NPR CEO VIVIAN SCHILLER ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING THE PASSING OF WALTER CRONKITE

July 18, 2009

Walter Cronkite’s passing today marks the loss of the ultimate reliable source, the nation’s narrator and the standard by which all other TV news anchors are judged. It also marks the loss of a special friend to NPR. For six years, in a series of occasional essays for NPR, Walter Cronkite offered his unique perspective on news events he reported on over the past century that still resonate today. Beginning on December 7, 2001, on the 60th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Cronkite reflected on the lone dissenter in the Congressional vote to declare war — political pioneer Jeanette Rankin — and how another lone dissenting vote granting President Bush added powers to hunt Osama bin Laden echoes Rankin’s own vote. In another essay, Cronkite told the story behind his initial experience as a TV network anchorman. It happened in 1952 in Chicago, Ill., at the first-ever nationally televised political convention for the Republican Party. Later that summer, Cronkite handled the same chore at the Democratic session. Although he’d never attended a political convention — or done national TV — he was a hit. Walter Cronkite always used history to provide context and understanding and NPR was proud and honored to offer this distinguished veteran journalist an outlet for his work late in his career and to introduce him to a new generation of news consumers who were grateful for his wisdom and perspective from such a remarkable career covering the world.

You can hear all of Walter Cronkite’s unique essays on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/cronkite/

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