Tales of a Baby Boomer (Grand finale Sunday) Walter Cronkite Other than the usual sitcoms, I watched the news during my childhood. I always watched CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite as the anchor. In thirty minutes, he would inform America of what was happening in the world. Like most Americans, I felt that I could trust what he had to say. His voice was soothing and he maintained a fatherly appearance on the screen. Cronkite had his foot into journalism early in his life. He covered World War II and even made parachute jumps. Once, he picked up an officer’s helmet upon landing and placed it on his head. As he ran for cover, he noticed soldier following him. The stripe on the back of the helmet gave the impression that Cronkite was their leader. I remember him for his coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination, the troubles of the sixties including Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy’s murders. Also during this decade, he kept America informed with his coverage of the space program. He covered each rocket launch from Pioneer to the space shuttle programs. On July 20, 1969, I watched in anticipation of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. Cronkite was there and was emotional. For years, he covered the Viet Nam war as the anchor. Reporting from the field were his underlings such as Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, and others. These men would one day emerge as anchors themselves. I hated to see Walter Cronkite retire, but he did. For a while, he would do special reporting on things that interested him. He signed off the evening news every night by saying, “And that’s the way it is…”
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 11:11:15 +0000
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