Cronkite: Peerless anchor when TV news came of ageCronkite did more than just live the life of an anchorman, he invented and embodied it. As a communicator, he was authoritative yet companionable. He was a man the public understood and believed. He had printer's ink in his veins and a wire-service background. He joined CBS' Washington bureau in 1950 and hosted the nightly TV newscast on a local station. By 1962, he was told that he would be anchoring the network's prized evening newscast - "CBS News with Walter Cronkite." His 19-year stretch of evening news anchor framed a crucial era in the nation's history. It was also a pivotal era in TV news. Cronkite retired in 1981. It was only three weeks later when President Reagan was the victim of an attempted assassination. It was then that "I realized right away I'd made a mistake...I shouldn't have gotten off that desk!" Nevertheless, Cronkite could never disappear from the airwaves, reaming a trusted source of information for another quarter century.
Cronkite was Uncle Walter. To newscasters and to the world. In this article, author Frazier Moore tells this experience. But then something happened on an even more telling level. As we shared coversation and morning coffee, Cronkite, inn mid-sentence, rose from his chair and stepped across to his desk, where, from a drawer, he fetched a Bic pen. His coffee needed stirring and with no spoon available, he knew a simple ball point pen would get the job doe. Then, satisfied with his coffee, he returned to his chair and gave the sweet roll he was having for breakfast a good dunking. In the no-nonsense company of Cronkite, known as the most trusted ma in America, I felt my trust i him go up another notch.
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/article/tv-news.en.ap.org/tv-news.en.ap.org-20090718-us_cronkite_tribute
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