Rick Kaplan Pi fraternity at the University of Illinois. Kaplan's broadcast journalism career began at CBS News, where he served as an associate producer of "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" (1974–79) and an associate producer of the "CBS Morning News" (1971–74). He was a writer, assignment desk editor and producer at WBBM-TV, the CBS-owned station in Chicago (1969–71). As an associate producer for "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite", he produced news coverage of the American political campaigns and elections in 1974, 1976 and 1978. He was also a producer of the historic visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Israel
Walter Cronkite "A Reporter's Life", which was published in 1996. The taped memoirs became an integral part of an eight-part television series "Cronkite Remembers", which was shown on the Discovery Channel. As a newsman, Cronkite devoted his attention to the early days of the space program, and the "space race" between the United States and the Soviet Union. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration honored Cronkite on February 28, 2006. Michael Coats, director of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, presented Cronkite with the Ambassador of Exploration Award. Cronkite was the first non-astronaut thus honored. NASA presented Cronkite with a