Walter Cronkite

MANIFESTO

It might be hard for the current generation of news watchers to understand the significance of Walter Cronkite, who for two decades was anchor on the CBS Evening News. Now that we're a nation watching niche news, the concept of one newscast essentially speaking for the country is an alien concept.

Be that as it may, Cronkite's influence cannot be overstated; it's been said that once he turned against the Vietnam occupation, it was all over for the Nixon crew. And, of course, he kept us all apprised of the latest Watergate developments, became an expert on the space program, and came this close to breaking down on camera when he reported on a Friday in 1963 that John Kennedy was dead.

He became "Uncle Walter" to a nation and was the most trusted man in America for quite a while. (He was the reason I learned the definition of "avuncular.")

Cronkite's passing means the end of the era of giants in the television news business. Although he's not considered one of "Murrow's Boys," he nonetheless picked up the ball when the great ERM dropped it and ran honorably with it for nearly three decades. CBS forced him to retire when he turned 65 in 1982 (to my knowledge, the only newsman the network ever forced to leave), and television news was immediately the lesser for it.

Requiescat in pace.

Updated to include link in second paragraph.

UPDATE — Here's another item concerning Cronkite's influence. (I might add that Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not seek, nor would he accept the nomination for another term as President a mere month after Cronkite expressed his reservations regarding the Vietnam morass.)