The Most Trusted Man in America…
Walter Cronkite: 1916 – 2009
Like many people across this great country of ours, I grew up hearing the facts from “the most trusted man in America.” Today we lost not only a great anchor, but a great leader. In a world where our news comes from sources ranging from Twitter within seconds, to RSS feeds, Walter Cronkite would sit down each night and tell us what was going on in our world. Praised for never shooting off his mouth, he consistently exuded a realm of confidence and trust.
When Uncle Walter came back from visiting the Vietnam War, he went on the air in February 1968, and he said the United States is “mired in stalemate“. Later we learn that President Johnson said in response to his aides, “If I have lost Cronkite, I have lost middle America.” The strategy for Vietnam was therein changed. That is a power, and a respect, and a trust, that no other anchor was able to attain.
While he was forced to retire from being an anchor at CBS at 65 due to their statue of limitations on age, his passion and drive to tell the story never left him. As a journalism student in college, Cronkite was taught as a legend. Not only did he portray the confidence we were trying to learn in school, but he was trusted. He was a news anchor that was trusted. Above everything else, that was the most rare. For when Cronkite spoke, people listened, and people believed.
There is no one that will ever be able to replace his integrity, his respect, his honor, his devotion to always ensure the story was told. He will be greatly missed.
“And that’s the way it is.”
All images CNN
