I knew he'd been in frail health for quite some time so I wasn't surprised to learn of his death. I was saddened. I met Walter Cronkite and his wife, Betsy, back in 1967 when I worked at Channel 5 here in Syracuse.
He was invited to the station to attend a VIP cocktail party and an SU football game. His daughter also attended SU. I recall that he had large hands and wore a lot of rings. He was a fascinating guy to talk to and had stories that dated back to the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean Conflict.
His wife explained to me that he was a man who had to thoroughly understand anything and everything he talked about.
He seemed to be a man who was very comfortable in his own skin.
When Walter anchored the CBS Evening News, it was the top rated newscast in America. It was Cronkite who in 1963 interrupted "As The World Turns" to sadly inform millions of us that President John F.Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas.
I recall other times when he told us that Vietnam was more or less a lost cause, and also his reporting of the death of President Lyndon Johnson, not to mention Watergate and President Nixon's resignation.
Cronkite had a delivery that was very reassuring to news viewers.
He was only in his early sixties when CBS decided to replace him with Dan Rather. That was probably because ABC, NBC AND CNN all wanted to recruit Rather. What a mistake that was for CBS.
Walter could have easily anchored another 15 years and kept CBS in first place in the ratings.
To me, Walter Cronkite and the CBS Evening News was "must see tv." He was a great journalist and anchorman.
