"And That's the Way It Is": A Tribute to Walter Cronkite

That person above shaped what I wanted to become today.

Who will ever miss the famous sign-off "And That's The Way It Is", which is also my signature ending line for all my blogs.

Who will ever forget the lines he uttered in such historical events, like "From Dallas, Texas, the flash,  apparently official, President Kennedy died at 2'o clock Central Standard time...........some 38 minutes ago", and the now-legendary Tet Offensive editorial which Former President Lyndon Johnson commented, "If I lost Cronkite, I'd lost Middle America"

And who will ever forget his title, "The Most Trusted Man in America" because of his sheer delivery and steadiness in presiding over the CBS Evening News as it's Anchor and Managing Editor for 19 Years.

Walter was, and is, every journalist's icon, an inspiration. He is not only what the others call it as an anchorman, but he was the anchorman. He guided the audience every 6:30 pm Eastern Time through all the news that has happened, and he also was unflappable

On my personal view, I had learned about Walter while I was still in high school, reading a section in a series of yearbooks (i think it's the World Book) called "The Year in News with Walter Cronkite", and I continued to learn more about him through encyclopedias and web researches until I bought his autobiography, called "A Reporter's Life", published in 1997

When I have read his book, and watched on Youtube his anchoring style, I have said to myself, I wanted to be like Walter Cronkite. I wanted to practice his style of journalism in an anime sense. He became my guide, and later my inspiration.

Upon learning of his death, I quickly changed the channel from Disney to CNN and Fox to hear the news, and to hear the words from the people who worked with him and became their mentor, inspiration, guide and friend.

For CBS News veterans like Don Hewitt, who said that he was a "gold standard", Mike Wallace and Bob Schieffer, they lost a friend. To the current Network evening news anchors like Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson, and the other news anchors from the US local stations and cable news, He was an inspiration and an icon.

But for me, Like I said, I could be inspired by our other local journalists. but my top inspiration is, and forever will be, Walter Cronkite.


"And That's The Way it Is"


Walter Cronkite, November 4, 1916 - July 17, 2009