Richard S. Salant for nine years and would become the president of the CBS News Division when Stanton appointed him in February of 1961. Salant was president of CBS News from 1961 to 1964 and from 1966 to 1979. The "New York Times" credits him with raising professional standards and expanding news programming at CBS. During his tenure, CBS was the first network to expand its week-night news report to 30 minutes. Under his leadership, CBS also introduced "60 Minutes" and the "CBS Morning News" and "Sunday Morning" programs. Salant's first major decision was to replace Douglas Edwards with Walter Cronkite. At this
Walter Cronkite he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary. Beginning with January 16, 1980, Day 50 of the Iran hostage crisis, Cronkite added the length of the hostages' captivity to the show's closing in order to remind the audience of the unresolved situation, ending only on Day 444, January 20, 1981. Cronkite is vividly remembered for breaking the news of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. Cronkite had been standing at the United Press International wire machine in the CBS newsroom as the bulletin of the President's shooting broke and he clamored to get on the