Cronkite, at a student journalist party at the University of Texas-Austin, 1974.
For 19 years, he anchored the CBS Evening News, giving us the daily signature: “And that’s the way it is…”
But he gave us so much more.
Certainly the premier journalist of his time, he not only recorded and reported the world-changing news of the day – the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing – but he helped change history. His thoughts on Vietnam reportedly helped sway Lyndon Johnson against running for reelection, and his interview with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat nudged him to make his historic visit to Israel.
But, again, he gave us so much more.
Integrity. Compassion. Sincerity.
Not the fake compassion on today’s newscasts. Not the loud braying that accompanies so much of today’s tv reporting.
When he stopped reading the script, took off his thick dark-rimmed glasses and looked into the camera to talk with you, he spoke so much louder than those today who yell, but their words carry the weight of a whisper.
And let’s not forget that he was a genuine kind of guy.
Cronkite went to the University of Texas, and when he was CBS anchor, he was frequently on campus and recognized for his journalistic successes. There, he was one of the guys. In the 70s, when those of us managing the student paper, The Daily Texan, were in a legal battle with the Board of Regents over free press issues, he signed our petition, wrote the Regents and showed up one day to support us. We lost, but at least he was on our side.
Mark Sims, a friend and now at the Los Angeles Times, saw Cronkite at the j-school in 1974 and invited him to a party at his apartment.
To everyone’s surprise, Cronkite showed up, hung around several hours, talking, visiting and drinking with the students.
Mark told The Daily Texan after Cronkite’s death:
“He represented good values and perhaps morals,” Sims said. “Perhaps it’s generational, but sadly much of that is missing today.”
Mark kept Cronkite’s whiskey glass for many years.
“I no longer have the glass that Walter drank from,” he said. “However, even better, I have memories of a caring gentleman.”