"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Friday, July 17, 2009

And that's the way it was...



Walter Cronkite was a newsman's newsman. His departure from the airwaves in 1980 pretty much ended the heyday of television news (as opposed to today's "infotainment" programming). He was recruited by Edward Murrow after distinguished service as a war correspondent in World War Two. His famous broadcasts on the occasion of the Kennedy assassination and moon landings, his explanation of the Watergate scandal and especially his editorial on the Vietnam War being unwinnable are important pieces of American history. Even the best of the people on CNN today are punks and spokesmodels compared to Walter Cronkite. The only living television newspeople who can hold a candle to his legacy would be Dan Rather and Bill Moyers, both of who will be forever in his shadow. He was "the most trusted man in America" for a damn good reason - he was trustworthy. If Walter Cronkite said it, you knew it was true.

Following is a decent, lengthy interview with Uncle Walter if you can get through the cheesy two minutes of commercials for USC that kick off the video.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, another famous person to leave. Walter (referred to as "Uncle Walt") was a great man that knew how to deliver news. I wish these noobs nowadays had such skills. Prayers to Walter's family and friends. In his memory, for his fans I have collected some great sites and articles (more than 200) to know all about Walter Cronkite. If you are interested take a look at the below link
http://markthispage.blogspot.com/2009/07/walter-cronkite-another-famous-person.html

RossK said...

Well, at least the ads weren't for Stanford and/or The Hoover Institute.....

Nice find rev.

(have a non-uke cover fight up that's pretty bloody good)