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This is a complete shock. Cronkite was 92 years old and was still in good health. But Lou Dobbs broke the story and announced the sad news on CNN.

Before World War II, Cronkite was a little known reporter at CBS radio. After Pearl Harbor, Cronkite enlisted in the Army where he was assigned to Armed Forces Radio. But Dwight Eisenhower plucked him out of obscurity and made him his right hand man (more precisely, he was seen publicly standing near Eisenhower in photographs). After the war, Cronkite was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Major.

Cronkite’s association with Eisenhower paid off. When Eisenhower became president of Columbia University, Cronkite was hired as a journalism professor. When Eisenhower was elected President, Cronkite moved to the Pentagon and in 1956, he became Secretary of the Navy.

This did not deter John F. Kennedy from hiring Cronkite as National Security Adviser. When Robert McNamara resigned as Secretary of Defense, President Lyndon Johnson named Cronkite to the job in 1965. Secretary Cronkite’s publicized visit to Vietnam in 1967 was the stuff of legend. There he was dressed in a flak jacket and helmet and meeting with the troops. That was followed by his press conference in Saigon in which he criticized the President for his handling of the war and announced his resignation once he returned to Washington. Johnson was definitely in shock and confided to his Chief of Staff that he just lost Middle America.

Who can ever forget the image of Cronkite kneeling near a mortally wounded Bobby Kennedy after he was assassinated in 1968? The Associated Press photographer who took that picture won the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1970, Cronkite decided to run for elected office when he declared his candidacy in 1970 for Bobby Kennedy’s Senate seat in New York. He felt that appointed Senator Charles Goodell was not sufficiently against the Vietnam War and he definitely could not stomach James Buckley. Cronkite won the Senate seat by 20 points and looked forward to a long career there.

But the 1972 Democratic National Convention happened. Although George McGovern had the most delegates, he did not have a majority. Delegates pledged to George Wallace were leaning to Scoop Jackson in the event of a second ballot. There was also plenty of support for Hubert Humphrey, Birch Bayh, Edmund Muskie and even Ted Kennedy. After two ballots, there was still no nominee and McGovern was losing support. Then, Senator Cronkite’s named was floated as a dark horse candidate. What a shock when he finished fourth after the third ballot. Humphrey and Bayh released their delegates. After the fourth ballot, McGovern and Cronkite were tied for first place with Jackson in third.

In a meeting brokered by Ted Kennedy, Cronkite offered the position of Secretary of Defense to Scoop Jackson if he ended his campaign. That was enough to put Cronkite over the top and clinch the Presidential nomination. Needing support in the South, Cronkite selected former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford as his running mate.

What a campaigner Cronkite was especially when Nixon refused to debate him on national television. America was tired of the never ending war in Vietnam. Cronkite would defeat Nixon that November and thanks to his running mate, he won North Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

The Cronkite administration would prove to be a period of healing. His Oval Office addresses and press conferences were the highest rated in television history. He would end his speeches with the signature line, “and that’s the way it is. Good night and God bless America.”

Thanks to the shuttle diplomacy of Secretary of State J. William Fulbright, the Vietnam War ended with honor in 1973. Fulbright was also able to broker peace talks between Israel, Egypt and Jordan resulting in the signing of a peace treaty in 1974.

President Cronkite reached out to the Republicans by naming Edward Brooke Attorney General and Nelson Rockefeller Secretary of the Treasury. Other notable cabinet selections included Daniel Patrick Moynihan as Secretary of Labor, Claude Pepper as Secretary of HEW and Shirley Chisholm as Secretary of HUD.

It was also during Cronkite’s presidency that the Equal Rights Amendment and the Presidential Line Item Veto were added to the Constitution.

By the time he left office on January 20, 1981, Cronkite enjoyed a 75 percent popularity rating. Since the Walter Cronkite Presidential Library opened at Columbia University in 1985, it has become the most popular tourist site.

In his memoirs, Cronkite wrote that he would have pursued a career in television news if he did not enlist in World War II (he was married when this country entered the war and he was exempt from military service). To be honest, I just cannot imagine Walter Cronkite reporting on the news much less announce the death of JFK.

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