Walter Cronkite Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the "CBS Evening News" for 19 years (1962–1981). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. He reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including bombings in World War II; the Nuremberg trials; combat in the Vietnam War; the Dawson's Field hijackings; Watergate; the Iran Hostage Crisis; and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy,
Walter Cronkite Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner, because ABC at the time fed their newscast live at 6:00 pm Eastern instead of 6:30 to get a head start on CBS and NBC for those stations that aired "ABC Evening News" live (although not every affiliate did). On December 10, 1963, Cronkite introduced The Beatles to the United States by airing a four-minute story about the band on "CBS Evening News". This was originally broadcast on November 22, 1963, and was going to be shown again on the "CBS Evening News", but the assassination of John F. Kennedy prevented the broadcast at