Luminaries Remember Walter Cronkite in CBS News Special
Network will retire Cronkite's introduction to CBS Evening News with Katie Couric
By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/18/2009 8:12:40 AM
CBS News is honoring legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, who died July 17 at age 92, with That's The Way It Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite, a special airing Sunday, July 19 at 7 p.m. ET.
CBS News producers have been working on the special in earnest since Cronkite's health took a turn for the worse last month. It includes remembrances from a long list of television news luminaries, including Tom Brokaw, Diane Sawyer, Charlie Gibson, Ted Koppel, Brian Williams, Katie Couric and Cronkite's CBS News colleagues Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Don Hewitt and Andy Rooney.
Prominent voices from the worlds of politics and entertainment also weigh in.
"He brought us all those stories large and small which would come to define the 20th century," says President Barack Obama. "That's why we love Walter, because in an era before blogs and e-mail cell phones and cable, he was the news. Walter invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down."
Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart calls Cronkite a "freedom fighter." Cronkite, says actor and comedian Robin Williams, "was a man of integrity when we really needed it." And former President Bill Clinton says, "The passing of the years did not diminish--as nearly as I could tell, one iot--his interest in and love for his country and his desire to see the world get better."
A native of Missouri, Cronkite began his career as a battlefield correspondent during World War II. He was recruited to come to CBS by Edward R. Murrow and began anchoring The CBS Evening News in 1962, when the newscast was still a 15-minute program. It went to a half-hour in 1963.
He tearfully delivered the news of John F. Kennedy's death to the nation and was no less emotional when relaying the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
His questioning of the war in Vietnam was significant. Following one editorial that claimed the Tet Offensive was not winnable, President Johnson reportedly said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."
Two years ago, CBS News executives asked Cronkite to record the introduction to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
The network will retire Cronkite's introduction.
-
When I was a kid, watching Walter Cronkite cover the space launches while I sat at my home-built ("kid-built") table with microphone and mixer in front of me, I knew I wanted to be a broadcaster or an astronaut.
I chose one, and I still dream about the other.
Thanks, "Uncle Walter", and R.I.P. KB2GSD.
Ken English - 7/18/2009 11:13:51 AM EDT
No related content found.
-
No Top Articles
Featured Company
-
Digital Rapids
Digital Rapids is the leading provider of professional hardware and software tools, technology and expertise for bringing video to wider audiences and new viewing platforms. Continuing to set new standards in quality, productivity and versatility, our solutions span the critical ..more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
