Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, were doing the news the year I was born (earlier than Walter ;) I followed Brinkley all the way to his final Sunday morning show in the late 1990's. (Brinkley died in 2003) Another favorite of mine, Howard K Smith,
was so influential to me (anchor at ABC at the time I worked for an ABC affiliate) that I actually named my Yorkie Howard K (aka Howie.) My own most memorable moment in the news biz was "scooping" both Howard K and Walter on a hot August day in 1974 when I got to announce Nixon's resignation on the noon news before them. I was 19 and was the first female and youngest TV Anchor in Iowa.
I was too young to remember Walter pulling off his glasses and wiping a tear as he announced the hour of Kennedy's death. I saw the replay many, many times in subsequent years and thought it was fabulous -- fabulous because it was a rare moment of emotion, not the norm the way anchors and reporters carry on today over everything. I do vividly recall Cronkite's reporting of the moon landing, and how we gathered around the B&W TV for that monumental event.
Watching the coverage tonight of Cronkite's passing, what feels the most tragic is how (like MJ) he had no recognition in recent years and had to die to get his much earned acknowledgement. In Walter's case after a forced retirement (28 years ago), and because of Dan Rather's insecurity, he was not even allowed to do commentaries or cover Presidential campaigns. What a waste! We could have benefited from his wisdom and journalism might have had a few more years of objectivity and credibility. But, today tabloid news rules and unfortunately "that's the way it is."
