# RIP Walter Cronkite **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395 "2009-07-18T00:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/21 "2009-07-18T01:52:34Z")
He was 92. Just a kid! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/22 "2009-07-18T02:04:02Z")
I met him once, at the Newseum on a trip in college. He still had a passion for it-wish I could have talked to him more. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/23 "2009-07-18T02:06:28Z")
My golly, what a fabulous career. And a giant among newscasters. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/24 "2009-07-18T02:11:03Z")
I thought he was dead for a long time already. Like over a decade. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/25 "2009-07-18T02:12:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Damn. I was hoping he would have made it past the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing. > > ☹ That’s exactly what I was thinking. I remember watching it with my then-bf. It wouldn’t have been the same without Cronkite. RIP, Walter. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/26 "2009-07-18T02:23:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Damn. I was hoping he would have made it past the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing. > > ☹ My thoughts exactly. I knew he was sick, perhaps too far gone to know what’s going on. But it is wonderful to think there’s another thing to commemorate Monday - Uncle Walter’s commentary. The last of a great generation of journalists. Sending a Hook 'Em Horns heavenward, Uncle Walter! ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/27 "2009-07-18T02:23:50Z")
I feel guilty for thinking he’d been dead for years. I remember him and appreciate his contributions. Following the loooong Michael Jackson death coverage, it appears that the networks feel obligated to cover Cronkite’s death _at least as long_, out of respect yaknow. Maybe Nancy Grace will even switch topics! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/28 "2009-07-18T02:24:08Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Today, never mind TV… whoever the hell anywhere do we trust at all… He retired some eight years ago, but Bernard Shaw at CNN. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/29 "2009-07-18T02:36:17Z")
I’ve three memories engraved in my mind about Uncle Walt, all of them involving Apollo. The first might have been Eight or Eleven, but after the Saturn V had launched and disappeared down range, the camera cut back to him just as he wiped a tear, and said quietly, triumphantly, “Man is on his way to the moon.” The second was Nine, where the LM was taken to earth orbit to practice docking and undocking it. A line had been left off the checklist to turn off the docking radar, and when they simulated launching from the moon, the vehicle instantly automatically rolled to point at the nearby CM. Cronkite was reading the report and said, “Our first hint that something had happened was when one of the astronauts exclaimed, ‘Son of a gun!’ --” then peering over his glasses “-- Or something like that . . .” The last was Fourteen when Alan Shephard whacked the three golf balls. The astronaut “color man” (Wally Schirra?) commented that the distance might not have been too good, but in a vacuum they at least would fly straight. Cronkite muttered, “I’d bet I could make it slice.” ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/30 "2009-07-18T02:39:35Z")
In the movie _Apollo 13_, I guess Ron Howard used actual footage of the Cronkite broadcasts. That was some compelling stuff. Can you imagine him reporting Sept 11? Sorry, Katie, but you aren’t fit to wipe the man’s shoes. [The NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/18cronkite.html?_r=1&hp) is reporting he died of complications from dementia, so the poor man may not have even known it was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/31 "2009-07-18T03:12:22Z")
Wow, being older than most of you, I have a great many memories of Walter Cronkite, starting with his announcement that John F Kennedy had been assassinated. Even though Mr Cronkite officially retired in 1982, on January 28, 1986 when the Challenger disaster was all over the evening news, I specifically watched a one hour CBS Special Report just to see if _ **the** _ space reporter would get interviewed. With about 5 minutes left, they spoke with Walter Cronkite who was in Chile at that moment. Somehow his reporting _anything_ about the Challenger made the events of that day seem a bit more tolerable. On the lighter side, I liked his guest star performance on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show”. Rest in peace, Walter. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/32 "2009-07-18T03:20:32Z")
He was retired before I was old enough to be watching the news, but I’ve certainly seen reruns of his classic news anchor stories. For me, he will always be the **real** voice of [Spaceship: Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth_(Epcot)) at EPCOT center in Disney World. As a little kid, I loved hearing that voice of his, even though I didn’t know who he was at age 6-7. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/33 "2009-07-18T03:24:00Z")
The man can burn in Hell for two eternities! Thanks to him and his wannabees, this country was infected with a huge inferiority complex. I remember throwing shoes and loud “F!!! You’s” (not sure of profanity policies away from the Pit) at the TV when tool-of-foreign-interests Kronkite, gutless wannabee Harry Reasoner at ABC,or gutless John Chancellor at NBC would run yet another, “American workers–lazy and spoiled. Third World–virtuous and hard-working on less than a third the wages,” diatribe thinly disguised as news. I hope all three are sharing the same brimstone! ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/34 "2009-07-18T03:27:34Z")
What sort of day was it? It was a day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times- and you were there. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/35 "2009-07-18T03:45:38Z")
Nowadays I think it’s inconceivable to think of a news reporter as a great person. But Cronkite was just that. ---
**Author:** ![Trick\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/36 "2009-07-18T04:12:48Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I thought he was dead for a long time already. Like over a decade. Oh good, so I’m not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/37 "2009-07-18T04:32:25Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > ☹ He stopped news broadcasting long before I started paying attention to it, but I’ve learned a lot about his character and demeanor from my studies. They teach him? There is some hope for today’s communication majors. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/38 "2009-07-18T04:57:15Z")
What I posted on Domebo: **Goodbye Uncle Walter, I still miss you. Walter Cronkite dead at age 92.** The most trusted man in America that CBS forced to retire far too early died today, July 17, 2009. He was the avuncular man that so many of us for several generations trusted to give us the straight and honest news without agenda and with integrity above all else. He has been retired since 1981 and no Newsman has the gravitas that Cronkite did. It was before I was born, but the nation cried to his announcement that the young President was dead. Respected and believed him when he reported the ‘Inescapable Conclusion’ about Vietnam. \*“To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. … But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” \* He thrilled to the moon landing and covered it well and with Robert Heinlein the Dean of Science Fiction at his side at times. He was well liked by NASA. Mainly he was what I thought news was suppose to be but was instead the brief and shining ideal that has never been seen again. Rest well Uncle Walter and thank you. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/39 "2009-07-18T04:58:53Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > The man can burn in Hell for two eternities! > > Thanks to him and his wannabees, this country was infected with a huge inferiority complex. > > I remember throwing shoes and loud “F!!! You’s” (not sure of profanity policies away from the Pit) at the TV when tool-of-foreign-interests Kronkite, gutless wannabee Harry Reasoner at ABC,or gutless John Chancellor at NBC would run yet another, “American workers–lazy and spoiled. Third World–virtuous and hard-working on less than a third the wages,” diatribe thinly disguised as news. > > I hope all three are sharing the same brimstone! This forum forbids me from saying what I truly think of you opinions. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395/40 "2009-07-18T05:16:21Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > The man can burn in Hell for two eternities! > > Thanks to him and his wannabees, this country was infected with a huge inferiority complex. > > I remember throwing shoes and loud “F!!! You’s” (not sure of profanity policies away from the Pit) at the TV when tool-of-foreign-interests Kronkite, gutless wannabee Harry Reasoner at ABC,or gutless John Chancellor at NBC would run yet another, “American workers–lazy and spoiled. Third World–virtuous and hard-working on less than a third the wages,” diatribe thinly disguised as news. > > I hope all three are sharing the same brimstone! You seem to have been watching a different Walter Cronkite than everyone else. I was talking about the one who was hugely regarded as the “most trusted man in America”, and was well-respected by both the journalism community and the public at large for an honest, unbiased approach to straight-up news. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-walter-cronkite/503395.md?page=3)