...And That's the Way it Is

I find it difficult not to write something on the passing of Walter Cronkite. He was so much a part of the lives of all of us who lived through the decades of the 1960's and the 1970's. Those who have no living memory of those years will not understand the kind of attachment we had to Walter Cronkite. I heard one younger person state that after all he was 92 and just maybe suggesting 'what's the big deal'.

I believe it was Bob Schiffer who stated that in fact Walter Cronkite was the news. It has also been mentioned that he is the one who brought us the news of the Kennedy assasination, Civil Rights marches and protests, the Moon landing, the assassinations of MLK and RFK., and the events of the Vietnam War. Noteworthy also is his documentary on the Vietnam War after which Lyndon Johnson is to have said, "if we've lost Walter Cronkite, we've lost Middle America."

These are important facts, but they don't capture the connection we felt to Walter Cronkite. At 6:30 p.m. I would turn on the television and watch the Evening News. However, I was not alone. Millions of other Americans and their families were watching the same newscast at the same time. We were watching it together. During my years at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore we were literally watching Walter Cronkite together in our recreation area. Together we sat listening to him in shock, numbness, and profound sadness during the entire week of coverage of the Kennedy assasination. In short we were not just connected to Walter Cronkite, but we were connected to each other through him.

It is not possible to duplicate the way TV held all of our attention at the same time during those years. Our choices then were limited to three major networks. Technology has changed all that, either for the better or the worse. But from 1962 to 1981 Walter Cronkite held sway in our living rooms. Today, we don't even hear the same news. We hear the news which fits our own preconceived notions whether it be Fox, CNN, MSNBC the Internet or the Daly Show. Those looking for a more balanced perspective might watch parts of all these media outlets and then distill out what they believe to be the actual news of the day. Walter Cronkite, however, was the news.