Trivia

In 1969 when Apollo XI was going to the Moon, Cronkite was on the air 27 of the 30 hours that it took for the flight, which many in the profession called "Walter to Walter" coverage. At the moment that Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the Lunar Module onto the Moon surface, Cronkite was speechless for the first time in his career. All he could say was "Wow!" and "Oh Boy!". Famous words that will live in history.

Reported on the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals in 1945.

According to Cronkite's autobiography, his mother Helen Fitzche dated Douglas MacArthur as a teenager. The future general asked her to marry him but her father would not allow it because he felt MacArthur was too old for her. Cronkite asked the General about it one night at a party and his only response was "Ah, yes. Helen Fitzche." and walked away.

CBS asked Cronkite to come up with a signature closing line for the evening news. When he came up with "And that's the way it is", CBS was concerned that it would suggest a certain infallability. But Cronkite explained that it would fit any type of story whether it was funny or sad or ironic.

On the day of the Kennedy assassination, he said the he had just come back from lunch and was standing at the teletype machine when rang a rare five bells - a bulletin. He shouted "Let's get on the air!" but getting on the air wasn't possible because the cameras had to be placed and then warmed up (after this, the networks always had a camera ready in the newsroom). He went to an audio booth just off the newsroom floor and, interrupting As the World Turns (1956), made an audio announcement over a CBS logo. It took another 20 minutes to get on camera.

He is outspoken in his distaste for Oliver Stone's film JFK (1991). Calling the film "Oliver Stone junk" and "A dangerous work of fiction that seriously misleads a whole generation of Americans who were not alive at that time".

Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981. This is the highest honor a U.S. civilian can receive. Was the lead anchor on the CBS Evening News from 16 April 1962 until 6 March 1981.

Is a licensed amateur (ham) radio operator with the call sign KB2GSD.

When he was 16 he went to Chicago's 1933 World's Fair. He volunteered to help demonstrate an experimental version of television.

Makes a unique claim about his television career. When he attended 1933 World's Fair, he was present at an exhibit displaying an early example of television. At the exhibit, the attendees were allowed to sit in front of the camera and watch themselves on the screen. When Cronkite sat in front of the camera he did an improptu impression of a man he had seen playing two flutes at once. Therefore, he jokingly claims that he was definitely on television decades before his contemporaries.

The very day he was born, his father immediately left the hospital and went out and voted for President Woodrow Wilson.

Attended both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in 1928. The former was on a boy scout field trip and the latter was during a visit to his grandparents in Kansas City.

Has a Muppet on Sesame Street (1969) named after him, the grouch journalist "Walter Cranky".

Provided the voice over introduction "This is the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric".

At the birth of television, he and his team at CBS practically invented the institution of the evening news program. In 1951, one of the stage managers at CBS told him to sit at the desk and do the news. Cronkite asked what he meant and the managers simply said "I don't know just do it". His idea was to first just talk to the camera like another person and organize the news stories in the same vein as the newspaper beginning with the top story and working his way down to human interest stories.

In 1964 he was fired from his anchorman duties at the Democratic National Convention. CBS had gotten a new president who had never worked on a presidential campaign and had definate ideas about how CBS would be covering it. It turned out to be a mess and as a result Cronkite got some of the blame so the network executives removed him from the coverage but kept him as the anchorman of the evening news. Jokingly Cronkite became buddies with the president of NBC and the people at CBS were horrified that he was being offered a job in the rival network. So when the Republican Convention rolled around Cronkite got to cover it without using the new president's tactics.

Betsy Cronkite, his wife, was working as a newspaper journalist when they met.

While attending The University of Texas, one of his pastimes was acting in student plays. In one of them, he co-starred with Eli Wallach. He dropped out of UT to become a journalist.

His mother Helen died in 1993 at the age of 101.

His first job as a journalist was as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Times.

He met his wife Betsy when he was working at a radio station in Kansas City. The two were paired up to do a cosmetics commercial and married a year later.

In 1997, released his autobiography, "A Reporter's Life", which coincided with a two-hour TV special, Cronkite Remembers (1997), in which he reminisced about his years as a reporter. A week later, an eight-hour version aired on The Discovery Channel.

On March 15, 2005 he lost his wife of 64 years, Betsy, three weeks before their 65th anniversary.

Father was Walter Cronkite Sr., a dentist. Mother was Helen Cronkite who died in 1993 at the age of 101.

Some time before his death Cronkite's family revealed that he was suffering from cerebrovascular disease.

His ancestors had settled in New Amsterdam, the Dutch colony that became New York.

Attended Lanier Junior High School in Houston, Texas. Another famous ex-student was Linda Ellerbee.

Moved to Houston, Texas when he was 10-years-old. Worked at the Houston Post as a copy boy, cub reporter and had a paper route.

Inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame in 2015 (inaugural class) in the category Film & Television. (defunct).

His stage name during his days in radio was Walter Wilcox.

His mother was of German descent, and his father was German, Scottish, English, and distant Frisian and Dutch, ancestry.

Release of his book, "A Reporter's Life". (1996)

Release of the book, "Walter Cronkite: His Life and Times" by Doug James. (1991)

Release of his book, "Eye on the World". (1971)

Journalist since 1937; with CBS television since 1950.

Is the 1966 recipient of the prestigious Connor Award given by the brothers of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity based out of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also an honorary brother of the fraternity.

December 2003 - Underwent surgery to repair a previously injured achilles tendon.

Attended San Jacinto High School in Houston, Texas with Marvin Zindler.

Release of his book, "Around America: A Tour of Our Magnificent Coastline". (2001)

Undergoes quadruple bypass surgery in a New York hospital. (April 1, 1997)

Release of his audiobook, "Cronkite Remembers". (2000)

Father-in-law of Deborah Rush.

Inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 1999.

Father of Kathy Cronkite and Chip Cronkite.

Satirized by Ray Goulding as "Walter Chronic" in Cold Turkey (1971).

Longtime boyfriend of Joanna Simon until his death in August, 2009.

He signed off his final news broadcast with the statement: "And that's the way it is, Friday, March 6, 1981. I'll be away on 'Assignment,' and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night." It was actually a pun, as his yacht, on which he planned to spend his retirement years, was named 'Assignment.'.