Walter Cronkite Dead at Age 92

Walter Cronkite, the "most trusted man in America", died at 7:42 p.m at his Manhatten home, reported his friend and chief of staff, Marlene Adler. The cause of the death is reported to be cerebral vascular disease.

From 1962 to 1981, Walter Cronkite, the CBS Evening News anchor set the standard by which all television news anchors are measured by. For many of us, there is no one who has ever reached his level. He covered the biggest stories of his era, from the assassinations of President John F Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King to the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States.

As a child in school, it was Cronkite's face who brought us the news of Kennedy's assassination, breaking into the regular daily television shows to read the bulletin from Dallas stating that the President had been killed. It's a moment I will never forget.

Cronkite covered the Viet Nam War, putting a human face on the suffering and deaths we saw each night on our television screens. He brought the news to us with compassion and sincerity and we believed that every word is told us was the truth.

But Cronkite's roots were as a reporter in the field and he continued to love to go into the field to cover the news, not willing to just tell us the news, he wanted to report it!

And while he loved to report the news, he also had a hand in changing some of the famous events of his time. He wrote editorials that criticized the Viet Nam War and was seen as important in shaping U.S. opinion of the war.

While Cronkite's reporting of Kennedy assassination and Viet Nam War were riveting and meaningful, it was his coverage of the space race that intrigued me. You could see his enjoyment and his excitement. That was one of the things Americans loved and trusted in Walter Cronkite. He genuinely loved sharing the news with us and we loved listening to him do so.

His voice was beautifully resonant with such an unique quality and the interviews with leaders and famous personalities entranced us.

"It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism or indeed America without Walter Cronkite," CBS News president Sean McManus said in a statement. "More than just the best and most trusted anchor in history, he guided America through our crises, tragedies and also our victories and greatest moments."

During the 1970's, his news coverage of the Iran captives kept us calmed and supported and we believed that those men and women would come home. He kept us informed with his compassion and his truth. He just seemed so fair and objective, professional at all times, but also like a trusted confidant and friend.

At our home, we always had to have dinner before Walter Cronkite came on or after. We could not eat during the news or we might miss what Mr. Cronkite had to tell us for the days.

And none of us will ever forget his sign off statement. "And that's the way it is." We agreed with him and just knew that because he had told us, we knew what was happening.

And he was not afraid to tell us that truth. This was before the days of constant news feed 24 hours a day. We had to wait and hear the evening news and if Mr. Cronkite believed something to be so..then it must be.

He visited Viet Nam and came back to tell us what he believed. And when he said,

"We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds," he said, "We are mired in stalemate."

In recent years, Cronkite has been more open about his liberal beliefs, but during those years as anchor, he was able to present the news with objective honesty that all Americans trusted. He was just his authentic self and in many ways had more power and influence than American presidents.

CBS has scheduled a prime-time special, "That's the Way it Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite," for 7 p.m. Sunday.

And that's the way it is, July 17, 2009.

CNN Evening News

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