Obituary of Walter Cronkite

            Walter Cronkite, a premier TV anchorman, died of cerebral vascular disease in his New York home Friday, July 17th, 2009. He was 92.

            Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was born on November 4, 1916, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He started his life of involvement in the news when he was a young boy, delivering newspapers. He also worked for his high school newspaper. Cronkite dropped out of the University of Texas when he got a job as a full-time newspaper reporter. Then in 1937, he got a job with the United Press, where he worked for 11 years. Cronkite married Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Maxwell in 1940. She was from Kansas City. They had three children. She died in 2005. Cronkite started working for CBS in 1950.

Cronkite worked for "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981. He covered many very important and memorable news stories as well as issues America faced. He covered the Watergate Scandal, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as well as that of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He also covered the Vietnam War and is considered to be a major factor in the turning of the public’s opinion negatively towards the U.S.’s involvement of the war.

President Lyndon Johnson knew how much of an affect Cronkite had on the American people. He said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

President Obama even spoke of him as being like family.

Leslie Moonves, who was the CBS Corp. chief executive, said of Cronkite, "He was a great broadcaster and a gentleman whose experience, honesty, professionalism and style defined the role of anchor and commentator."

Don Hewitt, the onetime executive producer of the "CBS Evening News" said, "He was the consummate television newsman. He had all the credentials to be a writer, an editor, a broadcaster. There was only one Walter Cronkite, and there may never be another one."

Cronkite died at his home in Manhattan at 7:42 p.m. He was surrounded by his family.

Cronkite is survived by two daughters Nancy Elizabeth and Mary Kathleen, and a son, Walter Leland III.

Walter Cronkite was considered to be “the most trusted man of America.”