In Memoriam: Walter Leland Cronkite Jr., 1916-2009

[thatcrazycajun]

How sadly ironic that as we near the 40th anniversary of humanity's first steps onto the moon, we lose the man who told most of us about it as it happened. Walter Cronkite, for nearly two decades anchorman and editor of The CBS Evening News and host of other programs for that network as well as PBS and others, has died at 92 in New York, NY after an as-yet-unspecified illness; Reuters has posted his obituary here. UPDATE, Sat. 6/18, 10:30a: Our local paper reports today that Cronkite's longtime chief of staff announced yesterday he had died of cerebral vascular disease.

For many years, the Columbia Broadcasting System's television arm was known as "the Tiffany Network," for the high quality of much of its programming. Few did more to help earn the network that moniker than Cronkite, who virtually was television journalism for his professionalism, his integrity, that reassuring, avuncular presence, that sonorous baritone voice, his skill at reporting and reading the news...and his fortitude in the face of stories that shook a newsman's required objectivity to its core. Anyone's would have been had they been in his chair, having to tell the world that John Kennedy had been assassinated moments after the young President was declared dead; that men had set foot on Earth's only natural satellite for the first time in history; that one of Kennedy's successors was resigning his job just steps ahead of a criminal inquiry and impeachment; and that yet more young men had died each day in the jungles of Southeast Asia fighting someone else's war. That he managed as well as he did was the chief reason that for millions of us, no story was news until "Uncle Walter" told us it was. Some of my own earliest memories include watching him report on the second lunar landing in midmorning before heading off to kindergarten class in the afternoon.

Cronkite set the standard for television reporting, just as his CBS colleague/boss/mentor Edward R. Murrow had for radio†...and every single talking head assigned to ride an anchor desk since owes him an incalculable, unpayable debt. So do we all; not only for his incomparable work, but because his was one of the strongest voices condemning the ratings/budget-driven degradation of network news in general since his retirement...even though no evidence has surfaced as yet that the suits who were his intended audience have listened at all. Farewell, sir, and thank you; and my heart, thoughts and prayers are with your family, friends, coworkers and viewers. We shall not see his like again...and, sadly, that's the way it is.

†Wikipedia reports that Cronkite actually had the colossal brass testes to turn Murrow down the first time that worthy offered him a job at CBS. How in the name of sanity do you say "No" to working with/for Edward R. Fucking Murrow?!?

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I've taken a number of compliments over the years for my own pieces like this, from you and others. Tonight I return the favor; I couldn't come up with a way to use the classic sign-off in a way that didn't sound forced. You made it look easy. Nicely done.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Please to be humbly thanking you, sir. Uncle Walter's sign-off was the best since Ed Murrow's "Good night and good luck," and Walter's successor Dan Rather's "Courage" didn't even come close to being as good.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Don't get me started on Mister Successor. *sigh*

Hey, I just considered something, and am encouraged.

When Ed Murrow busted the snot out of Joe frelling McCarthy, the CBS Evening News didn't even *exist* yet. He did it on a talking head show, much like folks who are our current journalistic heroes, Maddow and Olbermann. I don't know if the analogy holds if you press it too hard, but I think it means there is hope amongst chaos...

(Now, if I can just convince my old buddy and former boss Don Marti to shut up about HuffPo nabbing more google juice than mainstream media and let the Internet be the Internet, we might get somewhere....)

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

It was one of his CBS news shows that gave us the first glimpse of The Beatles and the Beatlemania going on in England.

I seen that archival footage on the newscasts last night. The way he looked when he could report 'man on the moon' was a great visual reminder that he, too, could celebrate with controlled glee, because after all that's the way it was across the globe.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was only very very thinly controlled glee and awe and "holy shit, we actually got away with it"... the glee was very much LESS controlled in Mission Control :) I seem to recall from the stories that "bedlam" was an accurate descriptor. :)

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Bedlam in Mission Control was short, as Gene Kranz got his people back to their job, as they needed a stay/no stay decision within a couple of minutes. Any problem on the ground (like sinking in, even with one leg) would mean taking off, and beyond that time, Collins, back in the main capsule, would be to far downrange to catch up with within a reasonable time.
Earlier this month I re-watched my copy of Gene Kranz's 'Failure Is Not An Option' which is a great view, through him, of Mission Control and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. Check out the History Channel for any showings, or try recoring their 6am 'Classroom' segments this week as it might be on in that commercial free time.