Cronkite (31 page)

Cronkite interviews Richard M. Nixon on April 1, 1968, in Nixon’s New York apartment. The former vice president led the race for the Republican presidential nomination, having recently vanquished George Romney of Michigan. Nelson Rockefeller of New York and Ronald Reagan of California would also fail to catch him. Nixon campaigned carefully and made little news in interviews, feeling that the nomination would be his if he avoided mistakes. He did, and won the White House in the November election.
(Whitehurst Photos)

On July 21, 1969, the day after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, Cronkite held up a copy of
The New York Times
while he was on the air. Trained as a newspaper reporter, Cronkite rejoiced anew when he saw the epoch-making story in print.
(Whitehurst Photos)

Walter Cronkite talking with Lyndon Baines Johnson at his ranch in Texas in the early 1970s. Cronkite and Johnson engaged in a series of extensive interviews on Johnson’s life and turbulent presidency. The last of their conversations occurred on January 12, 1973, just ten days before Johnson’s death.
(Whitehurst Photos)

Cronkite was an active amateur auto racer. He gave it up partly in deference to pressure from CBS, and soon took up sailing.
(Whitehurst Photos)

Cronkite in 1970 with some of those directly responsible for the look and stature of the
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite
: Sandy Socolow (producer), Les Midgley (executive producer), and Richard Salant (news division president).
(Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the University of Texas at Austin)

Cronkite taking a break from sailing while on vacation near the Windward Islands in the Caribbean in 1971.
(Whitehurst Photos)

Walter Cronkite in his office after a broadcast in 1971, shaving before a night out on the town. Cronkite’s office, overstuffed with books, gadgets, awards, and memos, reflected the texture of his lifestyle.
(Whitehurst Photos)

Cronkite and his son, Chip, clowning for a photographer from
Life
magazine in 1971. Cronkite was then forty-five and Chip was fourteen. Cronkite often broke into off-the-cuff numbers with only the slightest encouragement.
(Whitehurst Photos)

Cronkite standing in front of the Great Wall during CBS News’ coverage of Nixon’s 1972 trip to China.
(Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the University of Texas at Austin)

Cronkite preps eight young people on the set of the CBS News special
What Ever Happened to ’72?
Cronkite and the students, all from an Evanston, Illinois, junior high school, traded opinions on everything from the presidential election to the latest movies.
(Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the University of Texas at Austin)

“Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite” was the title of the
Mary Tyler Moore Show
episode that aired on February 9, 1974. Ted Knight played Baxter, the news anchor at WJM, in a moment when he convinces himself that he is going to become Cronkite’s co-anchor on the
CBS Evening News
. Cronkite made a cameo appearance on the program.
(Whitehurst Photos)