Editing Walter Cronkite (section)

=== 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}}