Famed CBS News journalist Walter Cronkite died on July 17, 2009, at the age of 92. Cronkite had been suffering from cerebrovascular disease for years leading up to his death.
Cronkite hosted the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. He was most closely identified with his coverage of the Apollo Moon Landing (for which he earned the nickname "the eighth astronaut") and the JFK assassination.
Career
Cronkite is commonly credited with defining the position of "anchorman" for American TV viewers. Cronkite, who had come to be known as "the most trusted man in America," had often been suggested as a possibility to run for public office, but refused, preferring to influence public opinion through his role as a television journalist.http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/walter-cronkite-iconic-anchorman-dies/ He controversially declared the Vietnam War a "stalemate" after the 1968 Tet Offensive, leading President Lyndon Johnson to believe that public opinion would now turn against him and the war.http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/walter-cronkite-iconic-anchorman-dies/
Quotes
"The great sadness of my life is that I never achieved the hour newscast, which would not have been twice as good as the half-hour newscast, but many times as good."http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004847/bio
"Kennedy could be as charming in public as he had been in private. But he had another side, a certain attitude of superiority, an arrogance that I found disturbing."http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004847/bio
"I am probably not that different from most reporters, highly competitive, always determined to get that big story. The big story is always the one that's just a little bit out of reach."http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004847/bio
