CBS Evening News a one-evening test broadcast on August 19, 1965, before permanently switching to the format on January 31, 1966. Cronkite's prime time special report, "Who, What, When, Where, Why", broadcast on February 27, 1968, ended with his declaration that the United States could only hope for a stalemate in Vietnam. It is often credited with influencing Lyndon Johnson's decision to drop out of the race for President. "If I've lost Walter Cronkite ... [I]'ve lost Middle America", he stated. Under Cronkite, the newscast began what would eventually become an 18-year period of dominating the ratings among the network evening news programs.
Walter Cronkite "Dinosaur!" on A&E (not related to the documentary of the same title hosted by Christopher Reeve on CBS six years earlier), and a 1994 follow-up series, "Ape Man: The Story of Human Evolution". In 1995, he narrated the World Liberty Concert held in the Netherlands. Cronkite routinely hosted the Kennedy Center Honors from 1981 to 2002. Cronkite appeared briefly in the 2005 dramatic documentary "The American Ruling Class" written by Lewis Lapham; the 2000 film "Thirteen Days" reporting on the Cuban Missile Crisis; and provided the opening synopsis of the American Space Program leading to the events in Apollo 13