One of the people I most respected and admired growing up was Walter Cronkite. He died a few hours ago.
He was a legendary newsman for whom there is no equal. There will never be someone as trusted as he is again and as such, I am saddened by his passing. This was the face of America for many years, and I grew up watching him. Here’s a man who almost never cracked — though he did when announcing the death of JFK.
Here’s a man who changed history by making a statement against the Vietnam war and afterwards, President Lyndon Johnson is reported to have said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” And, sure enough, he had. So goes Cronkite, so goes America. He wasn’t one for politics and turned down an offer to go on the Presidential ticket at one point.
Walter Cronkite was that rare breed of man nobody had anything bad to say about. He’s an American hero, an icon, a legend, and a singular talent.
An LA Times bio is here for those who want more and of course Wikipedia‘s entry as well. I rarely read an autobiography, but his was awesome. Highly recommended and it’s available at Amazon. The link is for paperback, but it’s a keeper so maybe you should consider the hardback.
Walter, you’re a class act and always were. I salute you!
And that’s the way it is, 17 July 2009. (If you didn’t know this is how “Uncle Walter” always signed off his newscasts)
In other news: I found a piece of stitch still in my lip which I removed myself. I didn’t fancy another trip to hospital. Three, so far, is enough, I hope. My lip is looking better on the outside, but you can see I’ll be having a ginormous scar. The inside is still infected and very swollen, but I am still taking antibiotics 4x per day. Teeth still hurt, of course. Lots of cleaning and such going on.
Looking forward to seeing Mr Potter tomorrow and this will be my first public appearance since receiving this wound. At least nobody outside of work had to see the stitches. I’m hoping to have a normal Sunday session with the usual gang as well.