Goodbye Uncle Walter, we’ll miss you

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Death never comes easy, even when it is anticipated at the end of a long life well lived. Somehow it is just as tragic, accompanied by the grief of loss and mourning.

I never met Walter Cronkite in person (one of life’s great disappointments), but growing up as a child in our home Walter Cronkite was known as “Uncle Walter.” He was a trusted member of the family who joined us every evening at dinner time to discuss the news of the day in the world. In school, we were occasionally shown films of Uncle Walter’s “You Are There” series of historical reenactments which were popular on television in the 1950’s. Uncle Walter informed my education and expanded my knowledge of the world as much as any teacher or mentor in my life. For that, I am eternally grateful to you, Uncle Walter. On behalf of my entire family, we’ll miss you.

Walter Cronkite from his anchor position at CBS News did more than simply report the news. His trusted influence helped to shape the events of his day.

Walter Cronkite insisted on covering Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement when it was not a popular subject to cover in many parts of this country. CBS News was there in Selma and Montgomery, from Bloody Sunday to the March on Washington, from Freedom Summer and the triumphs of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to the tragic assassination and funeral of Doctor King.

Walter Cronkite is forever remembered for that fateful day in Dallas in November 1963, when he told the nation with tears in his eyes that President Kennedy had died from an assassin’s bullet. The days of grief and mourning from a stunned nation that followed were a cathartic experience shared through the grief and words of comfort spoken by Uncle Walter.

Walter Cronkite was always first and foremost a reporter, and a damn good one. Unlike the blow-dried Breck girls and boys of televison news today who would never think of leaving the comfort and safety of their anchor desk, Uncle Walter went to the scene of the action to file his reports, from the devastation of hurricanes at home, to the killing fields of Vietnam abroad.

Following the Tet offensive in 1968, Uncle Walter went to Vietnam to assess and report the situation on the ground. In the one and only time he delivered an editorial opinion from his anchor desk, Uncle Walter informed the nation that Vietnam was a senseless stalemate and that it was time for the U.S. to leave with honor. President Johnson is reported to have said, “If I’ve lost Walter Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.” Shortly afterwards, LBJ informed the nation that he would not seek another term of office. The war in Vietnam continued another seven years, and the thousands of American soldiers who lost their lives or saw their lives shattered as casualties of war in the intervening years wished that our nation’s leaders had listened to the prescient wisdom of Uncle Walter.

Uncle Walter will forever be remembered as the voice of NASA and the Apollo moon project. It is a shame that Uncle Walter could not have lived to July 20th to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. It seems that people’s memories have faded, but it was an important event to the country at the time. It was a remarkable achievement of American ingenuity and America’s “can do” spirit. I recall my extended family gathered for a picnic dinner at the home of my uncle, everyone gathered around a brand new televison set (purchased just for the occasion) tuned in to CBS and Uncle Walter. “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” — everyone cheered. It was a rare moment when Uncle Walter too was overcome with excitement and pride.

The novelty of the moon landing quickly wore off in a nation beset by many troubles. But Apollo 13 and the fate of its endangered crew brought the nation together in prayerful vigil, led by Uncle Walter. There was the interminable radio silence as the spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere and the gut wrenching fear that the astronauts may not have survived reentry palpable in the facial expressions of Uncle Walter. And then there was the crackle of the radio, “Houston…” and Houston cheered. Uncle Walter sighed in relief and cheered along with them. Our boys made it home safely.

In the fall of 1972, responding to reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in The Washington Post, Walter Cronkite aired a two-part series on Watergate that helped ensure national attention to the then-emerging scandal.

In 1978, during an on air interview with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Walter Cronkite asked Sadat if he would be willing to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. When Sadat responded with “sure,” Cronkite encouraged Sadat that the two should meet sometime in the next few days or weeks, setting in motion the historic Camp David Accords.

I can only speak to the Walter Cronkite with whom I was familiar from his television days at CBS News. But Cronkite was an accomplished field reporter for many years before television, as a young war correspondent who risked his life landing with the glider pilots in Normandy on D-Day and reporting from the Nuremberg trials after the war, as well as a solid newspaper career afterwards. His remarkably rich life is recounted in obituaries in the New York Times Walter Cronkite, 92, Dies; Trusted Voice of TV News – Obituary (Obit), and the Washington Post Legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite dies at 92. There will certainly be numerous essays in tribute to the legendary Walter Cronkite in the days and weeks to come.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication was dedicated at Arizona State University in 1984. The school’s web site has posted a tribute “Remembering Cronkite,” at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

The “most trusted man in America” has departed us, but the legendary Walter Cronkite will forever be remembered. “And that’s the way it is.”

CBS will broadcast a special, “That’s The Way It Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite,” at 7 p.m. Sunday. Celebrating Cronkite Interactive Feature – CBS News