Walter Cronkite

"And that's the way it is..."

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr (1916 – 2009) is best remembered as the anchorman for The CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. During that time, he was the man America turned to for the news of some of the most important news stories in the history of the country. At the peak of his popularity, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" (and even today, years after his death, he still appears in the top ten listing of individuals whom the people trust the most).

The stories on which he reported truly shaped modern America: first-person accounts of Allied bombing runs over Germany in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, front-line combat in the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr, the Watergate scandal and the subsequent resignation of Richard Nixon, and the Iran Hostage Crisis. His reporting on the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle, earned him the Moon Rock Award (the only recipient who was not a member of NASA).

Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, but grew up in Houston, Texas. He graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Texas (where he was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity, along with his good friend, actor Eli Wallach). He met his wife, Mary, in 1940, and the two were together until her death in 2005. He retired from CBS news in 1981, and afterward was a part-time actor, a sailor (he favored sailboats), a voice-over artist, and a political activist (he was a confirmed liberal, and supported many humanitarian causes worldwide). He loved music and reading, and was a wargamer (he enjoyed Axis and Allies and Diplomacy).

Cronkite ended every one of his news broadcasts with his Catch Phrase, "And that's the way it is..." followed by the date on which the appearance was aired. He died of cerebrovascular disease in 2009 at age 92, still atop the list of most trusted people in America.