Walter Cronkite: The Most Trusted Man in America

Until he began his extensive research on the subject of his latest book, author Douglas Brinkley didn't fully realize how much influence the venerable CBS nightly news anchor Walter Cronkite had woven through his life.

Brinkley, who in addition to being a best selling writer is also a professor of history at Rice University, said his mother had saved a series of pictures he had drawn in 1967 based on Cronkite's broadcasts of stories from the Vietnam War. He also came across a clipping of what he is sure is his first mention in a newspaper. The story was about a 6th grader who was the head of News 6, his class news program. And in that article, Brinkley identified his hero as Walter Cronkite. Finally, Brinkley vividly remembers his family watching Cronkite and then discussing the major events of the day in his Ohio home.

"Cronkite, he was a big part of my life," Brinkley said tonight as he appeared at Politics and Prose to discuss his newest biography simply entitled Cronkite. "He was our filter of history. When there was a story, Cronkite was the man on it. If Cronkite said it, it was true."

And Brinkley isn't alone. You could safely call Cronkite the official chronicler of the late 20th Century. Name a major event and he was there, his powerful voice and carefully chosen words shaping the way Americans came to believe. World War II. The Nuremberg trials. The rise of Communist Russia and the Cold War. Korea. The Civil Rights movement. Vietnam. The beginnings of the space program. Man's first steps on the Moon. Watergate and the rise and fall of Richard Nixon.

In his time, he earned the sobriquet "the most trusted man in America." When Cronkite pushed Civil Rights, or space exploration and science, or gay rights, or the environment, it became the big story. When Cronkite issued a statement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly said, "If I've lost Cronkite, then I've lost Middle America."

Cronkite began his media career illegally broadcasting the results of horse racing. He then moved to local radio where his life-long reputation for impeccable journalistic ethics took hold. Brinkley told this story about Cronkite's early years. As he was broadcasting the news, the local station owner burst in and told him he had to report on a City Hall fire where there had been many deaths. Cronkite questioned the source of the report. The owner said it was his wife. Cronkite refused to report the fire. It turns out that no one died in the blaze. "Cronkite was right, but he got fired anyway," Brinkley said. But the belief in Cronkite's journalistic integrity was born.

In his early years, Cronkite was torn deciding if he should focus on writing, radio, or the new field of television. TV finally won. Like all broadcasters in that new medium, Cronkite's first newscasts were snowy, black-and-white-15 minute broadcasts from a studio resembling a hall closet. But Cronkite, a tireless worker, helped move television to the forefront. His live reporting of the 1952 and 1956 Presidential conventions "changed things forever," Brinkley said. Although most known for his news acumen, Cronkite broadcast the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley in California and the Summer Olympics in Rome, the first time the world games were televised. "That was the beginning of prime-time events on TV," Brinkley said.

But Cronkite's reputation really solidified with his coverage of the tragic 1963 assassination of President John Kennedy and the dark days following the Dallas killing. One of TV's early iconic images is that of Cronkite reporting Kennedy's death as he removes his glasses and appears to wipe a tear from his eye. "He really guided us through the Kennedy assassination all weekend long," Brinkley said. "He earned the nickname Iron Pants. We're used to around-the-clock coverage now, but it really was quite extraordinary then."

In 1963, the network nightly news expanded to a half-hour and Cronkite and his colleagues could expand their reporting. First it was Civil Rights, then the War in Vietnam. When Cronkite broadcast his doubts about Vietnam, he was convinced he had torpedoed his career. But polls showed that his respect only grew; Americans believed more than ever that Cronkite always called it straight.

Cronkite retired as anchor of the CBS Evening New in March of 1981, 19 years after his 1st anchor desk broadcast. He continued to host special programs and reports and have his writings published  until his death in 2009.

"He was the most trusted man in America," Brinkley said. "Everyone knew him. He almost became like American royalty."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Americans knew the Walter Cronkite that entered their living rooms at 6:30 weekday nights for 19 years. But, of course, there was the off-screen Walter Cronkite. And, as is so often the case, the 2 displayed quite differing personae. Brinkley said that Cronkite loved his cocktails, had a keen sense of humor, and reveled in telling "the dirtiest jokes of anyone I have ever written about." He also enjoyed shocking people by reading pornography in his best Walter Cronkite voice. And then there was his unique choice of friends. Cronkite was fond of music. Two of his best friends were musicians, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and island-life troubadour Jimmy Buffet. In fact, he and Hart shared 14 Thanksgiving dinners together. "Walter Cronkite never wanted to be a stuffed shirt and he never wanted to take himself  too seriously. And he never did," Brinkley said