Editing Walter Cronkite (section)

== Historic moments==
=== Kennedy's assassination ===
{{more citations needed|date=March 2010}}
Cronkite is vividly remembered for breaking the news of the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] on Friday, November 22, 1963. Cronkite had been standing at the [[United Press International]] [[Teleprinter|wire machine]] in the CBS newsroom as the bulletin of the President's shooting broke and he clamored to get on the air to break the news as he wanted CBS to be the first network to do so.<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniel |first=Douglass K. |title=Harry Reasoner: a life in the news |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2007 |isbn= 978-0-292-71477-9 |format=digitised online by Google Books online |pages=87, 88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGbyuBwKrDMC&q=harry+reasoner+lunch+cronkite&pg=PA88}}</ref>

There was a problem facing the crew in the newsroom, however. There was no television camera in the studio at the time, as the technical crew was working on it. Eventually, the camera was retrieved and brought back to the newsroom.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Secrets of the Dead'' season 13, episode 1: "JFK: One PM Central Standard Time". Produced by WNET, premiered November 13, 2013, on PBS.</ref> Because of the magnitude of the story and the continuous flow of information coming from various sources, time was of the essence but the camera would take at least twenty minutes to become operational under normal circumstances. The decision was made to dispatch Cronkite to the CBS Radio Network booth to report the events and play the audio over the television airwaves while the crew worked on the camera to see if they could get it set up quicker.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Meanwhile, CBS was ten minutes into its live broadcast of the soap opera ''[[As the World Turns]] (ATWT)'', which had begun at the very minute of the shooting. A "CBS News Bulletin" bumper slide abruptly broke into the broadcast at 1:40&nbsp;pm EST. Over the slide, Cronkite began reading what would be the first of three audio-only bulletins that were filed in the next twenty minutes:<ref>{{cite book |last=Morrow |first=Robert D. |title=First Hand Knowledge: How I Participated in the CIA-Mafia Murder of President Kennedy |publisher=SP Books |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-56171-274-8 |format=digitised online by Google Books online |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqUo36sZLSsC&q=%22Lee+Harvey+Oswald,+%22+walter+cronkite&pg=PA241}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Here is a bulletin from CBS News: in Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting.<ref name="Cronkite Broadcasts">{{cite web |title=Cronkite broadcasts: Moon landing, JFK death |publisher=MSNBC |date=July 17, 2009 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31972354 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919215525/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/31972354/ns/entertainment-television |url-status=live |archive-date=September 19, 2012 |access-date=October 6, 2010}}</ref>}}

While Cronkite was reading this bulletin, a second one arrived, mentioning the severity of Kennedy's wounds:

{{blockquote|...President Kennedy shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy, she called, "Oh no!," the motorcade sped on. United Press [International] says that the wounds for President Kennedy perhaps could be fatal. Repeating, a bulletin from CBS News: President Kennedy has been shot by a would-be assassin in Dallas, Texas. Stay tuned to CBS News for further details.<ref name="Cronkite Broadcasts" />}}

Just before the bulletin cut out, a CBS News staffer was heard saying "Connally too," apparently having just heard the news that Texas Governor [[John Connally]] had also been shot while riding in the [[SS-100-X|presidential limousine]] with his wife [[Nellie Connally|Nellie]] and Mr. and [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Mrs. Kennedy]].

CBS then rejoined the telecast of ''ATWT'' during a commercial break, which was followed by show announcer Dan McCullough's usual fee plug for the first half of the program and the network's 1:45 pm station identification break. Just before the second half of ''ATWT'' was to begin, the network broke in with the bumper slide a second time. In this bulletin Cronkite reported in greater detail about the assassination attempt on the President, while also breaking the news of Governor Connally's shooting:

{{blockquote|...President Kennedy was shot as he drove from Dallas Airport to downtown Dallas; Governor Connally of Texas, in the car with him, was also shot. It is reported that three bullets rang out. A Secret Service man has been...was heard to shout from the car, "He's dead." Whether he referred to President Kennedy or not is not yet known. The President, cradled in the arms of his wife Mrs. Kennedy, was carried to an ambulance and the car rushed to Parkland Hospital outside Dallas, the President was taken to an emergency room in the hospital. Other White House officials were in doubt in the corridors of the hospital as to the condition of President Kennedy. Repeating this bulletin: President Kennedy shot while driving in an open car from the airport in Dallas, Texas, to downtown Dallas.<ref name="Cronkite Broadcasts" />}}

Cronkite then recapped the events as they had happened: that the President and Governor Connally had been shot and were in the emergency room at [[Parkland Hospital]], and no one knew their condition as yet. CBS then decided to return to ''ATWT'', which was now midway through its second segment.

The cast had continued to perform live while Cronkite's bulletins broke into the broadcast, unaware of the unfolding events in Dallas. ''ATWT'' then took another scheduled commercial break. The segment before the break would be the last anyone would see of any network's programming until Tuesday, November 26. During the commercial, the bumper slide interrupted the proceedings again and Cronkite updated the viewers on the situation in Dallas. This bulletin went into more detail than the other two, revealing that Kennedy had been shot in the head, Connally in the chest. Cronkite remained on the air for the next ten minutes, continuing to read bulletins as they were handed to him, and recapping the events as they were known. He also related a report given to reporters by Texas Congressman [[Albert Thomas (American politician)|Albert Thomas]] that the President and Governor were still alive, the first indication of their condition.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> At 2:00 pm EST, with the top of the hour station break looming, Cronkite told the audience that there would be a brief pause so that all of CBS' affiliates, including those in the Mountain and Pacific time zones which were not on the same schedule, could join the network. He then left the radio booth and went to the anchor desk in the newsroom.

Within twenty seconds of the announcement, every CBS affiliate except Dallas' [[KDFW|KRLD]] (which was providing local coverage) was airing the network's feed. The camera was finally operational by this time and enabled the audience to see Cronkite, who was clad in shirt and tie but without his suit coat, given the urgent nature of the story. Cronkite reminded the audience, again, of the attempt made on the life of the President and tossed to KRLD news director Eddie Barker at the Dallas Trade Mart, where Kennedy was supposed to be making a speech before he was shot. Barker relayed information that Kennedy's condition was extremely critical. Then, after a prayer for Kennedy, Barker quoted an unofficial report that the President was dead but stressed it was not confirmed.

After several minutes, the coverage came back to the CBS newsroom where Cronkite reported that the President had been given blood transfusions and two priests had been called into the room. He also played an audio report from KRLD that someone had been arrested in the assassination attempt at the [[Texas School Book Depository]]. Back in Dallas Barker announced another report of the death of the President, mentioning that it came from a reliable source. Before the network left KRLD's feed for good, Barker first announced, then retracted, a confirmation of Kennedy's death.

CBS cut back to Cronkite reporting that one of the priests had administered last rites to the president. In the next few minutes, several more bulletins reporting that Kennedy had died were given to Cronkite, including one from CBS's own correspondent [[Dan Rather]] that had been reported as confirmation of Kennedy's death by CBS Radio. As these bulletins came into the newsroom, it was becoming clearer that Kennedy had in fact died. Cronkite, however, stressed that these bulletins were simply reports and not any official confirmation of the President's condition; some of his colleagues recounted in 2013 that his early career as a wire service reporter taught him to wait for official word before reporting a story.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Still, as more word came in, Cronkite seemed to be resigned to the fact that it was only a matter of time before the assassination was confirmed. He appeared to concede this when, several minutes after he received the Rather report, he received word that the two priests who gave the last rites to Kennedy told reporters on the scene that he was dead. Cronkite said that report "seems to be as close to official as we can get", but would not declare it as such. Nor did he do so with a report from Washington, DC that came moments later, which said that government sources were now reporting the President was dead (this information was passed on to ABC as well, which took it as official confirmation and reported it as such; NBC did not report this information at all and chose instead to rely on reports from Charles Murphy and Robert MacNeil to confirm their suspicions).

At 2:38 pm EST, while filling in time with some observations about the security presence in Dallas, which had been increased due to violent acts against [[United Nations]] [[Ambassador]] [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] in the city earlier that year, Cronkite was handed a new bulletin. After looking it over for a moment, he took off his glasses, and made the official announcement:

{{blockquote|From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official: ''(reading AP flash)'' "President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time." ''(glancing up at clock)'' 2&nbsp;o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.<ref name="Grzanich">{{cite web |title=JFK Assassination (CBS Coverage) – Part 8/10 (1963) |work=CBS News |date=November 22, 1963 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzsYntj_YWk | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721071621/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzsYntj_YWk| archive-date=2010-07-21 | url-status=dead|access-date=August 2, 2012
}}</ref>}}

After making that announcement, Cronkite paused briefly, put his glasses back on, and swallowed hard to maintain his composure. With noticeable emotion in his voice he intoned the next sentence of the news report:<ref name="Grzanich" />

{{blockquote|Vice President Johnson ''(clears throat)'' has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded; presumably he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th President of the United States.<ref name="Grzanich" />}}

With emotion still in his voice and eyes watering, Cronkite once again recapped the events after collecting himself, incorporating some wire photos of the visit and explaining the significance of the pictures now that Kennedy was dead. He reminded the viewers that Vice President Johnson was now the President and was to be sworn in, that Governor Connally's condition was still unknown, and that there was no report of whether the assassin had been captured. He then handed the anchor position to [[Charles Collingwood (journalist)|Charles Collingwood]], who had just entered the newsroom, took his suit coat, and left the room for a while.

At about 3:30&nbsp;pm EST, Cronkite came back into the newsroom to relay some new information. The two major pieces of information involved the Oath of Office being administered to now-President Johnson, and that Dallas police had arrested a man named [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] whom they suspected had fired the fatal shots. After that, Cronkite left again to begin preparing for that night's ''[[CBS Evening News]]'', which he returned to anchor as normal. For the next four days, along with his colleagues, Cronkite continued to report segments of uninterrupted coverage of the assassination, including the announcement of Oswald's death in the hands of [[Jack Ruby]] on Sunday. The next day, on the day of the funeral, Cronkite concluded the ''CBS Evening News'' with the following assessment about the events of the last four dark days:

{{blockquote|It is said that the human mind has a greater capacity for remembering the pleasant than the unpleasant. But today was a day that will live in memory and in grief. Only history can write the importance of this day: Were these dark days the harbingers of even blacker ones to come, or like the black before the dawn shall they lead to some still as yet indiscernible sunrise of understanding among men, that violent words, no matter what their origin or motivation, can lead only to violent deeds? This is the larger question that will be answered, in part, in the manner that a shaken civilization seeks the answers to the immediate question: Who, and most importantly what, was Lee Harvey Oswald? The world's doubts must be put to rest. Tonight there will be few Americans who will go to bed without carrying with them the sense that somehow they have failed. If in the search of our conscience we find a new dedication to the American concepts that brought no political, sectional, religious or racial divisions, then maybe it may yet be possible to say that John Fitzgerald Kennedy did not die in vain. That's the way it is, Monday, November 25, 1963. This is Walter Cronkite, good night.<ref name="Cronkite Broadcasts" />}}

Referring to his coverage of Kennedy's assassination, in a 2006 TV interview with [[Nick Clooney]], Cronkite recalled:

{{blockquote|I choked up, I really had a little trouble...my eyes got a little wet...[what Kennedy had represented] was just all lost to us. Fortunately, I grabbed hold before I was actually <nowiki>[crying]</nowiki>."<ref name="anchor">{{cite news |title='Walter was more than just an anchor. He was family' Obama pays tribute after death of TV legend Cronkite |first=Alan |last=Taylor |newspaper=Sunday Herald |year=2009 |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/walter-was-more-than-just-an-anchor-he-was-family-1.819596 |access-date=August 14, 2012}}</ref>}}

In a 2003 CBS special commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Cronkite recalled his reaction upon having the death confirmed to him, he said:

{{blockquote|And when you finally had to say it's official, the President is dead...pretty tough words in a situation like that. And they were, um, hard to come by.<ref name="CBS Remembers">{{cite news |title=Remembering Walter Cronkite That's the Way it Was: The World of Politics, News and Entertainment Remember a Broadcasting Legend and American Icon |work=CBS News |date=July 19, 2009 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/19/broadcasts/main5173249_page2.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725204317/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/19/broadcasts/main5173249_page2.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2009 |access-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref>}}

According to historian [[Douglas Brinkley]], Cronkite provided a sense of perspective throughout the unfolding sequence of disturbing events.<ref name="Tierney (JFK assassination)"/>

=== Vietnam War ===

In mid-February 1968, on the urging of his executive producer [[Ernest Leiser]], Cronkite and Leiser journeyed to Vietnam to cover the aftermath of the [[Tet Offensive]]. They were invited to dine with General [[Creighton Abrams]], the deputy commander of all forces in Vietnam, whom Cronkite knew from World War II. According to Leiser, Abrams told Cronkite, "we cannot win this Goddamned war, and we ought to find a dignified way out."<ref name="Cronkite Tet">{{Cite news |title=And That's The Way It Was...|work=Huffington Post |date=July 21, 2009 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/murray-fromson/and-thats-the-way-it-was_b_242398.html |access-date=December 4, 2009 |first=Murray |last=Fromson}}</ref>

Upon return, Cronkite and Leiser wrote separate editorial reports based on that trip. Cronkite, an excellent writer, preferred Leiser's text over his own.<ref name="Cronkite Tet"/> On February 27, 1968, Cronkite closed "Report from Vietnam: Who, What, When, Where, Why?" with that editorial report:

{{blockquote|We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that – negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.<ref>{{cite news|title=Who, What, When, Where, Why: Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite|date=February 27, 1968|publisher=[[CBS Evening News]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4w-ud-TyE| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227183438/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4w-ud-TyE&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2012-02-27 | url-status=dead|access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref>}}

[[File:Walter Cronkite In Vietnam2.jpg|thumb|upright|Cronkite reporting on location during the Vietnam War in 1968]]

Following Cronkite's editorial report, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] is claimed by some to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."<ref name="Moore">{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Frazier |title=Legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite dies at 92 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=GMA News |date=July 18, 2009 |url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/167649/news/world/legendary-cbs-anchor-walter-cronkite-dies-at-92 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=April 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425034355/https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/167649/news/world/legendary-cbs-anchor-walter-cronkite-dies-at-92/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Broadcast News|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/01/26/reviews/970126.26wickert.html|newspaper=The New York Times|author=Wicker, Tom|date=January 26, 1997|access-date=May 1, 2009}}</ref> However, this account of Johnson has been questioned by other observers in books on journalistic accuracy.<ref name=iopa>{{cite book|last=Braestrup |first=Peter |title=Big Story |publisher=Presidio Press |year=1994 |isbn= 978-0891415312}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=W. Joseph |title=Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism |url=https://archive.org/details/gettingitwrongte0000camp |url-access=registration |publisher=University of California Press |year=2010 |isbn= 978-0-520-25566-1 }}</ref><ref name=uoooav>{{cite news|first=W. Joseph|last=Campbell|title=Chris Matthews invokes the 'if I've lost Cronkite' myth in NYT review|date= July 9, 2012|url= http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/chris-matthews-invokes-if-ive-lost-cronkite-media-myth-in-nyt-review/| access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref> At the time the editorial aired, Johnson was in Austin, Texas, attending Texas Governor John Connally's birthday gala and was giving a speech in his honor.<ref name=uoooav/>

In his book ''This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV'', CBS News correspondent [[Bob Schieffer]], who was serving as a reporter for the ''[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]'' when Cronkite's editorial aired, acknowledged that Johnson did not see the original broadcast but also defended the allegation that Johnson had made the remark.<ref name=schieffcron /> According to Schieffer, Johnson's aide [[George Christian (journalist)|George Christian]] "told me that the President apparently saw some clips of it the next day" and that "That's when he made the remark about Cronkite. But he knew then that it would take more than Americans were willing to give it."<ref name=schieffcron>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KH5iToNJhzcC&q=johnson+eventually+saw+cronkite+broadcast&pg=PT84|title=This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV|first=Bob |last=Schieffer |date=January 6, 2004|publisher=Putnam Pub Group|isbn=978-0-399-14971-9|access-date=June 8, 2013}}</ref> When asked about the remark during a 1979 interview, Christian claimed he had no recollection about what the President had said.<ref name=uoooav /> In his 1996 memoir ''[[A Reporter's Life]]'', Cronkite claimed he was at first unsure about how much of an impact his editorial report had on Johnson's decision to drop his bid for re-election, and what eventually convinced him the President had made the statement was a recount from [[Bill Moyers]], a journalist and former aide to Johnson.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Reporter's Life |first=Walter |last=Cronkite |page=256 |publisher=Ballantine Books | edition=1st |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-394-57879-8}}</ref>

Several weeks later, Johnson, who sought to preserve his legacy and was now convinced his declining health could not withstand growing public criticism,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unmaking-of-the-president-31577203/?no-ist |title=The Unmaking of the President |first=Clay |last=Risen|work=smithsonianmag.com|date=April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/16/opinion/behind-lbj-s-decision-not-to-run-in-68.html |title=Behind L.B.J.'s Decision Not to Run in '68 |date=April 16, 1988 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> announced [[1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries#Johnson withdraws: March 31|he would not seek reelection]].

During the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]] in Chicago, Cronkite was anchoring the CBS network coverage as violence and protests occurred outside the convention, as well as scuffles inside the convention hall. When [[Dan Rather]] was punched to the floor (on camera) by security personnel, Cronkite commented, "I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan."

=== Other historic events ===
The first publicly transmitted live trans-Atlantic program was broadcast via the [[Telstar]] satellite on July 23, 1962, at 3:00&nbsp;pm EDT, and Cronkite was one of the main presenters in this multinational broadcast.<ref name="Walter">{{cite web |first=Walter |last=Cronkite |title=From The Archives: Cronkite, Live Via Satellite |work=[[NPR]] |date=July 18, 2009 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106775666 |access-date=July 23, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Walter |last=Cronkite |title=The Day the World Got Smaller |work=[[NPR]] All Things Considered (full audio segment) |date=July 23, 2002 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1147148 |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref> The broadcast was made possible in Europe by Eurovision and in North America by NBC, CBS, ABC, and the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]].<ref name="Walter" /> The first public broadcast featured CBS's Cronkite and NBC's [[Chet Huntley]] in New York, and the BBC's [[Richard Dimbleby]] in Brussels.<ref name="Walter" /> Cronkite was in the New York studio at [[Rockefeller Plaza]] as the first pictures to be transmitted and received were the [[Statue of Liberty]] in New York and the [[Eiffel Tower]] in Paris.<ref name="Walter" /> The first segment included a televised [[major league baseball]] game between the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] and the [[Chicago Cubs]] at [[Wrigley Field]].<ref name="Walter" /> From there, the video switched first to Washington, D.C.; then to [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Canaveral, Florida]]; then to [[Quebec City]], [[Quebec]], and finally to [[Stratford, Ontario]].<ref name="Walter" /> The Washington segment included a press conference with President Kennedy, talking about the price of the American dollar, which was causing concern in Europe.<ref name="Walter" /> This broadcast inaugurated live intercontinental news coverage, which was perfected later in the sixties with ''[[Intelsat I|Early Bird]]'' and other [[Intelsat]] satellites.<!--this seems to be way too much detail for a biography-->

On November 22, 1963, Cronkite introduced [[The Beatles]] to the United States by airing a four-minute story about the band on the ''[[CBS Morning News]]''. The story was scheduled to be shown again on the ''CBS Evening News'' that same day, but the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] prevented the broadcast of the regular evening news.  The Beatles story was aired on the evening news program on December 10.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-lewis/tweet-the-beatles-how-wal_b_239202.html |title=Tweet The Beatles! How Walter Cronkite Sent The Beatles Viral... in 1963! |first= Martin |last= Lewis |date=July 19, 2009 |work=The [[Huffington Post]] |access-date=June 7, 2010}}</ref>

[[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] returned to his former [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force]] (SHAEF) headquarters for an interview by Cronkite on the [[CBS News]] Special Report ''[[D-Day]] + 20'', telecast on June 6, 1964.<ref>{{cite news |title=Eisenhower Recalls the Ordeal Of D-Day Assault 20 Years Ago |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/06/archives/eisenhower-recalls-the-ordeal-of-dday-assault-20-years-ago.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 6, 1964 |access-date=December 6, 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Walter Cronkite in the Reduced Gravity Simulator LRC-1968-B701 P-08308.jpg|thumb|Cronkite in the [[Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator]], that was used for [[astronaut training]] before the Moon landings (1968).]]
Cronkite is also remembered for his coverage of the United States space program, and at times was visibly enthusiastic, rubbing his hands together on camera with a smile and uttering, "Whew...boy" on July 20, 1969, when the [[Apollo 11]] lunar landing mission put the first men on the Moon.<ref>Brinkley, p. 420.</ref>

Cronkite participated in [[Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China]]. Because Cronkite was [[colorblind]], he had to ask others what color of coat First Lady [[Pat Nixon]] was wearing when they disembarked in [[Peking]] (Beijing).<ref>{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyCZDvec5sY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211102/uyCZDvec5sY| archive-date=2021-11-02 | url-status=live|title=Assignment: China – "The Week That Changed The World"|via=[[YouTube]]|publisher=USC U.S.–China Institute|date=January 26, 2012|time=18:33}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

According to the 2006 [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] documentary on Cronkite, there was "nothing new" in his reports on the [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]] affair;<ref name="Philly" /> however, Cronkite brought together a wide range of reporting, and his credibility and status is credited by many with pushing the Watergate story to the forefront with the American public, ultimately resulting in the resignation of President [[Richard M. Nixon]] on August 9, 1974.<ref name="Barron" /> Cronkite had anchored the CBS coverage of Nixon's address, announcing his impending resignation, the night before.<ref>Brinkley, pp. 502–503.</ref>

The January 22, 1973, broadcast of the ''CBS Evening News'' saw Cronkite break the news of the death of another notable American political figure.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vanderbilt Television News Archive |work=CBS Evening News for Monday, Jan 22, 1973 |publisher=Vanderbilt University Television News Archive |date=January 22, 1973 |url=http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=225387 |access-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref> At approximately 6:38&nbsp;pm [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]], while a pre-recorded report that the Vietnam peace talks in Paris had been successful was being played for the audience, Cronkite received a telephone call in the studio while off camera. The call was from [[Tom Johnson (journalist)|Tom Johnson]], the former press secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was at the time serving  as station manager of [[KTBC-TV]], which at the time was the CBS affiliate in [[Austin, Texas]] and had been owned by the former President until recently.

The pre-recorded report was cut short while Cronkite was talking to Johnson, and when the live camera returned Cronkite had the telephone receiver held to his ear. Once he was told he was back on the air, Cronkite briefly nodded and held up one of his fingers to let the audience and studio crew know he needed a moment to let Johnson finish talking before he relayed the topic of conversation to the nation watching. Once Johnson finished talking, Cronkite thanked him and asked him to stay on the line as he reported the following:

{{blockquote|I'm talking to Tom Johnson, the press secretary for Lyndon Johnson, who has reported that the thirty-sixth President of the United States died this afternoon in a...ambulance plane on the way to San Antonio, where he was taken after being stricken at his ranch- the LBJ Ranch, in Johnson City, Texas. He was stricken at 3:40&nbsp;pm, Central Standard Time, 4:40...Eastern Standard Time. Three agents who were at the scene, who are permanently attached to the ranch to protect the President, uh, went to his immediate aid, gave him all emergency aid they could, put him in a plane, I suppose, Tom, one of the President's own planes? *pauses to wait for response* Colonel George McGranahan, who was the man who proclaimed the President dead upon arrival at Brooke Army General Hospital, in San Antonio. *pauses again* And Mrs. Johnson was notified of the events at her office in Austin and flew immediately to San Antonio and Tom Johnson, no relation, the President's news secretary, has told me that from Austin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Walter Cronkite announces the death of LBJ 1973 |publisher=CBS |date=January 22, 1973 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxHsSnEgk-A&NR=1 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225002832/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxHsSnEgk-A| archive-date=2011-02-25 | url-status=dead|access-date=August 3, 2012}}</ref>}}

During the final ten minutes of that broadcast, Cronkite reported on the death, giving a retrospective on the life of the nation's 36th president, and announced that CBS would air a special on Johnson later that evening. This story was re-told on a 2007 CBS-TV special honoring Cronkite's 90th birthday. {{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}