Walter Cronkite dies

[matt]

A bit of sad news around this morning:

Famed US News anchor WALTER CRONKITE has died at his NEW YORK home aged 92.

CRONKITE who was known as the most trusted man in AMERICA and for his calm delivery during his career lost a battle with a long illness with his family by his side.

He was the face of CBS news from 1962 to 1981 covering stories from the assasination of President JOHN F KENNEDY and the watergate scandal.

He also provided extensive coverage of NASA's various space programs over the years....including Apollo...

[renormalised]

Sad to hear:(

[gary]

Cronkite was a pivotal figure in 20th Century history. His report on returning from Hue after the
biggest battle of the Vietnam War was a sobering personal analysis
of the status of the war and influenced opinion in the United States and elsewhere.

When you watch old newsreels from the war, even to this day, those words
are like a bombshell.

"To say that we are closer to victory today, is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past."

"To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimists. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic yet unsatisfactory conclusion.

"For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate."

"But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."

[spacezebra]

Its very sad - Im sure that he would have also been proud to see the 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

Cheers Petra d.

[stephenb]

A sad passing.

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/cronkite_ambassador_of_exploration. html