Quoted Text

Legend Walter Cronkite dies at 92
As America's leading journalist, the most trusted man in America dominated TV news for decades

By DAVID BARRON, Houston Chronicle
First published in print: Saturday, July 18, 2009

Walter Cronkite's voice provided the backdrop for many of America's best, brightest, saddest and most trying moments, and the bonds of trust he forged across three decades with millions of CBS News viewers remain the unattainable gold standard of his profession.

Cronkite died Friday at 92 at his Manhattan home, surrounded his family, according to his longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler. She told The Associated Press said the cause of death was cerebral vascular disease. His son, Chip, told The New York Times that the cause was complications of dementia.

CBS has scheduled a prime-time special, "That's the Way it Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite," for 7 p.m. Sunday.

Cronkite worked for CBS News from 1950 through 1981 and was anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News for 19 years.

Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley, a Cronkite biographer, said, "He was known as the most trusted man in America -- Uncle Walter -- and that remained true. You'd be hard-pressed to find any human being that didn't like Walter Cronkite."

Cronkite was born Nov. 4, 1916, in St. Joseph, Mo., the son of the former Helen Lena Fritsche and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite, a dentist. When he was 10, his family moved to Houston, where he was editor of the San Jacinto High School newspaper before attending the University of Texas and, in 1937, joining the United Press wire service.

When the United States entered World War II, he was a leading war correspondent.

After covering the Nuremberg war crimes trials and as UP's Moscow correspondent, he was recruited in 1950 by Edward R. Murrow to join CBS News. He replaced Douglas Edwards as anchor of the CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962, and began the role for which he will be most remembered.

A defining moment came Nov. 22, 1963, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. Cronkite, in shirt sleeves with his tie loosened, announced word of the president's death.

"From Dallas, Texas, the flash -- apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, a half hour ago," he said.
...............>>>>>....................>>>>.............http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=821153