Walter Cronkite: Death of a News Legend

CBS News legend Walter Cronkite, who was once considered the most trustworthy man in America, has died, according to reports citing his family. He was 92.

Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, which made him the face of news during such crucial periods of American history including the Vietnam War, the Apollo moon missions, and the Watergate scandal.

>CRONKITE'S BIOGRAPHY

>CBS TRIBUTE TO CRONKITE

>ERNIE ANASTOS ON HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH CRONKITE (audio)

In his almost two decades as the anchor of the Evening News, Cronkite became the symbol of CBS News.

"Speaking in a calm, authoritative voice with a screen presence that exuded confidence and familiarity, Cronkite formed a bond with Americans by bringing stories such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, space launches and the Vietnam War into their living rooms," CBS News said in a statement.

Katie Couric, the current anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, said: "When I think of Walter Cronkite, I think of his high journalism standards, integrity -- but most of all his humanity. I think he was so trusted because he exhibited a sense of purpose and compassion night after night. He was the personification of excellence."

"We were proud to work with him -- for him -- we loved him," said another CBS News icon, Mike Wallace, former correspondent for 60 Minutes.

"It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism or indeed America without Walter Cronkite," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, in a statement. "More than just the best and most trusted anchor in history, he guided America through our crises, tragedies and also our victories and greatest moments."

From Museum of Broadcast Communications:

TELEVISION SERIES

1953-57 You Are There
1957-67 Twentieth Century
1961-62 Eyewitness to History
1961-79 CBS Reports
1967-70 21st Century
1962-81 CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (managing editor)
1980-82 Universe (host)
1991 Dinosaur!

Highlights of some of Walter Cronkite's broadcasts, compiled by the AP:

Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy assassination:

"This is Walter Cronkite in our newsroom. And, there has been an attempt as perhaps you know now on the life of President Kennedy. He was wounded in an automobile driving from Dallas airport into downtown Dallas along with Gov. Connally of Texas. They were taken to Parkland Hospital there where their condition is as yet unknown. ..."

"From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago. (Voice choking slightly) Vice President Lyndon Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States."

Cronkite's editorial on the Vietnam War, February 1968:

"To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. ... It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out, then, will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did they best they could."

When man landed on the moon in July 1969:

"Whew, boy (laughs). ... There he is, there's a foot coming down the steps. ... So there's a foot on the moon, stepping down on the moon. If he's testing that first step, he must be stepping down on the moon at this point. ... Well, look at those pictures. It's sort of shadowy, but we sort of expected that in the shadow of the lunar module. Armstrong is on the moon — Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old American, standing on the surface of the moon, on this July 20, 19 hundred and 69."

On Cronkite's retirement as anchor in 1981:

"And that's the way it is, Friday, March 6, 1981. I'll be away on assignment and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night."