R.I.P. Walter Cronkite

Sad, sad news today: legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite died last night at the age of 92. This CBS report on his passing highlights just some of his achievements from throughout his lengthy and storied career.

A generation of television viewers grew up with Mr. Cronkite’s reports, many of which have become cultural touchstones. I hope people here will excuse me for revisiting one of my favorite takes on his reporting of the John F. Kennedy assassination: Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s report on an incident at the JFK airport.

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I’d like to think Mr. Cronkite would approve of our learning, after enough time has passed, to find reasons to laugh even in the face of tragedy. As he said in the clip played at the end of the CBS piece I embedded above, “There’s reason to hope for the twenty-first century.”

We’d like to extend our sincere sympathy to his friends and family, and to everyone his life has touched. Requiescat in pace, Mr. Cronkite. It was a good life.

Categories: Zeitgeist

Comments

mrtigger001

said on 18th July: Reply

I, too, re-watched this segment after hearing the news. It’s a beautiful parody + character break.

Obviously, Cronkite was before my time, so everything I know about him is from retrospect, but it seems to be that he lived a full and accomplished life. That seems to me to be cause for celebration, not sadness.

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MaryLovesColbert

said on 18th July: Reply

Very sad news, indeed. We lost one of the greats. I wish I’d been alive when he was reporting, seems like he had a lot of integrity that many of our journalists/TV anchors are sorely lacking today. He will be missed.

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Roseha

said on 18th July: Reply

I used to work at an arts organization and Mr. Cronkite attended an event of ours in 1996. I remember seeing my director speaking to him across the room. He looked well and happy then.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite.

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Roland

said on 18th July: Reply

I do miss him. As Johnson said, when you lose Cronkite you lose middle america.

Walter was the one person who never pandered and just did his job.

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juice

said on 18th July: Reply

Thanks for showing both clips, Ms I. The evening news has never been the same without Walter Cronkite. I loved hearing him speak, and appreciate that he knew the difference between factual reporting and editorializing based on the facts.

That toss is one of my favorite character breaks – so close! So funny!

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Lilimich

said on 19th July: Reply

So terribly sad. Cronkite is truly a legend and will be missed. I’m sure if he’s seen this particular Toss, he probably would’ve laughed as much as we did. Rest piece, sir.

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