Yesterday I felt very fortunate to attend a memorial for a man who has so greatly influenced my life, as well as many other Americans. In the print media both The Washington Post and The New York Times offered very good coverage but I was so moved that I feel a need to add something, some of those little stories.
Howard Kurtz claimed that the memorial for Walter Cronkite was "an extravagantly produced ceremony" but the stage was really just a video screen that mostly showed a still of Walter Cronkite and a lectern where many distinguished guest would celebrate a great American life. Perhaps Wynton Marsalis and several musicians walking the aisles in a musical tribute that evoked the feeling of a New Orleans Jazz funeral could come close to lavish production but it was really all about the spoken word.
I have just a few thoughts, photos from the program and some video links about an emotional and joyous event below the fold.
Those speakers to celebrate the life of Walter Cronkite who President Obama called "the man who chronicled our time" included both President Obama and President Clinton, the biggest names in television journalism, an astronaut, a drummer from the Grateful Dead, Jimmy Buffett, ten World War II veterans who fought on the U.S.S. Intrepid and Michael Feinstein singing a song called "And That's the Way It Is."
"To anchor in a quiet cove
As the sun turns sky to red;
and toast the passing day
With friends and song.
It dosen't get much better!"
That's what the captain said.
"The sea will teach you things
Your whole life long." |
Just about everyone who knew Walter Cronkite, the anchor of the CBS Evening News from April 16, 1962 until his retirement in 1981, all of those friends talked about the fact that the news anchor was no different on or off the air. That he balanced his personal and professional life, the fact that he was a great family man and truly enjoyed life outside of the news was also stressed.
Of course the main theme of the morning was trust and as respects were paid to "The Most Trusted Man in America" just about everyone who got up to the stage also praised Mr. Cronkite for his curiosity. As Bob Schiffer put it "He always wanted to know everything about everything" but I thought it was Buzz Aldrin who captured how that curiosity was passed on to Americans.
With his usual insight, context and color, he made voyages to the moon very real for the average American...Flight after flight Walter was there as a comforting presence when the mission was a success and on those painful times when failure came calling. He talked us all through it all. In addition for his passion for sailing our legacy in space was his calling too. All of us who flew in space are grateful for Walter Cronkite's belief in science, his dedication to the story and his commanding presence that made every step in space exciting for Americans of every age. And that's the way it was Walter and always will be.
Bill Clinton came up early and gave a great speech. His recollection of how Walter Cronkite offered comfort during the Monica Lewinsky scandal was documented everywhere yesterday but this tribute to a friend seemed to have been lost in translation. One very impressive line from a former president who "just ended up being crazy about the guy,"
He had a "deep aversion to group conformity." He was always looking for the story, not the storyline and there's a big difference.
Bill Clinton started off by paying his respect to both Walter Cronkite and Barack Obama when he pointed out that the President was there on the same day that he would deliver such an important speech before Congress. Many, including myself, identified with Bill Clinton as he recalled changing from Huntley and Brinkley on November 22, 1963 when we all needed the comfort of Walter Cronkite. Bill Clinton was there to remember a friend and he told the most memorable of the many Walter Cronkite "hard of hearing" stories yesterday, stories that made me almost feel like I actually knew the man.
Say what you will about Tom Brokaw but he was right, Clinton was a tough act to follow and setting aside the dig at Rahm Emanuel he offered much. A man who actually was the competition paid his respects with a recollection of Betsy Cronkite, who passed away a couple weeks short of Betsy and Walter's 65th wedding anniversary, stories about the respectful camaraderie of the day, the strong 65 year friendship of Walter Cronkite and Andy Rooney and a moving closing anecdote.
As can be seen in today's New York Times photo Andy Rooney who touched us all when he broke down at Walter Cronkite's funeral was there.
Andy didn't go up to the lectern, instead there was a video recollection of the 65 year friendship, shot the way we always see Andy sitting at his desk in an extended version of his regular talk that took the viewer from World War II to July 17 of this year.
"His greatest contribution was not his knowledge or his expertise, as great as those were," said Rooney. "It was his steady holding to what was most important. Every writer, every news man or woman that was worth anything, secretly hopes that he or she would have some good influence on the world. It was a preposterous wish, of course, but my friend had it. If it can be said about any individual in our business that he's been a force for good in the world, Walter Cronkite was that person."
Andy also offered a few hard of hearing comedy stories that seemed to bring Walter Cronkite closer. One about a day sailing and someone yelling from another boat. Right after Cronkite's boat ran aground Andy asked why Walter did not come about after the man yelled "Low Water!" and pointed. Cronkite said "Oh I thought he was saying Hello Walter.'"
There were several of these special moments and the executive producer of CBS Evening News, Rick Kaplan told a good one about an irate caller one evening after Walter Cronkite raised some controversy. Mr. Cronkite took the phone and without identifying himself agreed that "Cronkite has gone too Far." As Walter Cronkite said "Maybe he should be disciplined," the caller changed their mind and began defending Walter Cronkite.
Bob Schieffer who opened with "Do you know who would have Loved this day? Walter" had about the most comforting recollection of Walter Cronkite and his story of scooping Barbara Walters was a gem.
As NBC's Ann Curry said after "The president made this historic," adding, "He had some strong comments about our industry."
The service concluded with remarks from President Obama who, not having had the opportunity to forge a relationship with Cronkite the way Clinton had, spoke from the perspective of the millions of Americans who didn't know Cronkite personally, but had been affected by him: "I [did not] know him any better than the tens of millions who turned to him each night in search of the answer to a simple question -- what happened today. But like them and like all of you, I have benefited as a citizen from his dogged pursuit of the truth, his passionate defense of objective reporting, and his view that journalism is more than just a profession. It is a public good, vital to our democracy."
In closing it out there were several light moments but Barack Obama also got into the erosion of the news. Nobody deserves more than our President to reflect on those changes since the days of Walter Cronkite.
The President was not the only one that got to the heart of the matter today in journalism and he was very diplomatic in his speech. While it seemed like a celebration of a life well lived some of the television news insiders often seemed in mourning for the news media. Not so much in the spoken word but just in the fact that each speaker talked about honest journalism as if its time has passed.
Howard Stringer who like Katie Couric mentioned the fact that Mr. Cronkite had "codified the word ‘anchorman’" paid tribute by also mentioning Cronkite's feeling about that anchor as a "straitjacket, smothering many of his own thoughts and opinions." It could have been a burden which would have crushed a lesser man."
Bill Clinton said Mr. Cronkite was well aware of the limitations of television news. He recalled that Mr. Cronkite once said, "I did the best I could, but really, I think people should read more newspapers." Mr. Clinton laughed when he asked "Can you imagine anyone else fessing up to that?" I don't think I can.
I learned two things about Walter Cronkite yesterday that I never knew. I was unaware of his presence on and interest in the U.S.S. Intrepid. Bill White, the President Of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Museum talked about how often Water Cronkite could be seen walking the historic deck of the aircraft carrier or observing the Hudson from the carrier deck. Yesterday, Cronkite's family was presented with a flag that flew at half-staff on the day that he died. They also presented a replica of an old CBS microphone sculpted out of wood and metal from the ship.
The other came from the style columnist of The Washington Post. When I got home I read And That's the Way Cronkite Was . . .
It was Edward R. Murrow, the patron saint of American broadcast news, who recruited Cronkite to come join CBS News in the early 1950s, after Cronkite distinguished himself in coverage from Moscow of World War II. "My first love was newspapering," Cronkite later wrote. But he could see, "as the 1940s drew to a close [that] television was coming into its own, and it became evident that the young industry would eventually become the dominant form of entertainment and news in the United States."
Passing from Murrow to Cronkite just seemed so right. What is left to say about a great American who had an inquiring mind and a caring heart? Thank you Walter Cronkite.