Walter Cronkite was once "the most trusted man in America" according to opinion polls.He was born in St. Joseph, Missouri and, at the age of 10, moved to Houston, Texas. After graduating from San Jacinto High School, he furthered his education at the University of Texas in Austin but discontinued college his junior year. He began doing newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports. He then took a job with a radio station as a radio announcer and that was the beginning of one of the most successful broadcasting careers in history.
Cronkite is best known as the anchorman for CBS news for 19 years from 1962-81. He reported many of the most important events in history. Some of those events include World War II happenings, Nuremberg Trials, Watergate, Project Mercury and the Moon landings, and the Space Shuttle. He was the first to report the deaths of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy along with numerous others facets of our history.
He had also hosted other programs over the years including "You Are There" "The Twentieth Century" and the "Morning Show" He covered to US Winter Olympics in 1960. He journeyed to Vietnam where he reported the everyday happenings there. In December 1963, he introduced "The Beatles" to the United States by airing a four minute story them.
Walter made occasional television and movie appearances including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" "Murphy Brown""Thirteen Days" and "The American Ruling Class"
Walter Cronkite announced his retirement on February 17, 1980 and concluded his career on March 6, 1981.
On the personal side of Cronkite's life, he was an outstanding tennis player and an accomplished sailor where he enjoyed sailing the coastal waters of the US in his custom made 48 foot Sunward "WYNTJE" He was an honorary commodore for the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Walter Cronkite died on July 17, 2009 at the age of 92 from cerebrovascular disease.
His funeral took place on July 23, 2009 at the St. Bartholomew's Church in Midtown Manhattan where he was remembered for his love of music. He had recently began learning to play the drums. Following the funeral, Cronkite was cremated and now rests with his wife, Betsy in the Mount Moriah Cemetery in the town where he was born, St. Joseph, Missouri.
A public memorial service was held in the Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Sept. 9, 2009(program pictured) and among those who eulogized Cronkite were President Obama and former US President Bill Clinton along with Astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Obama said of Cronkite "he is the man who chronicled time."
He always ended his broadcasts with "And that's the way it is"
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