tennis in the mornings
at Kansas City before going to work. As you might expect, he hated
to lose.
On the old Sunday News Special, the 11 p.m. network television
newscast Walter anchored in the 1960s, I worked as editor/executive
producer. Yes, in those days, a single job. Walter imaginatively wanted
to try some new wrinkle everey week. It kept us hopping.
We had countless interactions at the office over
the years, and our decades of friendship led to sailings on
his yacht out of Martha's Vineyard and southwards along
the Atlantic coast.
His son, Chip, briefly dated one of my daughters, Lise.
Walter, of all things, showed up to ferry them in his car to the movies.
I thought:That's the highest-paid chauffeur I'll ever see.
He and I last talked over lunch several years ago, reminiscing of the
early days, of shared times more than a half century past, in newsrooms
so different from today's — an era of such pioneering, so much innovation,
and now lost in all but memory.
Never again, and I miss him already.
========
By Emerson Stone on Jul 20 2009
A Feel For The Man...
By now, most everything about Walter had been reported again and again so let me just cite a few personal exchanges with him to give you a feel for the man.
One year we were going to an RTNDA convention in Miami and Walter asked if my late wife Gish and I would like to fly to Fort Lauderdale where his boat was berthed and sail down to Miami with him and Betsy. After we were on our way, Mrs. Cronkite asked Walter "Why don't you let Bill take the wheel for a while?" Somewhat reluctantly (I told him I had never done it before but it looked easy), he said "yes". We were on the inner water way, no traffic within half a mile and plenty of room on both sides of his boat. Betsy started to laugh and took a picture of me at the wheel. It was only after I got it, did I realize that a very concerned Walter was crouched right behind me, ready to seize control if needed.
When we went to China with Nixon, Walter asked me to go shopping with him. "You were here before," he said, "and I'm sure you know what to buy your wife. I am eager to get lots of things for Betsy because in the Tokyo stopover, I bought some wrist watches. I can't resist them and I have a drawer full of them at home. She'll be furious so I want to be sure to get her a lot of China souvenirs." Free of other commitments, we went and returned to the hotel, Walter laden with boxes. The Chinese guard stopped him and demanded identification. He had seen me often enough that I wasn't stopped. I began laughing and Walter demanded to know why. Why? A man more readily recognized than anyone else all over the world had to put down his packages and explain to a Chinese soldier that he really was who he said he was.
One last remembrance: at the Gerald Ford convention in Kansas City, Walter said to me, "I'm going to lunch with (Senator) Hugh Scott. You know him. Why don't you join us?" As we walked to the Muhlenberg Hotel, a teen aged girl, stopped us. She was a member of an extremely conservative GOP youth group and began to chastise Walter for his reporting on the "Communist Broadcasting System". He listened patiently to her outburst and then spotting her name on one of the many pins and ribbons she wore, he asked her if she was related to a Republican he knew. She said that was her uncle. Walter proceeded to say what a special guy her uncle was. Within minutes he had charmed her completely and our encounter ended with her asking for and getting his autograph.
That was one of the strengths and the goodness in the man. Other television journalists would have walked away in anger. Walter took the time to make still one more admirer.
By Bill Small, RTNDA President in 1960 on Jul 20 2009
Remembering Uncle Walter
Many thanks to Stacey and Dan for their articles noting the remarkable career and life of Walter Cronkite. As one generation kept Murrow as the standard, the next had Cronkite -- and it's our job to carry the legacy for both to generations where anchorman is a parody.
This is important, serious and vital work we do on behalf of our families, friends, neighbors and communities. Murrow knew the world was simply a supersized neighborhood, and Cronkite never forgot the role in making sure all of us knew what was going on in the neighborhood.
God rest Walter Cronkite, and bless him for the role he's played in our profession and our lives.
By Ed Espositio on Jul 20 2009
The most influential person in his life
Walter and I presented the Murrow Awards in 1997 in New Orleans before he received the Paul White Award. He and his wife, Betsy, joined the RTNDA board and others at a reception earlier in the evening. As you would expect, he was surrounded by well-wishers who seemed to hang on his every word as they talked about such heady topics as the state of our business and the major stories of his career.
Meanwhile, my wife, Kay, was engaged in conversation with Walter's wife, Betsy. All of a sudden, Betsy said to Kay that she'd like a drink. Kay offered to get her one right away, but she said, "No, Walter will get it."
"Walter," she called out from across the room, "I need a drink."
Without hesitation, he stopped, almost in mid-sentence, and excused himself to the crowd around him. He then walked straight over to the bar.
In one of the rememberance clips I saw this past weekend, someone asked Walter who was the most influential person he'd ever met. His answer came quickly. "My wife, Betsy, I'd have to say."
Clearly, Walter Cronkite knew what was really important in life!
By Mike Cavender on Jul 21 2009
"If they want the qustions in advance, (blank)' em..."
Walter Cronkite and I collaborated on several projects during my tenure as GM of CBS Radio Network News and we maintained our friendship in the years since. Here's a story that speaks volumes about Walter Cronkite:
In late 1998, during the John Glenn Shuttle Mission, Walter and I converged in Houston after arranging for him to speak with the astronauts live in space on CBS Radio. Before we left, NASA called and asked for the questions - in advance. I told them CBS News policy would not permit that and besides, it's Walter Cronkite! They pressed the issue. I took a deep breath, called Walter and he immediately reverted to managing editor form. He said, rather forcefully, "Mike, if they want the questions in advance, (blank)'em. We won't do the interview."
So, even in his 80s and given his love of the space program, he was still a reporter first and was perfectly willing to give up the interview with John Glenn in space if it meant tipping his hand.
I cleaned up his answer, called NASA back, delivered the message, and they relented immediately.
Walter Cronkite went on to anchor what turned out to be his last "CBS News Special Report: A Conversation with the Astronauts." And he did it before 2,000 people at a 40th anniversary luncheon for NASA. He closed out the CBS Radio Network News broadcast by saying, "And that's the way it is, November 4, 1998," which was Walter Cronkite's 82nd birthday!
What a day!
By Michael Freedman, Professor of Media and Public Affairs, Executive Director, GW Global Media Institute - George Washington University on Jul 21 2009
Cronkite has been and remains a guide...
For many of us in broadcast journalism, Walter Cronkite has been and remains a guide, or, as he once described himself, "an eloquent front line soldier speaking for our profession." And TO our profession.
He has challenged us to be better than we are, to be unafraid to stand by principles of public service rather than being motivated by popularity measured by ratings points. He has been unafraid to speak pointedly about our shortcomings while fiercely defending our craft, profession, calling---whatever it might be termed--from its often-partisan attackers.
In 1970, the Radio-Television News Directors gave Walter Cronkite, the highest award the organization can give. He is one of two people to receive that award twice.
It was at a time when President Nixon had turned his attack dogs loose on broadcast news. Those attacks emboldened others whose special views were not getting the attention they wanted to also attack.
Walter Cronkite told his audience that night he was particularly concerned about those in the business who, "like wide-eyed country yokels before the pitchman, are losing sight of the pea under the shell."
"We must expose the demagogues who would undermine this nation's free press for personal or partisan political gain," he said. "That is news."
"...I don't think it is any of our business what the moral, political, social or economic effect of our reporting is. I say let's get on with the job of reporting the news--and let the chips fall where they may."
He urged his colleagues not to be diverted from that task by those he called "apoplectic apostles of alliteration,"---a counter punch to Spiro Agnew, who had referred to those of us in the business as "nattering nabobs of negativism."
He abhorred those who encouraged us to report only what readers and listeners and viewers want to hear, calling it a "clear abdication of their duties as journalists."
In 1976, Walter Cronkite got up from his chair two rows in front of me at the RTNDA convention, and mourned the lack of time broadcast journalists have to tell a story adequately and the lack of substance in too many reports.
"There is no newsman worth his salt who does not know that advisers who dictate that no item should run more than 45 seconds of the newscast and that it must have action (a barn burning or a jackknifed tractor trailer truck will do), that calls a 90-second film piece a 'mini-documentary,' that advises against covering city hall because it is dull, that says the anchorman or woman must do all voice-overs for 'identity'---any real newsman or woman knows that sort of stuff is balderdash. It's cosmetic, pretty packaging--not substance," he told us that morning.
He called on us that day to do what we would like to do rather than what consultants or non-news oriented station managers believe they should be doing. "In other words," he said, "it means covering the meaningful, the genuinely important, relevant and significant news of your communities--city hall, county courts, the state house--whether there is a picture story there or not, whether the resulting story can be told in 20 seconds or not."
In a new book--WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST--Mr. Cronkite reminds us in the forward that a free press and a free citizenry cannot be separated. "The preservation of our liberties depends on an enlightened citizenry," he writes. And he says, "The secret of our past success as a nation may be traced to the fact that we have been a free people, free to discuss ideas and alternatives, free to teach and learn, free to report and hear, free to challenge the most venerable institutions without fear of reprisal."
He warns those who rely on what he calls "the explosively compressed headline service of television news" that they can expect to be "exploited by the demagogues and dictators who prey on the semi-informed."
Broadcast journalism, he has reminded us again and again--those of us who practice as well as those who are consumers of it--cannot be the sole source of information in a free society. And he is not bashful about reminding the public it has a responsibility to be broadly-educated if it expects to remain a free society.
By Part of Bob Priddy's speech in 1999 at Walter Cronkite bust unveiling on Jul 21 2009
Memories of Walter Cronkite
I did a half hour interview and tribute to Mr. Cronkite on his golden wedding anniversary. We were at his hotel suite in Seattle and Betsy Cronkite joined us. I asked Walter what was the key to 50 years of marital bliss and he said “Betsy keeping me humble”. He then went on to tell this story: “This morning Betsy and I went for a sail. As we were heading out a boat with several teenage boys went by screaming ‘Hi Walter, Hi Walter’. I turned to Betsy and said ‘This is amazing. These kids weren’t even born when I stopped doing the CBS Nightly News but they recognize me. Betsy quickly responded ‘They’re saying high water, high water!” Just one of endless stories of Mr. Cronkite’s humor and humility. He was and will remain one of my hero’s and I feel blessed to have known him.
Patsy Smullin
Owner/ President
California Oregon Broadcasting inc.
By Patricia C. Smullin on Jul 22 2009
Memories of Walter
I was in the seventh grade and we moved to a new area, so I had to make new friends. Every day when I went to get off the school bus this kid would yell out \"say hello to Walter for me\" Finally, I asked him one night why do you always ask me to say hello to Walter? Walter who? He knew my last name was Cronkite, so he thought I was related and he said, \"Walter Cronkite.\" I never watched the news, so I didn\'t know who he was, then I asked my mother \"who is Walter Cronkite\"? She said, in a few hours we\'ll turn on the news then you\'ll know. Ever since that night I realized that I might be related to one of the most popular people in television. I never really knew for sure so over the years my Aunt and Uncle Maber and Janet Cronkite started having family reunions and they told me that we were related. Over twenty years went by then my beloved brother Ronald D. Cronkite passed away Feburary 22, 2009. My ex-sister-in-law told me that we were related to Walter Cronkite then five months later I recieved the shocking news that Walter Cronkite had past away. I\'ve always wanted to see a geneoligist to do research to verify this fact for me, so I finally went to the Family History Center with my book, \" A Reporter\'s Life\", and sure enough she was able to trace us back to being 12th cousins to Walter Cronkite. I was so happy to hear about this and I haven\'t been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I would love to meet his children some day. Chip, Nancy, and Kathy and I hope they would like to meet me. This would be the greatest thing that could ever happen in my whole entire life. I\'m so honored to know that we\'re related that I\'ve even talked our daughter into applying for the next Cherry Blossom Princess for the 2011 Cherry Blossom Festival in honor of Walter Cronkite, and to represent the state of Maine. I\'m so excited and anxiousely waiting to see if she makes it. Wish us luck and thank you all for taking the time to read my memories of Walter Cronkite. He was a great man and the news will never be the same without him.
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Walter Cronkite
One thing a lot of folks forget about this giant is that first and foremost, he was a hell of a reporter. As a wire service war correspondent, he rode a glider with paratroopers and slogged through the mud. Decades later, when he was "the most trusted man in America", he was still a reporter to the core.
I was working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as senior news editor in the Vancouver (BC) TV news room. The Iranian revolution was in full swing, and the latest in a in a revolving-door of Prime Ministers was a guy who had gone to a university in Nelson, BC. I'd sent a reporter and cameraman by charter up to talk to folks who had known him, and they found some interesting facts. This leader of the Islamist government had been a consumate womanizer and skirt-chaser during his years in Nelson. He'd also shown a fondness for Canada's excellent beers.
As was our practice, we let CBS in LA know we had a story they might be interested in...they were, of course, and we arranged to uplink the story (shot on 16 mm film in those days) once we had it in hand.
I'd given the LA bureau Cliff Notes on the content, but it was going to be close. The story probably wouldn;t go up onto the bird much before their national newscast was to go on the air.
My assistant told me that CBS New York was on the phone and needed some more information. I punched up the line and a somewhat familiar voice said simply: "This is Walter at CBS New York...." He went on to ask me several concise, well-formed questions, confirmed the satellite schedule, and thanked me sincerely for the help.
It wasn't until after I hung up that I realized that it was Walter Cronkite. My desk team told me I looked kinda pale for a couple of minutes.
We made the feed, and a few minutes later we watched as Cronkite intro'd our story, using some of the info I'd given him.
Little wonder the man was so good. With minutes to spare, he wanted to make certain that he was going to be accurate in his report. He could have assigned a researcher or producer to make that call...but he was one of those people who says "If I'm the one saying it, I'd better be sure it's right." He was...tat night...and for so many glorious, wonderful years. My brief contact with him remains one of the highlights of my career.
By Steve Krueger on Jul 18 2009
Farewell
I cannot claim any professional experiences with Mr. Cronkite, but I did have a social brush with greatness that I think illustrates the genuine qualities that this man possessed making him so well respected beyond his legendary career.
As a young broadcast operations type in DC in the early 1980's, I attended many R/TV Correspondents' Dinners at the Hilton. I was in awe seeing the reporters and dignitaries I idolized as a golden age of television child.
I vividly recall adjourning to the network hospitality suites immediately following the formal dinner and program. As I pushed my way to the front of an open bar, I noticed that Walter Cronkite was immediately behind me.
Naturally, I asked him if I could order a drink for him when the bartender got to me. He smiled broadly and gave me his order (a scotch, I think).
Anyway, upon getting our cocktails we moved out of the crush of thirsty journalists and found a quiet corner. I introduced myself and my affiliation with a broadcast technical firm & he immediately struck up a conversation with me about satellites and space. My God! Here was an icon of broadcasting treating me as an equal and seeking information about the workings of satellite newsgathering vehicles, which at the time, were fairly exotic.
As a matter of course, we were joined by some media big shots & pushy producers (you know the type). Our conversation remained his focus. At no time did he make me feel that his interest was to engage with those who joined us that were clearly well above me in the hierarchy.
Our chat soon wrapped up and everyone gracious moved on with their socializing. True, this incident was a brief snapshot of a larger-than-life personality. However, it underscores many of the testimonials I've heard from the longtime colleagues of Walter Cronkite who fondly recall the character of this great newsman. The warmth and sincerity viewers saw on the air was his true nature.
By Jon Schwenzer on Jul 18 2009
The New London School Explosion: Walter Cronkite's first big assignment
Walter Cronkite had just recently been assigned to the Dallas Bureau of the United Press before March 18, 1937 became the date to mark the worst school disaster in American history.
My grandfather Walter Bunting was a survivor of this tragedy. Nearly 300 students and teachers were killed. Almost most of them and 5th - 7th grade children. My grandfather was in the 9th grade and his sister Naoma was a senior (which at that time was 11th grade). She was among those killed.
Several sources quote Cronkite as saying, "I did nothing in my studies nor in my life to prepare me for a story of the magnitude of that New London tragedy, nor has any story since that awful day equaled it."
That's a powerful statement knowing that few people have lived long enough to cover as many wars and disasters as Walter Cronkite.
Being close to this story all my life, I once heard (yes, hear-say) that Mr. Cronkite said something close to this..."I never stopped having nightmares about the death of the children I saw that day. I'm not afraid of dying, but I take comfort in knowing that when I do die, the nightmares will finally end."
By Ilan Goddard on Jul 18 2009
Walter and Betsy Cronkite
I can't think of Walter Cronkite without thinking of his wonderful wife, Betsy, who passed away four years ago. The two of them attended RTNDA conventions together. Betsy would be nearby offering her love and support for the man we all knew as "Uncle Walter." But spending time with Betsy is what made you realize what made Walter such a wonderful man, not just an outstanding broadcast journalist. They both signed Walter's book to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. I always thought of the name Cronkite as a pair; Walter and Betsy. Today, I also think of Walter's longtime writer, Ed Bliss, who was inseparable from his wife, Lois. The four were good friends, and I miss them all. When they got together, the men traded their war stories. But it was the women who clearly provided the foundation and inspiration for the great broadcast journalists' lives. And that's the way it was...
By Nan Siemer on Jul 18 2009
"It was a day like all days..."
Cronkite was an institution wasn't he? He was the optime of the hard nosed, tough minded, ham fighted truth teller. He came along at a time in American History.....that included the likes of John Cameron Swazye, Cleet Roberts and a young Barbara Walters and Mike Wallace. Tom Brokaw was pup. Cronkite made his chops on the history program "You are there!" His coverage of Valley Forge with George Washington in
1953 fitted beautifully...as he interviewed the many historic figures including Benedict Arnold - which was awesome! Cronkite's definitive voice carried the day and brought truth and reality to every situation. Only once did he vary from that format and that was when he came back from
Vietnam after Tet in 1968. Cronkite set the standard.....but because of that one "editorial comment" may have changed news reporting forever!
By Ron & Anna Winship on Jul 19 2009
Lunch With Walter
I won a lunch with Walter at the 1998 RTNDF San Antonio auction. Cost me $1,300 if I remember correctly. I was supposed to go to NYC, do the CBS tour, sit down with Walter at a restaurant for an hour or so and then head home. I called CBS a couple of times but there were schedule conflicts and eventually I stashed the certificate in my desk and almost forgot about it. Until the Summer of 2001 when, on a whim, I made another call to CBS and got Walter's scheduler, Maureen Adler. I explained that I'd be on the Vineyard for much of the summer and perhaps we could take Walter to lunch. I left my phone number and headed back to work.
I'd sort of forgotten the whole Walter deal by August when one day I came back from clamming and was greeted by my oldest son who said "Dad, you're not going to believe the message on the answering machine". It was actually a message from Walter inviting us to dinner at the Edgartown Yacht Club.
By Ed Perry via RTNDA on Jul 20 2009
The Office
I first visited New York City with my mother over the Labour Day weekend in 1979. My brother Byron MacGregor worked at the time for the CBS O-and-O in Detroit, WWJ. He'd made arrangements for us to have a tour of the Broadcast Center on West 57th. I was between my first and second years of J-school and this was a walk on hallowed ground. I watched first from the side of the studio as Douglas Edwards delivered his morning newsbreak. Then our guide, a young PA named Betsy who'd been assigned to show some Canadian kid around, led us into the studio where Cronkite delivered the news each night. I will never forget it. And I was able to take a peek into the doorway of his office. I didn't see the button Dan Shelley spoke of, the one that closed the door, but I soaked up everything I could in that moment. Years later in 1997 at the RTNDA convention in New Orleans I had a chance to relay my experience to him. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to be in this great business at the same time as such a giant.
By Hudson Mack on Jul 20 2009
Walter Cronkite.
Walter came to CBS News two years before I did, he in 1950,
I in 1952.
Over the more than a third of a century I then spent there,
Walter and I worked together a great deal, for example at conventions.
We were among a group who played doubles tennis in the mornings
at Kansas City before going to work. As you might expect, he hated
to lose.
On the old Sunday News Special, the 11 p.m. network television
newscast Walter anchored in the 1960s, I worked as editor/executive
producer. Yes, in those days, a single job. Walter imaginatively wanted
to try some new wrinkle everey week. It kept us hopping.
We had countless interactions at the office over
the years, and our decades of friendship led to sailings on
his yacht out of Martha's Vineyard and southwards along
the Atlantic coast.
His son, Chip, briefly dated one of my daughters, Lise.
Walter, of all things, showed up to ferry them in his car to the movies.
I thought:That's the highest-paid chauffeur I'll ever see.
He and I last talked over lunch several years ago, reminiscing of the
early days, of shared times more than a half century past, in newsrooms
so different from today's — an era of such pioneering, so much innovation,
and now lost in all but memory.
Never again, and I miss him already.
========
By Emerson Stone on Jul 20 2009
A Feel For The Man...
By now, most everything about Walter had been reported again and again so let me just cite a few personal exchanges with him to give you a feel for the man.
One year we were going to an RTNDA convention in Miami and Walter asked if my late wife Gish and I would like to fly to Fort Lauderdale where his boat was berthed and sail down to Miami with him and Betsy. After we were on our way, Mrs. Cronkite asked Walter "Why don't you let Bill take the wheel for a while?" Somewhat reluctantly (I told him I had never done it before but it looked easy), he said "yes". We were on the inner water way, no traffic within half a mile and plenty of room on both sides of his boat. Betsy started to laugh and took a picture of me at the wheel. It was only after I got it, did I realize that a very concerned Walter was crouched right behind me, ready to seize control if needed.
When we went to China with Nixon, Walter asked me to go shopping with him. "You were here before," he said, "and I'm sure you know what to buy your wife. I am eager to get lots of things for Betsy because in the Tokyo stopover, I bought some wrist watches. I can't resist them and I have a drawer full of them at home. She'll be furious so I want to be sure to get her a lot of China souvenirs." Free of other commitments, we went and returned to the hotel, Walter laden with boxes. The Chinese guard stopped him and demanded identification. He had seen me often enough that I wasn't stopped. I began laughing and Walter demanded to know why. Why? A man more readily recognized than anyone else all over the world had to put down his packages and explain to a Chinese soldier that he really was who he said he was.
One last remembrance: at the Gerald Ford convention in Kansas City, Walter said to me, "I'm going to lunch with (Senator) Hugh Scott. You know him. Why don't you join us?" As we walked to the Muhlenberg Hotel, a teen aged girl, stopped us. She was a member of an extremely conservative GOP youth group and began to chastise Walter for his reporting on the "Communist Broadcasting System". He listened patiently to her outburst and then spotting her name on one of the many pins and ribbons she wore, he asked her if she was related to a Republican he knew. She said that was her uncle. Walter proceeded to say what a special guy her uncle was. Within minutes he had charmed her completely and our encounter ended with her asking for and getting his autograph.
That was one of the strengths and the goodness in the man. Other television journalists would have walked away in anger. Walter took the time to make still one more admirer.
By Bill Small, RTNDA President in 1960 on Jul 20 2009
Remembering Uncle Walter
Many thanks to Stacey and Dan for their articles noting the remarkable career and life of Walter Cronkite. As one generation kept Murrow as the standard, the next had Cronkite -- and it's our job to carry the legacy for both to generations where anchorman is a parody.
This is important, serious and vital work we do on behalf of our families, friends, neighbors and communities. Murrow knew the world was simply a supersized neighborhood, and Cronkite never forgot the role in making sure all of us knew what was going on in the neighborhood.
God rest Walter Cronkite, and bless him for the role he's played in our profession and our lives.
By Ed Espositio on Jul 20 2009
The most influential person in his life
Walter and I presented the Murrow Awards in 1997 in New Orleans before he received the Paul White Award. He and his wife, Betsy, joined the RTNDA board and others at a reception earlier in the evening. As you would expect, he was surrounded by well-wishers who seemed to hang on his every word as they talked about such heady topics as the state of our business and the major stories of his career.
Meanwhile, my wife, Kay, was engaged in conversation with Walter's wife, Betsy. All of a sudden, Betsy said to Kay that she'd like a drink. Kay offered to get her one right away, but she said, "No, Walter will get it."
"Walter," she called out from across the room, "I need a drink."
Without hesitation, he stopped, almost in mid-sentence, and excused himself to the crowd around him. He then walked straight over to the bar.
In one of the rememberance clips I saw this past weekend, someone asked Walter who was the most influential person he'd ever met. His answer came quickly. "My wife, Betsy, I'd have to say."
Clearly, Walter Cronkite knew what was really important in life!
By Mike Cavender on Jul 21 2009
"If they want the qustions in advance, (blank)' em..."
Walter Cronkite and I collaborated on several projects during my tenure as GM of CBS Radio Network News and we maintained our friendship in the years since. Here's a story that speaks volumes about Walter Cronkite:
In late 1998, during the John Glenn Shuttle Mission, Walter and I converged in Houston after arranging for him to speak with the astronauts live in space on CBS Radio. Before we left, NASA called and asked for the questions - in advance. I told them CBS News policy would not permit that and besides, it's Walter Cronkite! They pressed the issue. I took a deep breath, called Walter and he immediately reverted to managing editor form. He said, rather forcefully, "Mike, if they want the questions in advance, (blank)'em. We won't do the interview."
So, even in his 80s and given his love of the space program, he was still a reporter first and was perfectly willing to give up the interview with John Glenn in space if it meant tipping his hand.
I cleaned up his answer, called NASA back, delivered the message, and they relented immediately.
Walter Cronkite went on to anchor what turned out to be his last "CBS News Special Report: A Conversation with the Astronauts." And he did it before 2,000 people at a 40th anniversary luncheon for NASA. He closed out the CBS Radio Network News broadcast by saying, "And that's the way it is, November 4, 1998," which was Walter Cronkite's 82nd birthday!
What a day!
By Michael Freedman, Professor of Media and Public Affairs, Executive Director, GW Global Media Institute - George Washington University on Jul 21 2009
Cronkite has been and remains a guide...
For many of us in broadcast journalism, Walter Cronkite has been and remains a guide, or, as he once described himself, "an eloquent front line soldier speaking for our profession." And TO our profession.
He has challenged us to be better than we are, to be unafraid to stand by principles of public service rather than being motivated by popularity measured by ratings points. He has been unafraid to speak pointedly about our shortcomings while fiercely defending our craft, profession, calling---whatever it might be termed--from its often-partisan attackers.
In 1970, the Radio-Television News Directors gave Walter Cronkite, the highest award the organization can give. He is one of two people to receive that award twice.
It was at a time when President Nixon had turned his attack dogs loose on broadcast news. Those attacks emboldened others whose special views were not getting the attention they wanted to also attack.
Walter Cronkite told his audience that night he was particularly concerned about those in the business who, "like wide-eyed country yokels before the pitchman, are losing sight of the pea under the shell."
"We must expose the demagogues who would undermine this nation's free press for personal or partisan political gain," he said. "That is news."
"...I don't think it is any of our business what the moral, political, social or economic effect of our reporting is. I say let's get on with the job of reporting the news--and let the chips fall where they may."
He urged his colleagues not to be diverted from that task by those he called "apoplectic apostles of alliteration,"---a counter punch to Spiro Agnew, who had referred to those of us in the business as "nattering nabobs of negativism."
He abhorred those who encouraged us to report only what readers and listeners and viewers want to hear, calling it a "clear abdication of their duties as journalists."
In 1976, Walter Cronkite got up from his chair two rows in front of me at the RTNDA convention, and mourned the lack of time broadcast journalists have to tell a story adequately and the lack of substance in too many reports.
"There is no newsman worth his salt who does not know that advisers who dictate that no item should run more than 45 seconds of the newscast and that it must have action (a barn burning or a jackknifed tractor trailer truck will do), that calls a 90-second film piece a 'mini-documentary,' that advises against covering city hall because it is dull, that says the anchorman or woman must do all voice-overs for 'identity'---any real newsman or woman knows that sort of stuff is balderdash. It's cosmetic, pretty packaging--not substance," he told us that morning.
He called on us that day to do what we would like to do rather than what consultants or non-news oriented station managers believe they should be doing. "In other words," he said, "it means covering the meaningful, the genuinely important, relevant and significant news of your communities--city hall, county courts, the state house--whether there is a picture story there or not, whether the resulting story can be told in 20 seconds or not."
In a new book--WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST--Mr. Cronkite reminds us in the forward that a free press and a free citizenry cannot be separated. "The preservation of our liberties depends on an enlightened citizenry," he writes. And he says, "The secret of our past success as a nation may be traced to the fact that we have been a free people, free to discuss ideas and alternatives, free to teach and learn, free to report and hear, free to challenge the most venerable institutions without fear of reprisal."
He warns those who rely on what he calls "the explosively compressed headline service of television news" that they can expect to be "exploited by the demagogues and dictators who prey on the semi-informed."
Broadcast journalism, he has reminded us again and again--those of us who practice as well as those who are consumers of it--cannot be the sole source of information in a free society. And he is not bashful about reminding the public it has a responsibility to be broadly-educated if it expects to remain a free society.
By Part of Bob Priddy's speech in 1999 at Walter Cronkite bust unveiling on Jul 21 2009
Memories of Walter Cronkite
I did a half hour interview and tribute to Mr. Cronkite on his golden wedding anniversary. We were at his hotel suite in Seattle and Betsy Cronkite joined us. I asked Walter what was the key to 50 years of marital bliss and he said “Betsy keeping me humble”. He then went on to tell this story: “This morning Betsy and I went for a sail. As we were heading out a boat with several teenage boys went by screaming ‘Hi Walter, Hi Walter’. I turned to Betsy and said ‘This is amazing. These kids weren’t even born when I stopped doing the CBS Nightly News but they recognize me. Betsy quickly responded ‘They’re saying high water, high water!” Just one of endless stories of Mr. Cronkite’s humor and humility. He was and will remain one of my hero’s and I feel blessed to have known him.
Patsy Smullin
Owner/ President
California Oregon Broadcasting inc.
By Patricia C. Smullin on Jul 22 2009
Memories of Walter
I was in the seventh grade and we moved to a new area, so I had to make new friends. Every day when I went to get off the school bus this kid would yell out \"say hello to Walter for me\" Finally, I asked him one night why do you always ask me to say hello to Walter? Walter who? He knew my last name was Cronkite, so he thought I was related and he said, \"Walter Cronkite.\" I never watched the news, so I didn\'t know who he was, then I asked my mother \"who is Walter Cronkite\"? She said, in a few hours we\'ll turn on the news then you\'ll know. Ever since that night I realized that I might be related to one of the most popular people in television. I never really knew for sure so over the years my Aunt and Uncle Maber and Janet Cronkite started having family reunions and they told me that we were related. Over twenty years went by then my beloved brother Ronald D. Cronkite passed away Feburary 22, 2009. My ex-sister-in-law told me that we were related to Walter Cronkite then five months later I recieved the shocking news that Walter Cronkite had past away. I\'ve always wanted to see a geneoligist to do research to verify this fact for me, so I finally went to the Family History Center with my book, \" A Reporter\'s Life\", and sure enough she was able to trace us back to being 12th cousins to Walter Cronkite. I was so happy to hear about this and I haven\'t been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I would love to meet his children some day. Chip, Nancy, and Kathy and I hope they would like to meet me. This would be the greatest thing that could ever happen in my whole entire life. I\'m so honored to know that we\'re related that I\'ve even talked our daughter into applying for the next Cherry Blossom Princess for the 2011 Cherry Blossom Festival in honor of Walter Cronkite, and to represent the state of Maine. I\'m so excited and anxiousely waiting to see if she makes it. Wish us luck and thank you all for taking the time to read my memories of Walter Cronkite. He was a great man and the news will never be the same without him.
By Corinne E. Cronkite Ouellette on Oct 15 2010
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