"And That's The Way It Is"

It would be hard to write a blog about the 1960s and 1970's without mentioning the passing of Walter Cronkite. He read the news for CBS from 1962-81 and did it in an age when we trusted newsreaders more than we do now.

It has been noted in other outlets that more people now watch American Idol than they do the likes of Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charles Gibson combined. Times have changed and families simply don't gather to eat dinner in front of the evening news anymore. There are just too many other ways to read the news for oneself, and these can be accomplished without the sanctimonious undertone which is so common among today's newsreaders. The "Talent" as they are euphemistically called by some, usually seem more intent on letting their declining viewership know exactly how they feel about a story, instead of letting the story be the lead.

Cronkite on the other hand, read the bare facts. He was studiously unemotional and never spoke down to us. His one moment of emotion on the air came when he had to announce the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He took his classes off, turned to look at the clock on the wall, and then told the nation that their President was dead. It was a calming and reassuring moment for a nation which sorely needed one.

The NY Times had a fine characterization of Cronkite in their obituary of him, which I have paraphrased for this entry:

"He looked like a kindly newspaper editor interrupted in the middle of a big news day, busy, of course, but never too busy to explain the latest developments to out-of-town visitors."

We will likely never see another one on TV like Walter Cronkite, and "his boyish enthusiasm." He was, in a phrase,"the most trusted man in America." Hard to call to mind anyone know who could be paid the same tribute.