Best Damned News Reporter....Ever.
Who else has covered everything from the start of World War II, to the Vietnam War, to the Iran Hostage Crisis? Walter Leland Cronkite Jr., that's who. He has had one of the most distinguished careers in broadcast journalism, not to mention widely known as "The most trusted man in America."
Walter went to the University of Texas, where he first started broadcasting baseball scores on the campus radio station. However, the station manager didn't think he would have a career as a broadcaster, so after the season was over, he let Walter go. This didn't get him down though. While Walter should have been in class, he was at the Capitol, making connections and watching how the reporters worked. In 1937, he joined the United Press and went over to Europe to report on the War. While over there, he did everything from jumping out a plane with the 101st Airborne Division to going along on bombing raids over German cities. He was even at the Nuremberg Trails of Goering and Hess.
The 1950's brought CBS into Walter's career. From 1953 to 1957, he hosted the series You Are There, and for a short time co-hosted the CBS Morning Show with the puppet Charlemagne. In April of 1962, Cronkite appeared on the CBS Evening News for the first time. Since then, he has covered assassinations, Watergate, and became an "acknowledged expert" on the American space program while reporting the Apollo moon landing.
After retiring from CBS in 1981, Walter remained active, creating and narrating specials and series'. He helped to create an eight part series for the Discovery Channel called Walter Cronkite Remembers. He has also written an autobiography entitled "A Reporters Life".
Nowadays, Walter likes to go sailing with his family on his yacht. He has even written three books about his adventures.
