A series of essays...
 |
| WALTER CRONKITE ~ AS I REMEMBER HIM FROM MY CHILDHOOD |
Courtesy of RBR.com
....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
What exactly makes a person tick? What can breathe life and meaning into their soul and encourage them to discover more about themselves so that they may progress deeper into their personal ‘meaning of life’ narrative and be able to direct their passion into the particular story that will shape or shadow their life, forever?
Examples may include impressionable events such as the assassination of a sitting United States President, baking cookies and cakes alongside Grandma while using the wood burning stove in her farmhouse kitchen, watching the evening news and the war in Vietnam, reading a Nancy Drew Mystery a week until you’d read them all and the school librarian suggested The Hardy Boys series, or taking eighth-grade French class and you just knew that France and the French language would become a large part of your life.
Then...there was Walter Cronkite.
Was it his voice? A bit stodgy yet staunch and reliable with a firm sense of loyalty and commitment, it was a Grandfather’s voice that could soothe away all of your troubles. Was it his looks? As a young reporter, I don’t believe I’d even recognize the mature, stalwart man that sat behind the CBS News desk each evening for nearly twenty years. Facial hair has never been my thing however, Walter’s minimal mustache gave him an edge when it came to style and distinction.
 |
| A YOUNG REPORTER ON THE BEAT |
 |
| SIMPLE BASIC JOURNALISM |
Courtesy of CBS
Walter Cronkite exuded impartiality and journalistic integrity and famously reported the news, not what he thought of the news, in a slower, more reasonable cadence that helped viewers understand him better. He began anchoring the CBS Evening News when I was an impressionable eleven-year-old with a penchant for writing and traveling around the world. His soft spoken style formed budding writers into potential journalists, picking-up on the desire to do research, travel, interview the people involved, and then tell the world about what they discovered and witnessed.
Will Bunch, opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote in 2018, “The reporter's intellect and instincts of Cronkite still echo a half-century later, at a time when a U.S. government is telling lies and threatening basic democratic norms on a scale that once would have seemed unthinkable, even back in the tumultuous 1960's when the Pentagon and the White House kept falsely assuring the public there was "a light at the end of the tunnel" in Vietnam. In 2018, can journalists look past the blinders of contrived objectivity, stare straight into the camera, and speak the plain truth? And when they do, will America listen the way it listened to Walter Cronkite in 1968?”
When he began, the evening news was only fifteen minutes long. After Walter’s first year, the program expanded to an unprecedented thirty minutes. Competition, I must admit, was minimal given the fact that we lived in an era where ABC (if you could pick it up at all), NBC, and CBS were the only broadcast networks.
Walter Cronkite soon became the voice and face of the American news media. It was an era, between 1962 until he retired in 1981, when his nightly exposure insured him great influence over the American viewer. Also, Walter was never afraid to express his emotions on the air. Both women and men could identify with this honest man when he became choked-up over the moon landing, teary eyed as he relayed to us that our president had been assassinated in Dallas, and displayed his own angst while editorializing about the stalemate in Vietnam. These true feelings, viable emotions, made us feel he was a part of our family; the Grandfather at Thanksgiving dinner who caught, plucked, and cooked the most delicious wild turkey with enough leftovers to feed an entire nation.
 |
| WALTER CRONKITE'S BROADCASTS INFLUENCED LBJ AND CHANGED THE WAY WE PERCEIVED THE VIETNAM WAR |
Courtesy of CBS
I was hooked! By the time I graduated from high school and headed for classes at Indiana University at South Bend (IUSB), journalism courses dotted my freshman class schedule. I was going to be the female equivalent of Walter Cronkite, traveling the world over and writing op-eds to be published by all of the prominent newspapers and magazines. I would be honest and truthful just as Walter had always been, yet plucky and bright as I helped to usher in the new generation of writers and reporters.
I always felt that Walter was looking over my shoulder as I was being negatively influenced by my early professors and always hoped that he would guide me in the right direction. Eventually, I truly believe he did. Feeling disgruntled and cheated by the teaching that “If your story isn’t strong enough to sell, then embellish it enough to make it stronger,” mentality taught in class, had me asking about the age of Walter’s honest journalism; when had it transitioned into an unreliable entity based upon sales and money? This was back in ‘68, only six years after Walter began anchoring the evening news. I was naive. However, I still believed in honesty and truth.
With Walter always at the back of my mind, I transferred to Michigan State University in order to pursue a writing career. In those days, most schools did not offer creative writing courses and I was advised to enter a Secondary Education English program while opting for a double minor in Theatre and French.
My writing was always number one with me. I always felt that if I were to embellish upon stories, it was because they were my fictional stories to begin with! But, I seriously believed that I was in the right place for the first time and that Walter had something to do with it. The kindly, soft-spoken, older gentleman I used to listen to talk about worldly events as I slid into a familiar chair each evening with my parents by my side would have been okay with my choices. He would have understood how I could still make a difference and help change the world for the better.
Sue, a dear, sweet friend of mine, reminded me of the many people, past and present, with whom I share birthday celebrations. Some poets and prose writers were on the list along with a British Princess, a musical composer, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, while a famous actor or two got ‘top billing’ and the humorist and actor, Will Rogers, began blazing his own trail on November 4 back in 1879. Not too shabby! Thank you, Sue.
 |
| WHETHER HE WAS SMILING, PLAYING WITH HIS GLASSES, OR SMOKING HIS PIPE, HE WAS KNOWN AS 'UNCLE WALTER' |
Walter Cronkite is on this list. I’ve known we shared a birthday since I was very little. I believe that we are fellow wanderers and seekers of ideas and truths and that our paths crossing like this has always encouraged me to continue learning, has recharged my passion for creativity, and always helps to breathe life back into my very soul.
Even though the world lost the man on July 17, 2009, I can still hear his famous sign-off catchphrase, “And that’s the way it is. November 4, 2019.”
Happy Birthday, Walter!!!
Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
