Walter Cronkite
Cronkite in 2004
Born	Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (1916-11-04)November 4, 1916[1] Saint Joseph, Missouri, U.S
Died	July 17, 2009(2009-07-17) (aged 92) New York, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Cerebrovascular disease
Residence	Kansas City, Missouri, US, New York City, New York, US
Nationality	American
Other names	Old Ironpants, Uncle Walter, King of the anchormen
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin
Occupation	Television and radio broadcaster, news anchor
Years active	1935–2009
Notable credit(s)	CBS Evening News
Home town	Kansas City, Missouri, US
Religion	Episcopalian
Spouse	Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Maxwell (m. 1940–2005) «start: (1940)–end+1: (2006)»"Marriage: Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Maxwell to Walter Cronkite" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Walter_Cronkite), her death
Children	Nancy Elizabeth Cronkite (b. 1948) Kathy Cronkite (b. 1950) Walter Cronkite III ("Chip")
Family	4 Grandchildren, Deborah Rush (In-Law)

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009)^[2][3][4] was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll.^[5][6][7] Although he reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including bombing in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War,^[8] Watergate, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the murders of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King, Jr., and The Beatles musician John Lennon, he was known for extensive TV coverage of the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. He was the only non-NASA recipient of a Moon-rock award. Cronkite is well known for his departing catchphrase "And that's the way it is," followed by the date on which the appearance is aired.

Early life[link]

Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the son of Helen Lena (née Fritsche, August 1892 - November 1993), and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite (September 1893 - May 1973), a dentist.^[9][10][11] He had remote Dutch ancestry on his father's side, the family surname originally being Krankheyt.^[12]

Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri, until he was ten, when his family moved to Houston, Texas.^[10] He attended junior high school at Lanier Junior High School (now Lanier Middle School) and high school at San Jacinto High School, where he edited the high school newspaper.^[1] He was a member of the Boy Scouts. He attended college at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), entering in the Fall term of 1933,^[13] where he worked on the Daily Texan and became a member of the Nu chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity.^[1][14] He also was a member of the Houston chapter of DeMolay, a Masonic fraternal organization for boys.^{[citation needed]} While attending UT, Cronkite had his first taste of performance, appearing in a play with fellow students Eli Wallach and Ann Sheridan.^{[citation needed]}

Religion[link]

Cronkite's family was Protestant and changed their denomination three times while he was a child.^{[citation needed]}Cronkite joined the Episcopal church as a youth, explaining in a 1994 interview: "I got into a Boy Scout troop that met in an Episcopal church. The church had a wonderful minister who was also the scoutmaster. And I suppose you can say he proselytized me. At any rate, I was much involved with the church, and became Episcopalian - and an acolyte. Later, when I worked for a paper in Houston, I was church editor for a while. The Episcopal House of Bishops met in Houston one year, and I became intrigued by the leaders of the church — fascinated by their discussions and their erudition."^{[citation needed]}

Cronkite has also for many years been the recorded voice of the owl at the "Cremation of Care" ritual at Bohemian Grove.^[15]

Career[link]

He dropped out of college in his junior year, in the Fall term of 1935,^[13] after starting a series of newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports.^[3] He entered broadcasting as a radio announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1936, he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (known by her nickname "Betsy"), while working as the sports announcer for KCMO (AM) in Kansas City, Missouri.^[3][10] His broadcast name was "Walter Wilcox".^[16] He would explain later that radio stations at the time did not want people to use their real names for fear of taking their listeners with them if they left.^{[citation needed]} In Kansas City, he joined the United Press in 1937.^[3] He became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe.^[10] He was one of eight journalists selected by the United States Army Air Forces to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress part of group called the Writing 69th.^[17] He also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market-Garden and covered the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow for two years.^{[citation needed]}

Early years at CBS[link]

In 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, recruited by Edward R. Murrow, who had previously tried to hire Cronkite from UP during the war. Cronkite began working at WTOP-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.. He originally served as anchor of the network's 15-minute late-Sunday-evening newscast Up To the Minute, which followed What's My Line? at 11:00pm ET from 1951 through 1962.

Although it is widely reported that the term "anchor" was coined to describe Cronkite's role at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, marking the first nationally televised convention coverage, other news presenters bore the title before him.^[5] Cronkite anchored the network's coverage of the 1952 presidential election as well as later conventions. In 1964 he was temporarily replaced by the team of Robert Trout and Roger Mudd; this proved to be a mistake, and Cronkite returned to the anchor chair for future political conventions.^{[citation needed]}

From 1953 to 1957, Cronkite hosted the CBS program You Are There, which reenacted historical events, using the format of a news report.^[9] His famous last line for these programs was: "What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times ... and you were there." In 1971, the show was revived and redesigned to attract an audience of teenagers and young adults on Saturday mornings. He also hosted The Twentieth Century, a documentary series about important historical events of the century comprised almost exclusively of newsreel footage and interviews. It became a long-running hit (it was renamed The 21st Century in 1967). Cronkite also hosted It's News to Me, a game show based on news events.^[18]

Another of his network assignments was The Morning Show, CBS' short-lived challenge to NBC's Today in 1954.^[3] His on-air duties included interviewing guests and chatting with a lion puppet named Charlemane about the news.^[19] He considered this discourse with a puppet as "one of the highlights" of the show. He added, "A puppet can render opinions on people and things that a human commentator would not feel free to utter. I was and I am proud of it."^[20] Cronkite also angered the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the show's sponsor, by grammatically correcting its advertising slogan. Instead of saying "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" verbatim, he substituted "as" for "like."^[18]

He was the lead broadcaster of the network's coverage of the 1960 Winter Olympics, the first-ever time such an event was televised in the United States. He replaced Jim McKay, who had suffered a mental breakdown.^[21]

The CBS Evening News[link]

On April 16, 1962, Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of the CBS Evening News (initially Walter Cronkite with the News), a job in which he became an American icon.^[10] The program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes on September 2, 1963, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program.^{[citation needed]}

During the early part of his tenure anchoring the CBS Evening News, Cronkite competed against NBC's anchor team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, who anchored the Huntley-Brinkley Report. For most of the 1960s, the Huntley-Brinkley Report had more viewers than Cronkite's broadcast. This began to change in the late 1960s, as RCA made a corporate decision not to fund NBC News at the levels CBS funded CBS News. Consequently, CBS News acquired a reputation for greater accuracy and depth in its broadcast journalism. This reputation meshed nicely with Cronkite's wire service experience, and in 1967 the CBS Evening News began to surpass The Huntley-Brinkley Report in viewership during the summer months.^{[citation needed]}

In 1969, during the Apollo 11 (with co-host and former astronaut Wally Schirra) and Apollo 13 moon missions, Cronkite received the best ratings and made CBS the most-watched television network for the missions.^[1] In 1970, when Huntley retired, the CBS Evening News finally dominated the American TV news viewing audience. Although NBC finally settled on the skilled and well-respected broadcast journalist John Chancellor, Cronkite proved to be more popular and continued to be top-rated until his retirement in 1981.^[10]

One of Cronkite's trademarks was ending the CBS Evening News with the phrase "...And that's the way it is," followed by the date.^[9] Keeping to standards of objective journalism, he omitted this phrase on nights when he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary.^[10] Beginning with January 16, 1980, Day 50 of the Iran hostage crisis, Cronkite added the length of the hostages' captivity to the show's closing to remind the audience of the unresolved situation, ending only on Day 444, January 20, 1981.^[22][23]

Historic moments as anchor[link]

Kennedy assassination[link]

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Cronkite is vividly remembered by many Americans for breaking the news of the death of President John F. Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. Cronkite had been standing at the United Press International wire machine in the CBS newsroom as the bulletin of the President's shooting broke and he clamored to get on the air to break the news. However, since the cameras and lights of the time period required time to set and warm up, a camera was not available for Cronkite to use and the network would be forced to improvise in order to report the story.^[24]

While the news was breaking, CBS was approximately ten minutes into its live broadcast of the soap opera As the World Turns (ATWT), which had begun at the very minute of the shooting. A "CBS News Bulletin" bumper slide abruptly broke in to the broadcast at 1:40 pm EST. Over the slide, Cronkite began reading what was the first of three audio-only bulletins that were filed in the next twenty minutes:^[25]

A second bulletin arrived as Cronkite was reading the first one, which detailed the severity of President Kennedy's wounds:

Just before the bulletin cut out, a CBS News staffer was heard saying "Connally too," apparently having just heard the news that Texas Governor John Connally had also been shot while riding in the Presidential limousine with his wife Nellie and Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy.

CBS then rejoined the telecast of ATWT during a commercial break. A commercial for Instant Nescafe coffee and a sponsor bumper (for Best Foods) for the first half of the show that had just completed were then aired, followed by a bumper for the scheduled episode of Route 66 to air that night and a twenty-second station identification break for the CBS affiliates. Just as ATWT was set to return from break, with show announcer Dan McCullough set to announce the sponsor of the second half of the program (Carnation), CBS News broke in with the bumper slide a second time. This bulletin saw Cronkite report in greater detail about the assassination attempt on the President, while also breaking the news of Governor Connally's shooting.

Cronkite then recapped the events as they had happened: that the President and Governor Connally had been shot and were in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital, and no one knew their condition as yet. He then reminded the viewers that CBS News would continue to provide updates as more information came in.

CBS then decided to return to ATWT, which was now midway through its second segment. The cast had continued to perform live while Cronkite's bulletins broke into the broadcast, unaware of the unfolding events in Dallas (the episode, while being broadcast live in the Eastern and Central time zones, was also being recorded for play in the Mountain and Pacific time zones due to their being two and three hours behind the East Coast; after the episode was completed the cast was informed of what happened). ATWT then took another scheduled commercial break. The segment before the break would be the last anyone would see of a CBS program - or any network's programming, for that matter- until Tuesday, November 26.

In the middle of a Friskies pet food commercial, the "CBS News Bulletin" bumper slide broke in for the third time. Once again, Cronkite filed an audio-only report:

This particular bulletin went into even more detail than the other two, as for the first time Cronkite detailed where the shooting victims were wounded (Kennedy had been shot in the head, Connally in the chest). At the conclusion of the bulletin, Cronkite told viewers to stay tuned for further details, perhaps implying that the network would be returning to regular programming. However, Cronkite remained on the air for the next ten minutes, continuing to read bulletins as they were handed to him, followed by recapping the events as they were known and interspersing the new information he had received where appropriate. He also brought up recent instances of assassination attempts against sitting Presidents (including the murder of Mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak in a botched assassination attempt on then-President-elect Franklin Roosevelt), as well as a recent attack on United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson in Dallas, which had resulted in extra security measures being taken for Kennedy's visit to the city. He also received word that Congressman Albert Thomas of Texas had been told that for the moment the President and Governor were still alive, which was the first report that gave any indication of their condition.

By 2:00 EST, Cronkite was informed that the camera was ready, and he told the viewers over the air that CBS would be taking a station identification break so that affiliates could join the network. Within twenty seconds, all the CBS affiliates (with the exception of KRLD in Dallas, which was covering the tragedy locally) joined the network's coverage. Cronkite appeared on-air in shirt and tie but without his suit coat, given the urgent nature of the story, and opened with this:

However, the connection was not available at the time and the camera stayed trained on Cronkite in the newsroom. After a few seconds, Cronkite started speaking again, but shortly after he had begun, the broadcast abruptly cut into the meeting, where Barker, KRLD's news director, was reporting (a director could be heard on-air saying "Okay, go ahead. Switch it" while Cronkite was talking). Just before the feed switched to the Dallas Trade Mart meeting, Cronkite informed the viewers that the members of the Trade Mart had just been informed of the President's shooting and that Congressman Jim Wright was telling reporters that both the President and Governor were alive, but both were in serious condition.

The feed then switched to Dallas, with Barker reporting about the incident and the meeting that was to take place. A few minutes after they switched, Barker was told by a fellow reporter, Dick Wheeler, at the meeting that Kennedy was in very critical condition. The scene returned to Cronkite shortly after that, who relayed some more information, but returned to Dallas as a prayer was being said for Kennedy. After the prayer was said, Barker said that there was an unofficial report circulating that President Kennedy had in fact died from his wounds.

After several minutes, Cronkite reported that the President had been given blood transfusions and two priests had been called into the room. He also played an audio report by KRLD's Jim Underwood, recounting that someone had been arrested in the assassination attempt at the Texas School Book Depository. After Underwood's report, Cronkite was told that KRLD was reporting that the President was dead, which had been heard in Barker's previous report. The coverage went back to Dallas, where Barker reiterated his previous report- that there was an unconfirmed statement that Kennedy was dead, but the source, a doctor at Parkland Hospital who said this to Barker directly, "would normally be a good one." Approximately three minutes later, Barker declared the assassination to be confirmed, although neither the Associated nor the United Presses had done so. Barker retracted the statement moments later, saying that there was no absolute confirmation. Shortly thereafter CBS stopped showing KRLD's coverage and returned to its own coverage of the incident, and as he had been doing Cronkite reported the events as they were known. At 2:27 EST, Cronkite reported that Father Oscar Huber, one of the priests called into the room, had administered the Last Rites to the President, but as far as anyone knew the President was still alive and no official source had confirmed the reports from Barker.

Within ten seconds of that report, word reached Cronkite of another report that had been given by Dallas-based correspondent Dan Rather to CBS Radio. At 2:22 EST, while CBS' news coverage was still focused at the Dallas Trade Mart, Rather called executive Mort Dank and said, in regards to Kennedy's condition, "I think he's dead." While this was not an official confirmation of the death of the President, which had yet to be relayed, CBS radio newscaster Allan Jackson was handed a sheet of paper saying that Kennedy was in fact dead and reported as if the incident was officially confirmed. Five minutes later, after some debate over whether or not to mention it, Cronkite relayed the following information to the viewing audience:

Since Rather's report, as he had delivered it, only theorized that the President was dead, and no word to that effect had come from any wire service, Cronkite stressed that the report was not an official confirmation of the President's death and continued to report on the incident as if the President was still alive, relaying that Father Huber, who had told reporters on the scene that he had to pull back a sheet covering Kennedy's body to perform the Last Rites on him, didn't believe that the President was dead at the time he entered the room.

Less than two minutes later, Cronkite received a report that the two priests who were with Kennedy were now saying that he was dead, and declared that that was as close to official as they could get. However, he continued to stress that there was no official confirmation from the hospital of Kennedy's death, although through the tone of his voice Cronkite seemed to resign himself to that being the most likely outcome. Cronkite continued to await official word from Parkland Hospital while recapping the events, including receiving word that government sources were now saying that the President was dead. (It should be noted that the same report reached all three major networks, but only ABC took it as official word of the assassination.) After briefly speaking about what Kennedy had done earlier that day, Cronkite noted that it was now apparent that the President was dead (even though the official bulletin had, of course, not arrived yet), saying that his plane from Fort Worth "flew him to his rendezvous with death, apparently, in Dallas, Texas."

Immediately after that, at approximately 2:38 p.m. EST, Cronkite was remarking on the increased security presence in Dallas for the President's visit for fear of protests, again bringing up the assault on Adlai Stevenson. While he was speaking, one of two news editors who had been standing by the newsroom's two wire machines pulled a bulletin from the Associated Press machine and began walking toward Cronkite's desk with it.

Just as he had said that, the editor handed Cronkite the bulletin. Cronkite stopped speaking, put on his eyeglasses, looked over the bulletin sheet for a moment, took off his glasses, and made the official announcement:

After making that announcement, Cronkite paused briefly, put his glasses back on, and swallowed hard to maintain his composure. With noticeable emotion in his voice he intoned the next sentence of the news report:^[28]

With emotion still in his voice and eyes watering, Cronkite once again recapped the events after collecting himself, incorporating some wire photos of the visit and explaining the significance of the pictures now that Kennedy was dead. After that, Cronkite reminded the viewers one final time that it had now been confirmed that the President was dead, that Vice President Johnson was now the President and was to be sworn in (which had occurred just as Cronkite received the bulletin confirming the President's death), that Governor Connally's condition was still unknown but many reports said that he was still alive, and that there was no report of whether the assassin had been captured (despite the earlier reports of arrests at the Texas School Book Depository). He then tossed coverage of the events to colleague Charles Collingwood and left the newsroom.

Less than 45 minutes later, at about 3:30 PM EST, Cronkite returned to the anchor position, this time in his jacket, to replace Collingwood. The highlights of new details included the swearing-in ceremony of the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, the arrest of the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the first new bits of news from Dallas, during which time his reports were interspersed with new information from Dan Rather and Eddie Barker at KRLD's studio. After Cronkite left the anchor desk again he was replaced by Collingwood; Cronkite's next appearance came nearly two hours later, when he took over for Harry Reasoner at the desk so he could anchor The CBS Evening News as scheduled.

Two days later, at 2:33 PM EST on November 24, Cronkite broke into CBS's coverage of the memorial services in Washington to inform the viewers of the death of Oswald, who had been shot earlier that day (the news that Reasoner had broken into the funeral coverage to report only seconds after the incident):

The following day, on the day of Kennedy's funeral, as he was concluding the CBS Evening News, Cronkite provided the following commentary about the events of the last four dark days:

Referring to his coverage of Kennedy's assassination, in a 2006 TV interview with Nick Clooney, Cronkite recalled:

"I choked up, I really had a little trouble...my eyes got a little wet...[what Kennedy had represented] was just all lost to us. Fortunately, I grabbed hold before I was actually [crying]."^[29]

In a 2003 CBS special commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Cronkite said that he was standing at the United Press wire machine when the bulletin broke and was clamoring to get on the air as fast as was possible. Recalling his reaction upon having the death confirmed to him, he said:

Vietnam War[link]

Cronkite reported on location during the Vietnam War.

In mid-February 1968, on the urging of his executive producer Ernest Leiser, Cronkite and Leiser journeyed to Vietnam to cover the aftermath of the Tet Offensive. They were invited to dine with General Creighton Abrams, the current commander of all forces in Vietnam, whom Cronkite knew from World War II. According to Leiser, Abrams told Cronkite, "we cannot win this Goddamned war, and we ought to find a dignified way out."^[31]

Upon return, Cronkite and Leiser wrote separate editorial reports based on that trip. Cronkite, an excellent writer, preferred Leiser's text over his own.^[31] On February 27, 1968, Cronkite closed "Report from Vietnam: Who, What, When, Where, Why?" with that editorial report:^[32]

We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that -- negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster. 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. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But 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 the best they could.^[33]

Following Cronkite's editorial report, President Lyndon Johnson is reported to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."^[8][34] This account has been questioned in a recent publication on journalistic accuracy.^[35] Several weeks later, Johnson announced he would not seek reelection.

During the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Cronkite was anchoring the CBS network coverage as violence and protests occurred outside the convention, as well as scuffles inside the convention hall. When Dan Rather was punched to the floor (on camera) by security personnel, Cronkite commented, "I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan."

Other historic events[link]

The first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic program, was broadcast via the Telstar satellite on July 23, 1962 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, and Cronkite was one of the main presenters in this multinational broadcast.^[36][37] The broadcast was made possible in Europe by Eurovision and in North America by NBC, CBS, ABC, and the CBC.^[36] The first public broadcast featured CBS's Cronkite and NBC's Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC's Richard Dimbleby in Brussels.^[36] Cronkite was in the New York studio at Rockefeller Plaza as the first pictures to be transmitted and received were the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.^[36] The first segment included a televised major league baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.^[36] From there, the video switched first to Washington, D.C.; then to Cape Canaveral, Florida; then to Quebec City, Quebec, and finally to Stratford, Ontario.^[36] The Washington segment included a press conference with President Kennedy, talking about the price of the American dollar, which was causing concern in Europe.^[36] This broadcast inaugurated live, intercontinental news coverage, which was perfected later in the sixties with Early Bird and other Intelsat satellites.

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower returned to his former Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) headquarters for an interview by Cronkite on the CBS News Special Report D-Day + 20, telecast on June 6, 1964.^{[citation needed]}

Cronkite is also remembered for his coverage of the United States space program, and at times was visibly enthusiastic, rubbing his hands together on camera with a smile and uttering, "Whew...boy" on July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission put the first men on the Moon. Cronkite later criticized himself for being at a loss for journalistic words at that moment.^{[citation needed]}

According to the 2006 PBS documentary on Cronkite, there was "nothing new" in his reports on the Watergate affair;^[8] however, Cronkite brought together a wide range of reporting, and his credibility and status is credited by many with pushing the Watergate story to the forefront with the American public, ultimately resulting in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974.^[1] Cronkite had anchored the CBS coverage of Nixon's address, announcing his impending resignation, the night before.^{[citation needed]}

Cronkite also was one of the first to receive word of former President Lyndon B. Johnson's death, receiving the information during the January 22, 1973, broadcast of the CBS Evening News.^[38] While a videotaped report by Peter Kalischer about the apparently successful Vietnam war peace talks was being shown to the nation, Johnson's press secretary Tom Johnson (no relative of Lyndon Johnson) telephoned Cronkite to inform him of Johnson's death. CBS cut abruptly from the report at 6:38 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to Cronkite, who was still speaking to Johnson on the phone. After being made aware he was again on camera, Cronkite held up a finger to let the crew and audience know he was still gathering information. After he allowed Johnson to finish his sentence and informed Johnson he was back on the air and that he needed to hold the call for a second, Cronkite turned to the camera and began to speak:

^[39] During the final ten minutes of that broadcast, Cronkite reported on the death, giving a retrospective on the life of nation's 36th president, and announced that CBS would air a special on Lyndon Johnson later that evening. This story was re-told on a 2007 CBS-TV special honoring Cronkite's 90th birthday. Tom Johnson later became president of CNN.^{[citation needed]}

NBC-TV's Garrick Utley, anchoring NBC Nightly News that evening, also interrupted his newscast in order to break the story, doing so about three minutes after Cronkite on CBS. ABC, however, did not cover the story at all, since, at the time, that network fed its evening newscast to local stations at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, even though many affiliates tape-delayed the broadcast to air at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m.

In December 1963, Cronkite introduced The Beatles to the United States by airing a four-minute story on band on the CBS Evening News.^[40]

Retirement[link]

On February 14, 1980, Cronkite announced that he intended to retire from the CBS Evening News; at the time, CBS had a policy of mandatory retirement by age 65.^[41] Although sometimes compared to a father figure or an uncle figure, in an interview about his retirement he described himself as being more like a "comfortable old shoe" to his audience. His last day in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News was on March 6, 1981; he was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather.^[42]