Editing Walter Cronkite (section)

== Career ==
Cronkite left college in his junior year, in the fall term of 1935,<ref name="UTKNOW2009" /> after starting a series of newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports.<ref name="CBS Trusted" /> He entered broadcasting as a radio announcer for [[WKY]] in [[Oklahoma City]], [[Oklahoma]]. In 1936, he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Maxwell, while working as the sports announcer for [[KCMO (AM)]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri]].<ref name="kansas" /><ref name="CBS Trusted" /> His broadcast name was "Walter Wilcox".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Duh Awards: In This Stupid World, We Take the Prize|first=Bob|last=Fenster|page=[https://archive.org/details/duhawardsinthiss0000fens/page/176 176]|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|year=2005|isbn=0-7407-5021-6|url=https://archive.org/details/duhawardsinthiss0000fens/page/176}}</ref>

He would explain later that radio stations at the time did not want people to use their real names for fear of taking their listeners with them if they left.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gay|first=Timothy M.|title=Assignment to Hell: the war against Nazi Germany with correspondents Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, A.J. Liebling, Homer Bigart, and Hal Boyle|publisher=Penguin|year=2012|isbn=9781101585382|location=|pages=}}</ref> In Kansas City, he joined the [[United Press International]] (UP) in 1937.<ref name="CBS Trusted" />

With his name now established, he received a job offer from [[Edward R. Murrow]] at [[CBS News]] to join the [[Murrow Boys]] team of war correspondents, relieving [[Bill Downs]] as the head of the Moscow bureau.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-05-28-9002130324-story.html|title=Dispatches From The Front|first=John|last=McDonough|website=Chicago Tribune|date=May 28, 1990 }}</ref> CBS offered Cronkite $125 ($2,235 in 2020 money) a week along with "commercial fees" amounting to $25 ($447 in 2020) for almost every time Cronkite reported on air. Up to that point, he had been making $57.50 ($1,027 in 2020) per week at UP, but he had reservations about broadcasting. He initially accepted the offer. When he informed his boss [[Harrison Salisbury]], UP countered with a raise of $17.50 ($312 in 2020) per week; [[Hugh Baillie]] also offered him an extra $20 ($357 in 2020) per week to stay. Cronkite ultimately accepted the UP offer, a move which angered Murrow and drove a wedge between them that would last for years.<ref name="sperber1998">{{cite book | title=Murrow, His Life and Times | publisher=Fordham University Press | author=Sperber, A. M. | year=1998 | pages=228 | isbn=0-8232-1881-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gay|first=Timothy M|title=Assignment to Hell: The War Against Nazi Germany with Correspondents Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, A.J. Liebling, Homer Bigart, and Hal Boyle|year=2013|publisher=NAL Caliber Trade|isbn=978-0-451-41715-2}}</ref>

Cronkite became one of the top American reporters in [[World War II]], covering battles in [[North African campaign|North Africa]] and Europe.<ref name="kansas" /> He was on board {{USS|Texas|BB-35|6}} starting in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], through her service off the coast of North Africa as part of [[Operation Torch]], and then back to the US. On the return trip, Cronkite was flown off ''Texas'' in one of her [[Vought OS2U Kingfisher]] aircraft when Norfolk was within flying distance. He was granted permission to be flown the rest of the distance to Norfolk so that he could outpace a rival correspondent on {{USS|Massachusetts|BB-59|6}} to return to the US and to issue the first uncensored news reports to be published about Operation Torch.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cronkite|first=Walter|title=A Reporter's Life|location=New York|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=1996|isbn=0-394-57879-1|title-link=A Reporter's Life|pages=89–90}}</ref> Cronkite's experiences aboard ''Texas'' launched his career as a [[war correspondent]].<ref name="HNSVG">{{cite web|title=USS ''Texas'' (BB-35) |url=http://www.hnsa.org/ships/texas.htm |work=Historic Naval Ships Visitors Guide |publisher=Historic Naval Ships Association |access-date=December 29, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905041123/http://www.hnsa.org/ships/texas.htm |archive-date= September 5, 2006 }}</ref> Subsequently, he was one of eight journalists selected by the [[U.S. Army Air Forces|United States Army Air Forces]] to fly bombing raids over Germany in a [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]] as part of group called [[The Writing 69th]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Auster |first=Albert |title=Cronkite, Walter U.S. Broadcast Journalist |publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications (museum.tv) |year=2008 |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/cronkitewal/cronkitewal.htm |access-date=July 20, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325062316/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/cronkitewal/cronkitewal.htm |archive-date=March 25, 2009 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> and during a mission fired a machine gun at a German fighter.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PjyAAAAMAAJ&q=Cronkite+took+over+a+.50+caliber+machine+gun | title=Unipress: United Press International covering the 20th century | publisher=Fulcrum Publications |year=2003 | access-date=August 5, 2012 | author=Ferguson, Billy G. | page=141| isbn=9781555914813 }}</ref> He also landed in a glider with the [[101st Airborne Division]] in [[Operation Market Garden]] and covered the [[Battle of the Bulge]]. After the war, he covered the [[Nuremberg trials]]<ref>{{citation |title = Listening In On the Nuremberg Trials |first=Walter |last=Cronkite |publisher=National Public Radio |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5225486 |date=February 20, 2006|access-date = August 2, 2012}}</ref> and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow from 1946 to 1948.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.russiaproject.org/transcripts/cronkite.html | title=Walter Cronkite Remembers | publisher=The Russia Project | access-date=August 5, 2012 | author=Erlich, Reese}}</ref>

=== Early years at CBS ===
In 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, again recruited by Murrow. Cronkite began working at WTOP-TV (now [[WUSA (TV)|WUSA]]), the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.. He originally served as anchor of the network's 15-minute late-Sunday-evening newscast ''Up To the Minute'', which followed ''[[What's My Line?]]'' at 11:00&nbsp;pm ET from 1951 through 1962.

Although it was widely reported that the term "[[News presenter#News anchors|anchor]]" was coined to describe Cronkite's role at both the [[1952 Democratic National Convention|Democratic]] and [[1952 Republican National Convention|Republican]] National Conventions, marking the first nationally televised convention coverage, other news presenters bore the title before him.<ref name=OTM /> Cronkite anchored the network's coverage of the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 presidential election]] as well as later conventions. In 1964 he was temporarily replaced by the team of [[Robert Trout]] and [[Roger Mudd]]; this proved to be a mistake, and Cronkite returned to the anchor chair for future political conventions.<ref>Brinkley, pp. 320–321.</ref>

From 1953 to 1957, Cronkite hosted the CBS program ''[[You Are There (series)|You Are There]]'', which reenacted historical events, using the format of a news report.<ref name="KTVN Channel 2" /> His famous last line for these programs was: "What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times ... and you were there." In 1971, the show was revived and redesigned to attract an audience of teenagers and young adults, hosted again by Cronkite on Saturday mornings.  In 1957, he began hosting ''The Twentieth Century'' (eventually renamed ''[[The 20th Century]]''), a documentary series about important historical events of the century composed almost exclusively of [[newsreel]] footage and interviews.  A long-running hit, the show was again renamed as ''The 21st Century'' in 1967 with Cronkite hosting speculative reporting on the future for another three years. Cronkite also hosted ''It's News to Me'', a game show based on news events.<ref name="NY times" />

During the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956 Cronkite hosted the CBS news-discussion series ''[[Pick the Winner]]''.

Another of his network assignments was ''The Morning Show'', CBS' short-lived challenge to [[NBC]]'s ''[[Today (NBC program)|Today]]'' in 1954.<ref name="CBS Trusted" /> His on-air duties included interviewing guests and chatting with a lion [[puppet]] named Charlemane about the news.<ref>{{cite news|title=Cronkite with Charlemane the Lion on CBS' ''The Morning Show'' (photograph)|work=CBS News|date=June 23, 2006|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2003/06/23/in_depth_showbiz/photoessay559943_1_9_photo.shtml?tag=page|access-date=August 2, 2009}}</ref> He considered this discourse with a puppet as "one of the highlights" of the show. He added, "A puppet can render opinions on people and things that a human commentator would not feel free to utter. I was and I am proud of it."<ref name="zurawik">{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-zurawik-cronkitexxxx-story.html|author=Zurawik, David|title=Walter Cronkite, America's original anchorman, dies at age 92|work=The Baltimore Sun|date=July 18, 2009|access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref> Cronkite also angered the [[R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company]], the show's [[sponsor (commercial)|sponsor]], by grammatically correcting its advertising [[slogan]]. Instead of saying "[[Winston tastes good like a cigarette should]]" verbatim, he substituted "as" for "like."<ref name="NY times">{{cite news|last=Martin|first=Douglas|title=Walter Cronkite, 92, Dies; Trusted Voice of TV|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 17, 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/18cronkite.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries%20Martin,%20Douglas|access-date=August 2, 2009}}</ref>

He was the lead broadcaster of the network's coverage of the [[1960 Winter Olympics]], the first-ever time such an event was televised in the United States. He replaced [[Jim McKay]], who had suffered a [[mental breakdown]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/sports/19sandomir.html?ref=sports|author=Sandomir, Richard|title=Amid Blizzard, Cronkite Helped Make Sports History|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 19, 2009|access-date=August 2, 2009}}</ref>

=== Anchor of the ''CBS Evening News'' ===
[[File:CBS News Anchor, Walter Cronkite, Interviews President John F. Kennedy.jpg|thumb|Cronkite interviews President [[John F. Kennedy]] to inaugurate the first half-hour nightly news broadcast in 1963]]
On April 16, 1962, Cronkite succeeded [[Douglas Edwards]] as anchorman of CBS's nightly feature newscast, tentatively renamed ''Walter Cronkite with the News'',<ref name="kansas" /> but later the ''[[CBS Evening News]]'' on September 2, 1963, when the show was expanded from 15 to 30 minutes, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program.<ref>Brinkley, p. 256.</ref> Cronkite's tenure as anchor of the ''CBS Evening News'' made him an icon in television news.<ref name="kansas" />

During the early part of his tenure anchoring the ''CBS Evening News'', Cronkite competed against [[NBC]]'s anchor team of [[Chet Huntley]] and [[David Brinkley]], who anchored ''[[The Huntley–Brinkley Report]]''. For much of the 1960s, ''The Huntley–Brinkley Report'' had more viewers than Cronkite's broadcast. A key moment for Cronkite came during his coverage of [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy's assassination]] on November 22, 1963.<ref name="Tierney (JFK assassination)">{{cite news|last1=Sneed|first1=Tierney|title=How John F. Kennedy's Assassination Changed Television Forever|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/11/14/how-john-f-kennedy-assassination-changed-television-forever|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820010101/https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/11/14/how%2Djohn%2Df%2Dkennedy%2Dassassination%2Dchanged%2Dtelevision%2Dforever|access-date=August 20, 2017|agency=U.S. News & World Report|date=November 14, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 20, 2017}}</ref> Another factor in Cronkite and CBS' ascendancy to the top of the ratings was that, as the decade progressed, [[RCA]] made a corporate decision not to fund [[NBC News]] at the levels that CBS provided for its news broadcasts. Consequently, CBS News acquired a reputation for greater accuracy and depth in coverage. This reputation meshed well with Cronkite's wire service experience, and in 1967 the ''CBS Evening News'' began to surpass ''The Huntley–Brinkley Report'' in viewership during the summer months.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

In 1969, during the [[Apollo 11]] (with co-host and former astronaut [[Wally Schirra]]) and [[Apollo 13]] Moon missions, Cronkite received the best ratings and made CBS the most-watched television network for the missions.<ref name="Barron" /> In 1970, when Huntley retired, the ''CBS Evening News'' finally dominated the American TV news viewing audience. Although NBC finally settled on the skilled and well-respected broadcast journalist [[John Chancellor]], Cronkite proved to be more popular and continued to be top-rated until his retirement in 1981.<ref name="kansas" />

One of Cronkite's trademarks was ending the ''CBS Evening News'' with the phrase "...And that's the way it is," followed by the date.<ref name="KTVN Channel 2" /> Keeping to standards of objective journalism, he omitted this phrase on nights when he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary.<ref name="kansas" /> Beginning with January 16, 1980, Day 50 of the [[Iran hostage crisis]], Cronkite added the length of the hostages' captivity to the show's closing in order to remind the audience of the unresolved situation, ending only on Day 444, January 20, 1981.<ref>''CBS News Transcripts, January 16, 1980''.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051403597.html|title=And That's the Way It Is – Or Is It?|last=Goodman|first=Ellen|date=June 17, 1980|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref>