“That’s the way it is.”

-Walter Cronkite’s nightly sign-off for the CBS evening news

Walter Cronkite, the iconic newsman, was born on November 4, 1916.  His career as a broadcast journalist spanned 5 decades and 9 U.S. presidents.  From the 1930s to the 1980s Cronkite reported on the biggest news of the day including D-Day, the Nuremberg Trials, the Vietnam War, civil rights, the moon missions,  and Watergate.  It was Cronkite who broke the news of President Kennedy’s assassination, and he covered the subsequent killings of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, and John Lennon. 

Cronkite’s broadcasts seemed to capture the emotions of the country.  His excitement for the Apollo 11 moon mission was so great that he reported live on the event for 27 hours straight and exclaimed, “Go, baby, go!” at blast off.

In 1972, a nationwide poll determined that Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America.”  Other choices in the poll had included contemporary journalists, the Vice President, and the President. 

Here are photos of Cronkite and a CBS news crew with Marines during the Battle of Hue City in Vietnam, interviewing President Kennedy, and with President Carter in the White House.

Happy birthday Walter Cronkite

November 4, 1916 - July 17, 2009

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