And that’s the way it is: Walter Cronkite-simply the best
And that’s the way it is: Walter Cronkite-simply the best
I was going to write this column about the 40th anniversary of Woodstock…that phenomenal convergence of peace, love, protest and history. Instead, this column is about the man who brought you that history-and JFK and MLK and Vietnam and man on the moon.
Walter Cronkite was a comforting father figure, the narrative voice for a generation, who held our hands and told it like it was-simply, clearly, in good times and bad.
This icon of journalistic excellence was on the air before I was born and every momentous occasion in my young life was chronicled by “Uncle Walter.” He was a newsman’s newsman and the reason why I wanted to become a “newsman.”
As a 19-year-old college student, I became one of the youngest writers ever employed by CBS News. I clearly remember my first day on the job. My hands trembled as I entered the newsroom, a bustling pit of information filled with the noisy “rat-a-tat-tat” of AP and UPI wire machines, clouds of cigarette smoke, a massive, circular assignment desk, an enormous assignment board indicating the location and ETA of our top reporters, and a prominent row of clocks giving the times for our bureaus in Moscow, London and Hong Kong.
Then there was the bank of television monitors. We didn’t have 500 channels in those days- just the competition-ABC, NBC and PBS.
At 7 p.m. each night, after I had finished giving Connie Chung her last round-up, the place would come to a screeching halt in reverence to our leader. Walter was on the air, and when he spoke we were transfixed on every authoritative, precise and understandable word.
If not for Walter Cronkite and my mentor, the late Hal Fishman, my life might have been very different. They inspired me to explore, to travel, to learn, to inform and maybe, just maybe, make a difference.
In my 17 years as an on air reporter, I hope that in some small way I may have followed in Walter’s footsteps. I watched him “sign-off” from every corner of the planet. When I actually uttered the words, “This is Kim Devore reporting from the Great Wall of China,” I threw my microphone into the air and told my cameraman, “I can die now.”
I first met Walter as a 21-year-old anchor at the CBS station in Las Vegas. He was in town to give a speech. After our initial greeting he said, “I caught your newscast tonight, Kim, and you did a terrific job.” Coming from Walter Cronkite, it was enough to make you pass out on the spot.
As luck would have it, a mutual friend invited me to join Walter for dinner and a show…DINNER AND A SHOW WITH WALTER CRONKITE!!!
He was a rock star, and his star-struck fans stumbled over to our table, sheepishly asking for an autograph on anything they could find-a napkin, a program, a sliver of the cocktail list. He was as gracious as a man could be.
When the group decided to take him out dancing, Walter needed a lift and it was in my car. I never wanted to sell that 280 ZX and always wanted a plaque by the passenger seat that said, “Walter Cronkite Sat Here!”
Off we went to a club called State Street. We shared a slow dance and Walter gave me a red rose, which I probably still have somewhere.
Journalism has changed quite a bit since those days, but not the man we remember as “our gold standard,” the man who made CBS the “Tiffany Network” and the man who made me so proud to be a part of it all.
As my husband is busy hogging the computer, this column was written by hand, on an old school reporter’s notebook, pouring from the heart in just a few minutes. I can only hope this would have made Walter proud. I owe my career to him-a man who brought comfort to millions and was the essence of integrity.
And that’s the way it is.
Got a hot happening or cool event? Send the 411 to kimdevore@malibutimes.com.