Of all the television news anchors most of the Americans watched and trusted, Walter Cronkite was considered by the public as "the most trusted man in America". That was the result of an opinion poll. He was the best known anchor man for CBS Evening News for 19 years: 1962-81. He had reported many events from 1937-81, including the bombing of Europe in WWII, the Nuremberg trials, combat in Vietnam, the death of JFK, Watergate and the Iran hostage event in the Carter years. Cronkite was always on the scene of major stories. He was in one of the gliders that delivered American Airborne infantrymen in the 101st Division in WWII, in the Operation Market Garden. He was in the mission as a newsman, not a soldier. He joined CBS in 1950, recruited by the famous Washington State University alumnus, Edward R. Murrow. He served as the anchor, then, for the CBS Network on the 15 minute late Sunday evening newscast, "Up to the Minute" that followed "What's My Line." It was on from 1951-62, the years of our education. He also covered in that period the presidential conventions. One thing that made him an important link to our history education was his Sunday evening programs, "You Are There". That was on from 1953-57. Sometimes our history teachers, James Forsyth and Laverne Mabbot, would show an episode of the program in their classrooms. We had to take notes to get credit in the Forsyth class. That's the one I was in.
Cronkite's words to close a "You Were There" film was "What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times...and you were there". We had not been in most of the days of history that were events of "You Were There," but from watching newscasts in our school days, "we were there" for a lot of important historical events. That's why "We Were There" is the title of this year's monthly series on this website. Is there network anchor today who is anywhere close to Cronkite? Nah! They all do too much reporting on things that are not really history-important, like the death of Michael Jackson that's been going on for nearly a month. And the death of Senator Ted Kennedy seems to be getting more television network coverage, even though he died of cancer, than his brothers, John and Robert, who were assassinated.