The most famous and iconic news man in American television history has passed away. Walter Cronkite was 92 years old. His health had been poor for some time. Walter Cronkite represented a genuinely independent press, something sadly lacking these days. He was a remarkable man and a fixture in American daily life for decades.
Walter Cronkite, whom many called "uncle Walter" because he was so familiar via his nightly news cast was with us all for most of the great events in American History following WWII.
He broadcast the Nuremberg trials on radio. Then Walter Cronkite came to television, where he had the somber task of being the man to tell America that President John F. Kennedy had died. A few year later, Cronkite had the equally somber task of informing America that Martin Luther King had been killed.
Perhaps most crucially, and unlike most media types today, Cronkite "spoke the truth to Power." It was Walter Cronkite who famously came on the evening news and told Americans that we were losing in Vietnam, causing Lyndon Johnson to quip that "if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America." In his later years, he condemned the invasion of Iraq and the actions of the Bush Administration.
Walter Cronkite made American news. He was truly something special - and his like is no longer with us. Let us hope that his memory will inspire future news men to represent an independent press, as Cronkite did. Rest in Peace Walter; we will remember you fondly.
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