“And that’s the way it is!” – WALTER CRONKITE’S LEGENDARY SIGN-OFF SIGNATURE
I SOMEHOW ESCAPED becoming a full-time obituary writer when I entered the newspaper business, although this incredibly boring and completely unrewarding task has traditionally been reserved for the most recently hired scribe.
In fact, the one and only obit I was ever forced to write got me fired!
This was at a small daily rag sheet in Warner Robins, GA. It was my third job, but first as an investigative reporter. The regular obit guy had called in sick that day, so the news editor laid that responsibility on me — in addition to the two front-page stories I was already writing – just an hour before deadline.
Naturally, I was quite upset. And when the funeral director called to give me the details about the only person who had died in the previous 24 hours, it literally took her about 15 minutes to ramble off the list of survivors. Watching my deadline tick away, I became quite annoyed and made some sort of smart-ass remark alluding to large dumb-ass, inbred Southern families and was canned an hour later.
But this is one obituary — actually a tribute — I truly want to write. This is in memory of Walter Cronkite, the consummate journalist and man I loved and admired, especially as a child growing up in the ’50s and ’60s.
He was truly a gentlemen (and gentle man) who created a standard in the profession that I strived toward. But like just about every other journalist I’ve ever known, I fell far short of the mark — no matter how hard I tried.
I’ll never forget that fateful Friday on November 22, 1963. I was in my 5th-grade classroom when it was announced on the loudspeakers throughout the building that the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, had just been shot.
Our teacher quickly turned on the old over-sized black and white TV. Mr. Cronkite — clearly shaken –relayed minute-by-minute updates from Dallas’ Parkland Hospital, where a team of top surgeons made every attempt possible to save the president the vast majority of America loved, the man whose courage averted a nuclear war with Russia over the Cuban Missile Crisis a year earlier. Dan Rather, then a young reporter for CBS’s Dallas affiliate and ultimately Cronkite’s successor 18 years later, was on the scene live.
Although two large-caliber rifle rounds tore through the president’s head, my classmates and I believed he would emerge from surgery successfully, then recover and return to the White House. Only 10 at the time, we didn’t have much of a grip on the reality of life’s horrors.
And then 35 minutes later, “the most trusted man in America” struggled to hold back tears as he told us and rest of the nation, “From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official. President John Kennedy died at 1pm, Central Standard Time, 2:00 Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.” It would be the only time Mr. Cronkite failed to contain his emotions as a journalist.
As the years went on, the creator of the 30-minute CBS Evening News in 1962 (a revolutionary concept, as previous network newscasts were only 15 minutes long) was always there the second a big story broke: the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968, the lunacy both inside and outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later that year, the announcement that then President Richard Nixon would resign in disgrace and avoid impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives for his cover-up of the Watergate fiasco, both the ’69 and ’73 attacks of Israel by Egypt and its Arab allies — the beginnings of what came to be known as the “Seven Day” and “Yom Kippur” Wars, North Vietnam’s highly successful Tet Offensive, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey’s death after a long and unsuccessful battle with Bladder Cancer, and every other major event that went down until his premature retirement from CBS in 1981 – one he always regretted.
It was extremely difficult to conceive the amount of hours the news legend put in each week. Logically, one would had thought he had an apartment at CBS Headquarters. Regardless of the time of day or night something big occurred, he was there right in front of the camera, looking as professional as always, as the network interrupted regular programming for one of his many bulletins of huge import.
Last night, both former NBC Anchor Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather — Mr. Cronkite’s long-time protege at CBS News – reminisced about the media legend, once known as “The most trusted man in America,” and his uncanny emotional balance. Rather noted the uncharacteristic humility of his predecessor and mentor “in a profession that is egocentric.” Bernard Shaw, a former CNN anchor who gained much of his expertise during an earlier tenure under Mr. Cronkite at CBS, sadly spoke volumes of his former boss’s integrity and brand of journalism — one of the highest ethics possible. It was called the “gold standard” of journalism by Rather, who noted it has unfortunately become completely obsolete in today’s media.
I was a avid fan and steady viewer of “Uncle Walter” — as he was known by his colleagues and viewers — until the day he retired. He was one of only three journalists who inspired me to choose that profession myself (New York columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hammil were the other two).
Just as truly humble religious people talk about falling short of their spiritual objectives no matter how hard they try, I never could come remotely close to that “gold standard” of journalism he created. And it wasn’t because of a lack of effort, but more so that egocentricity that Rather noted. It prevented me — like most members of the media — from reaching my true potential.
Mr. Cronkite left this world with a sour taste in his mouth for today’s brand of news reporting. With the exception of a few documentaries and election night coverage, he sat on the sidelines for the past 28 years observing helplessly as the rise of Corporate Journalism with its 24-hour news cycles virtually destroyed the respectability and fiber of the once-great profession for whom he was its standard bearer for 40 years.
Given the media attention Michael Jackson has been — and still is — receiving three weeks after his death, it would only be appropriate to give this media icon and legend page-one coverage for the next year!
Goodbye Uncle Walter, and thanks for the wonderful memories and legacy you have left us all. Journalism will never see the likes of anyone like you again!
Bravo Glenn! I too remember that day, playing hop scotch in the schoolyard. I was seven, and surely did not understand. I guess everyone from that era will always remember where they were on that dark day in ’63. “Uncle Walter” was a favorite at our house too, and it is sad what has become of the “news”.
Thank God for people like Michael Moore , we still have hope, and a sense of humor.
Actually Robin, Michael Moore was on Larry King last night. As always, his insights were profound and brilliant.
Brilliant…poignant. Forget United States History SOL testing in our public school system, THIS article is a perfect example of what children should have as “must read” material! I applaud you Glenn for telling it like it is – because “that’s the way it was”!!!