Walter Cronkite civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr., and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also known for his extensive coverage of the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. He was the only non-NASA recipient of an Ambassador of Exploration award. Cronkite is well known for his departing catchphrase, "And that's the way it is," followed by the date of the broadcast. Cronkite was born on November 4, 1916, in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the son of Helen Lena (née Fritsche) and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite, a dentist. Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri,
CBS Evening News same period (since the 2010–11 season). "Pelley has refocused the program towards hard news and away from the soft news and infotainment features of the early Katie Couric era. Story selection has focused more on foreign policy, Washington politics, and economic subjects. The program's audience viewership began to grow immediately, closing the gap between the "CBS Evening News" and its competitors by one million viewers within a year, although the CBS program remains in third place among the network evening newscasts. In late May 2016, a new theme tune composed by Joel Beckerman of Man Made Music was introduced. Later