And That’s The Way It Was for CBS Anchor Walter Cronkite
The famed newsman’s last broadcast: the end of an era
The Washington Star, March 7, 1981: ”Old anchormen don’t fade away,” Walter Cronkite said last night with a broad grin. “They keep coming back.” That’s what he plans to do, as a correspondent and host of his new science series, “Universe.”
With less than a minute left on his last broadcast as anchor for CBS “Evening News,” Cronkite broke away from his habitual almost deadpan expression and addressed his 19 million viewers confidentially, his bushy eyebrows dancing.
The moment “comes with some sadness” he said. “We’ve been meeting like this for 20 years.” But he didn’t look sad. He looked relieved. He looked like a man who had shed a burden and was ready to go out dancing, as he and his wife Betsy do nearly every night as it is.
There’s been entirely too much fuss about his leaving, he said in his only self-disparaging remark. He was merely “passing the baton” Douglas Edwards passed to him April 16, 1962. And then, those famous words: “And that’s the way it is.” But that wasn’t quite the end. “Dan Rather will be here for the next few years,” he added, possibly an ad lib, and with his biggest smile yet. “I’ll be away on assignment.”
Neither of the other networks took up CBS’ offer to use a live feed of Cronkite’s final remarks on their own news broadcasts. NBC’s John Chancellor closed his broadcast with just a few words about Cronkite, whose picture appeared on the screen behind him. Chancellor referred to the outgoing anchorman as “a formidable competitor,” and wished him good fortune in the future and good luck to his successor, Dan Rather — “but not too much good luck, Dan.”
Frank Reynolds, anchorman for ABC’s “World News Tonight,” devoted his last piece to Cronkite, again with Cronkite’s picture in the background. It was, he said, “A day not quite like other days.” He praised Cronkite for his “enduring responsibility” in a medium where ratings made others go in for sensationalism. Reynolds, too, made reference to the fact that some of Cronkite’s loyal viewers might want to give the other networks a look. CBS News has been first place in the ratings for 13 years; ABC and NBC have been following neck-and-neck since 1979.
Cronkite wasn’t kidding about going on assignment. He’s expected to leave very soon for Russia to do a report on U.S. military preparedness, to be narrated by Rather. Depending on his health and inclination, Cronkite will probably be around CBS at least another five years. The network, which would have loved to keep him as anchor forever, assured him he could stay until he’s 70. But, he told a reporter a couple of years ago, he wanted to leave as anchor while he was still on top and in top form. He wanted time to do other things with his work and his life.
Indeed, it seems as if after all those years of anchoring the news and specials and political conventions, his voice is beginning to wear out. It is thick and raspy these days, as if he has a permanent cold.
Because of his celebrity and the confidence of millions of Americans, Cronkite could do just about anything now, including getting in to politics. He might have considered being a senator, he said during an interview in 1979, but never running for president for one thing. He doesn’t think he’s “qualified.” The president, he said, seriously, “should have an intimate knowledge of political workings and serve some apprenticeship in a reasonably high office somewhere.”
In the final analysis, Walter Cronkite is a newsman; it is a profession he’s served long and honorably. He didn’t expect the celebrity that came with being the country’s most loved network television anchor, but he’s learned to live with it and, at times, he seems to enjoy it. He’s certainly learned how to handle it with restraint and dignity. His final broadcast will serve as a permanent record of that.
