February 27 – Where Have You Gone, Walter Cronkite?

On this date in 1968 (three years to the day before I was born), “the most trusted man in America” ended his nightly newscast with an editorial in which he stated that the war in Vietnam was at a stalemate and that the U.S. must negotiate with the North as a nation that had simply done the best it could.

Without getting into the pros and (mostly) cons of the current media age, I’ll say that I watched Cronkite during my childhood when he was in the final stretch of his career.  Mom had him tuned in on the 12-inch black and white TV in the kitchen every evening while preparing dinner, and even though I was too young to understand the complex issues he was reporting on, you knew what he was saying was true.  No agenda, no b.s.  In the case of Vietnam, he went there and saw it first hand.  And he was right.

-Stephen