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 weeknight news report from 15 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 time CBS was the only news station to have single anchors. His support of "60 Minutes" in 1968 was reluctant, since felt that this program money for more ambitious documentaries would be more cost-effective.