Walter Cronkite documenting Walter's distinguished career should also include one of the moon rocks that the heroic astronauts of the Apollo program brought to Earth." On November 4, 2013, Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri dedicated the Walter Cronkite Memorial. The nearly 6,000 square-foot memorial includes images, videos and memorabilia from Cronkite's life and the many events he covered as a journalist. The memorial includes a replica of the newsroom from which Cronkite broadcast the news during the 1960s and 1970s. In 2014, the Memorial received the Missouri Division of Tourism's Spotlight Award. Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November
Walter Cronkite that time. On February 14, 1980, Cronkite announced that he intended to retire from the "CBS Evening News"; at the time, CBS had a policy of mandatory retirement by age 65. Although sometimes compared to a father figure or an uncle figure, in an interview about his retirement he described himself as being more like a "comfortable old shoe" to his audience. His last day in the anchor chair at the "CBS Evening News" was on March 6, 1981; he was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather. Cronkite's farewell statement: On the eve of Cronkite's retirement, he appeared on