| Born 1916 in Missouri |
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| Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, in November 1916, long-time CBS-TV News anchorman Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., was raised in Houston, Texas. He went to Houston's San Jacinto High School. In 1933, he became a student at the University of Texas. |
| "I had a pretty good seat at the parade. I was lucky enough to have been born at the right time to see most of this remarkable century." Called "the most trusted man in America", Cronkite more than any other TV anchor personifies the news media from the golden age of the three networks. Earlier in WWII he worked as a correspondent for United Press International where covered battles in both North Africa and Europe. After the war he covered the Nuremberg Trials. In 1950 he joined CBS television. From 1962 until his retirement in 1981 he was the anchor of The CBS Evening News except for a brief period at the 1964 Democratic Convention where has was replaced. He was reinstated at the Republican Convention after CBS executives received more than 11,000 letters.
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During his two decades as anchor probably most notably he was the first to report on Kennedy's assassination - a moment that was difficult even for Cronkite. A few years later he undoubtedly helped sway President Johnson to open negotiations with North Vietnam when he called the war a stalemate. Ever the proponent of new frontiers of technology Walter Cronkite covered Apollo XI on the air for 27 of the 30 hour mission - or as pundits called it "Walter to Walter coverage". In 1972 he was credited with keeping the story of Watergate issue in the public eye at a time where it might otherwise have faded.
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| Sadly after 65 years of marriage his wife Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Maxwell died in 2005 leaving him and their three children. |
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1981 Walter Cronkite was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest honor a U.S. civilian can receive. "And that's the way it is" as Cronkite famously said signing off in his last Evening News as anchor that same year. |
