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Iconic Newsman Walter Cronkite Dead at 92

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 17, 2009 7:38 PM CDT

(Newser) – Walter Cronkite, the CBS anchorman who revolutionized television news for a generation, died today at age 92, CBS News reports. He had suffered a long illness and was at home in New York with his family. Cronkite helmed the CBS Evening News throughout the 1960s and '70s, guiding America through the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and President Nixon's resignation. “It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism or indeed America without Walter Cronkite,” CBS News President Sean McManus told the New York Times.

Cronkite's broadcasts gripped America emotionally and politically. He stayed on air for hours after JFK was murdered, helping "pull together a nation stricken with grief," one Times writer noted. When he concluded that the Vietnam war had reached a stalemate, LBJ said, ”If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” He had, too. Dubbed "the most trusted man in America," Cronkite retired in 1981 to work on television projects and write his memoir. He leaves behind his son and two daughters.

[Images (9)]

[Videos (3)]

In this Sept. 9, 1979, file photo, CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite poses with his Emmy at the 31st Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

In this Sept. 30, 1971 file photo, Walter Cronkite testifies before a Senate sub-committee on freedom of the press in Washington. (AP Photo/File)

In this March 6, 1981 file photo, Walter Cronkite talks on the phone at his office, prior to his final newscast as CBS anchorman in New York City. (AP Photo/File)

In this photo taken on Sept. 24, 2007, former news anchor Walter Cronkite arrives at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

Walter Cronkite arrives for the Broadway opening of the new musical "Young Frankenstein" in New York, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

This undated file photo provided by CBS shows Walter Cronkite in Hanoi for CBS Reports:"Honors, Duty and A War Called Vietnam," a special for the CBS Television Network. (AP Photo/CBS, File)

This undated photo provided by CBS, shows CBS television newscaster Walter Cronkite. (AP Photo/CBS, File)

In this Dec. 2, 1992 file photo, Jack Nicholson, who stars in Rob Reiner's film "A Few Good Men," shakes hands with Walter Cronkite in New York. (AP Photo/Joe Tabacca, File)

In this Sept. 2, 1963 photo provided by CBS, President John Kennedy talks with Walter Cronkite during a taped television interview. (AP Photo/CBS, File)

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Walter Cronkite, once called the "most trusted man in America," has died at the age of 92. The famed CBS news anchor died at his home in New York with family by his side. (YouTube)

Tom Brokaw discusses the debt journalism owes to Walter Cronkite. (msnbc)

Dan Rather remembers Walter Cronkite. (msnbc)

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