WALTER CRONKITE
Narrator

Walter Cronkite has covered virtually every news event during his more than 60 years in journalism - the last 49 affiliated with CBS News. He became a special correspondent for CBS News when he stepped down as anchorman and managing editor of the CBS Evening News after 19 years. Affectionately nicknamed "Old Iron Pants" for his unflappability under pressure, Mr. Cronkite's accomplishments -- both on-air and off -- have won him acclaim and trust from journalism colleagues and the American public alike.

Born in St. Joseph, Missouri on November 4, 1916, Mr. Cronkite began his career in journalism as a campus correspondent at the Houston Post, where he worked part time during high school and his freshman year in college. Mr. Cronkite also worked as a sports announcer for a local radio station in Oklahoma City and joined the United Press in 1937, where he remained for eleven years.

As a correspondent for United Press, Mr. Cronkite covered World War II -- landing with the invading Allied troops in North Africa, covering the battle of the North Atlantic in 1942, taking part in the Normandy beachhead assaults in 1944, the airborne landing in Holland and participating as one of the first newsmen in B-17 raids over Germany. After reporting the German surrender, Mr. Cronkite established United Press bureaus in Europe, was named United Press bureau chief in Brussels and covered the Nuremberg trials of Goering, Hess and other top Nazis. From 1946 to 1948, he was chief correspondent for United Press in Moscow.

In July 1950, Mr. Cronkite joined CBS News in Washington as a correspondent. He was the anchorman for the CBS political convention and election coverage from 1952 to 1980. Mr. Cronkite assumed his duties on the CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962. When he joined the CBS Evening News team, the broadcast was only fifteen minutes long. On September 2, 1963, it became network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast and made its debut with Mr. Cronkite's headline-making interview with President John F. Kennedy.

Following his departure from CBS Evening News, Mr. Cronkite was the Correspondent of CBS Reports' Children of Apartheid, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in a Documentary and the Overseas Press Club Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Documentary. He also anchored the CBS News science magazine series Walter Cronkite's Universe which debuted as a pilot broadcast in 1979 and ran as a miniseries from 1980 to 1982. In addition, Mr. Cronkite was the only journalist to be voted among the top ten "most influential decision-makers in America" in surveys conducted by U.S. News and World Report and was named the "most influential person" in broadcasting. In 1985, Mr. Cronkite was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.