Walter Cronkite 1916-2009

Journalist icon Walter Cronkite, 92, has died, one day after the 40th anniversary Apollo 11 lifted on its journey to the moon.

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

I might as well pay a tribute to both the moon landing and Cronkite through uploading these videos.

Walter Cronkite Moon Landing Part 1:



Moon Landing Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:



Part 5:



Part 6:



Part 7:



Part 8:



Link to YouTube site

And this clip is even more famous, of Cronkite's announcement of JFK's murder:



Cronkite was one of the last of the old school of journalists, you know, the kind who actually reported the news. The JFK assassination was perhaps the high point of television journalism. Commentary was minimal; the event told its own story.

However, in an unusual case of Cronkite giving his opinion on events, this link has the famous Vietnam comment.