From the CBS News archives, legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite signs off for the final time on the "CBS Evening News." Cronkite manned the anchor desk from April, 16, 1962 until March 6, 1981.
Exactly what my dad said too. And he also said that he doesn’t know what it is about this man, but he believes the words he says, and that was a comfort for a newcomer to the United States. And that’s the way it is.
Yeah there really was something about Walter Cronkite that's very believable and trustworthy , wholesome and gentlemanly ; he had an understated humble type of class . You sense a certain generosity and compassion in his spirit that is truly gentle ... real decent human being .
@@francismallard5892 A "so-called journalist"? Oh please. Give it a rest. He was a giant in journalism. To you wingnuts anyone who isn't a far right reactionary is "liberal."
When news was a 30-60 minute snapshot of the days events , not the 24 hour ongoing trilogy of stories that slowly morph into one another by the mundane butter heads that litter today's "news channels"
The most trusted man in America. I loved that guy and America lost a true American Hero when he passed on in 2009. Never again will we learn to trust what we hear on TV or radio like we did when WC made CBS Evening News the most watched regularly scheduled news broadcast in the world. And that's the way it is.
Walter Cronkite was a trusted American in the homes of all of America. I would not believe a president. I would not believe a senator. I would not believe a priest. And if mom said it, we'd have to verify it. But if Uncle Walter said something we knew it came from the bottom of his heart and he had checked and re-checked it. And we believed him. I long for the next trusted person this national can believe in.
Jeeeeeee-zus! If you trusted old uncle Walt, his successor, Dan Blather, and the crew of Pravda West at See-B-S, then you must hang on every word of our beloved POTUS American Pharaoh, The Dog Eater, Allah praise his name.
Thanks for the comments. I will have some trusted friends analyze it for sense, if any, and will get back to you. The one portion I think I understood was about our president. I guess you learned all your mistrust and hatred on the knee of your mom. Luckily, haters are in the minority in this country, but people like you keep us amused here and there. And welcome to our country and you can go back to Faux News. I believe they are showing Cruz show Hannity how to cook meat at the end of a hot rifle barrel. .
Guillermo Torres ..not a hater, old son. Just someone who recognizes progressive propaganda when I see/hear it. And, no, I do not think FNS is the second coming. BORE and the rest of those bloviaters suck swamp water as well. My mother? Screaming liberal Democrat with no clue -- just like you. Anyway, give my regards to The Chocolate Jesus next time you smooch him on the butt.
I like the way he did it, no sappy words, no tears. Just a very professional man, doing what he did best...being a great professional news anchor. It was before my time, but my dad said that he was one of the, if not the best news anchors of all time. After watching some of his archive footage, I have a hard time disagreeing with that. He always came across as very genuine and actually giving a damn about what happens in this country. These days? Eh, not so much.
These days the local and national news has become nothing but a beauty pageant of women who take the jobs they are given on a silver platter as a joke.
@@VictorFr0st He didn't. When you watch it, he kept his composure intact, taking off his glasses, then putting them back on as it is unmanly for a man to show emotions or to cry. He was a pillar of strength especially when the country need a pillar of strength to rely on and to lean on in a most turbulent time that was needed the most.
Uncle Walter always had class and integrity. His signoff had great class. His special programs were excellent. I just recently read his autobiography. Quite a life. He got to do some very interesting things during his active career and after his retirement.
He kept America informed but in a way that was calming. collected ..professional ..had that voice that made you listen...a proud man...a caring soul...R I.P.
He reported the news. that is all he did. he didnt add his political leanings to it. he didnt whine or complain about it. he just did the news. i respect that. he was the last true journalist this country ever had. what has come since then is not news but entertainment, ideology, indoctrination and mostly unamerican.
Too bad that's not true. Study his declaration that the Vietnam War was a stalemate and see how many died after he misjudged the outcome of Tet of 1968.
You can blame that on the repeal of the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987, which led to the rise of partisan television and radio, such as Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.
He must be an extraordinary man. To project such hope and reassurance when telling us about some of the most horrible things in history is a gift. He's got a "Mister Rogers" quality about him!
Looking at the sorry state of journalism today on both sides of the political spectrum, makes you miss someone like him who just stated objective facts and left opinion to the viewers.
I remember this. It was one of my 1st memories. My parents used to watch CBS evening news every night. Bits and pieces until about 1982, I was born in late 77.
IMO, ushering in 24-hour news programs resulted in filling a LOT of airtime with opinions and editorials--the more sensational, the more viewership. I love and miss Walter Cronkite, but to be fair, he had a set window in which to deliver the headlines. THAT is what would benefit us all.
That’s because leadership in news has changed. In the early days of TV news it cost a station or a network money and you got that news in 15 minutes per day. A lot of people are confusing editorials & commentators with news anchors & reporters who have formal training in journalism and know bias isn’t a good thing. People like Walter were part of standardizing the integral journalistic standards of their era in radio news casting there was no formal training in early television. But no matter what anyone thinks news and news reporting are part of a constitutional right to get news good or bad reported! Communist countries do not have this freedom!
Mr. Cronkite has a similar speaking tone to Walt Disney. I love that he is very sincere, and he really cared about his audience a ton. I'm so thankful he was more professional than most news anchors/talkshow hosts nowadays.
When I spoke with him at a symposium at Arkansas State University in the 90's, he admitted leaving when he did, at age 65 as CBS wanted, was a giant mistake. He wanted to stay, and he should have. Rather held the job longer, but since then, that job's been a revolving door.
Cronkite was born here in my hometown (St. Joseph, MO). The local University has a specific wing dedicated to him and has all his Emmys displayed (11 of them, he won 12 and one of them has been lost and never found). I remember as a little boy in the '60s my dad pulling up in the driveway from work at a local factory he worked at for 20 years. My mom and him had 7 of us (I was #6) and I was the only child to watch CBS evening news with my dad, my sitting on the couch, him laying down from a hard day's work with his shoes off, feet laid on my thighs and his feet stinking so bad because he wore thin black nylon socks his entire life. He'd be so exhausted that he would always nod off during the news and I didn't want to budge knowing he worked so hard and would only get up from dozing off to work around the house and/or on the cars and/or the yard until very late at night, darn near every night (he had sleep apnea from a throat wound he sustained in WW II that prevented him from sleeping much and he was always awake and working on something since he didn't sleep much (besides smoking his non-filtered Chesterfield cigarettes to keep him going). What I remember most from the news was seeing footage for years of the Vietnam War, which seemed to be the top story almost every night in the '60s on the CBS evening news. As a boy of 5yrs old up until the age of 12, I found watching the footage from that war difficult to understand and take in mentally, almost like it wasn't real to me. Walter's reporting was one-of-a-kind, and he even resembled my old man (who was born and raised in Ukraine).
It’s weird, as a young man in my early 20’s when he retired in 1981, after dinner I always watched the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH WALTER CRONKITE. I would not go out until I watched his broadcast. It was my ritual. Watching Uncle Walter then watching the Mets on WOR Channel 9 in N.Y.
I am a Korean living in S.Korea. When I was a freshman, I chose journalism as a liberal arts subject, and then the professor lectured on Walter Cronkite's news clips. This is the greatness of Walter Cronkite.
I remember his departure from the evening news. I was only 15, but could remember watching him for over 10 years. I remember watching Dan Rather, thinking it wasn't the same. Whether Cronkite deserved America's trust is an open question, but in a real way he did have it, more than any major news figure would ever have again in America to this day. The difference between now and then could hardly be more stark.
A sad epilogue to this was that the entire set was demolished to build Dan Rather's new set immediately after Walter left the room bound for a farewell party on a lower floor. Nobody thought he would go back up one last time to his desk, but he did. Apparently, he left very quickly after seeing his work site completely torn apart.
Walter Cronkite was a great man as an anchorman and he is the greatest news anchor of all time. And I love his sign off phrase “and that’s the way it is.” This is why I decided to use that for conversations.
Recently, this in a way has been more relevant than ever. All of the RU-vidrs we’ve grown up with seem to be retiring, and leaving their viewers with great memories. Walter Cronkite had that same impact with people who watched him on CBS News. For decades, many grew up watching Walter Cronkite and were sad to see him retire as the main anchorman. I’m 21, and I have a hard time believing that 2014 was a decade ago. Time is indeed an enemy.
This is the kind of news you need . Not 24 hour water torture news , with phony news and bias . You ONLY needed a hour ! I used to watch this everyday !
I’d take Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley over any newscasters from the last three decades. No, make that four decades. No one has come even close to those two, in my opinion.
He was the man with Barbara Walters... I am now 55 and I remember them around 10 to 14 years of age... now 2023 they're missed. Both powerful news anchors that got and give us the world news with precision.
I wasn’t born at the time but he will always be remembered for his amazing strength of emotion the day jfk died he held back his tears so bad what a legend
Watched this gentleman ad a kid and always thought he sounded comforting. The news is not comforting now. I guess because I understand things better now. “Those were the days!”
Legendary: Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Jennings, and Reynolds. Legend that I concede: Tom Brokaw - I could not stand his pompous voice but that's me. Everyone loves him and he is a legend. Honorable mention: Koppel - yeah he did not anchor the evening news. But he created a new category of late news where his brilliant questions helped bring leaders together and solved world problems. Koppel was pure genius. Next tier: Chancellor wonderful human being but dull on air. Infamous legend, the Nixon of anchors, Dan Rather. He was always a reporter but hardly an anchor.
I'll always remember his reaction to Kennedy's assignation. At that moment, he wasn't a TV presenter, he was just an American telling the nation the news that the president was dead. He really felt the same shock and sadness the rest of the nation did. It was a very poignant moment.
“If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” President Lyndon Johnson said that about Walter Cronkite. He did the most to end the Vietnam war than anyone else...