Remembering Walter Cronkite

Date: 12/01/1971 Serial #: D4442-33a Event: President Johnson interviewed by Walter Cronkite Location: Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas Description: L-R: Walter Cronkite, President Lyndon B. Johnson Credit: LBJ Library Photo by Frank Wolfe Rights Info: Public Domain Item (No usage fees, no permission required.) [download image...]

Date: 01/09/1969 Serial #: A7515-5 Event: Meeting Location: The President's Little Office, White House, Washington, DC Description: L-R: Walter Cronkite, President Lyndon B. Johnson Credit: LBJ Library Photo by Yoichi Okamoto Rights Info: Public Domain Item (No usage fees, no permission required.) [download image...]

• Cronkite reported on the Vietnam War during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Upon returning to the United States, Cronkite made history at the end of his "CBS Evening News" broadcast on February 27, 1968, by questioning the war, "For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate." Although he did not see the broadcast, shortly after it aired, President Johnson told his press secretary, George Christian, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country." Johnson's words are included in the permanent exhibit at the LBJ Library.

• Cronkite spoke at the LBJ Library on two occasions.
February 24, 1997 - Cronkite spoke to Friends of the LBJ Library.
May 14, 1999 - Cronkite spoke about "Adventures in Space."

• On January 12, 1973, Cronkite conducted the last interview that former President Johnson gave, which was shortly before his death. The subject of the interview was civil rights and featured a Civil Rights Symposium that had occurred at the LBJ Library in December 1973.

• On January 22, 1973, Cronkite was the first to announce Lyndon Johnson's death to the nation in the last 10 minutes of his nightly broadcast of the "CBS Evening News."

The Austin American-Statesman
America's anchor and the nation's 'most trusted man'
Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," once told the American-Statesman that the moon landing was the most important story he covered in his long journalism career. [read more...]