R.I.P. Walter Cronkite

[Bob B.]

Newsman Walter Cronkite passed away today at the age of 92. He was passionate about space and many of us remember him for his coverage of Apollo 11. Ironic that he should pass as we are celebrating the 40 anniversary of that historic mission. R.I.P. Walter.

[gillianren]

There are three moments for which I think he will always be remembered. My best friend's mom's only clear memory of the JFK assassination is Cronkite crying. There was the much more controversial moment of his return from Vietnam. And there is Apollo. Logically, I feel sure another American network must have been broadcasting. It would be curious to me if they were not. But who remembers anyone but Cronkite?

[Ian Pearse]

Being a Brit, I only know Cronkite by reputation. It is, however, very sad that, having been present at the launch of Apollo 11, he should die so close to the 40th anniversary of the landing.

[PhantomWolf]

I had to feel sad when I heard of his death today, even though I have seen very little of his work.

The character Emmett Seaborn (played by Lane Smith) in From the Earth to the Moon was an amalgam of several reporters who covered Apollo, though predominantly, Walter Cronkite. Sadly Lane Smith lost a fight with cancer in 2005.

[voyager3]

Very sad news, as has been said above it's very poignant that he should die just before the 40th anniversary of one of the events he is most famous for covering.

I'm a Brit as well and my only experience of Walter Cronkite apart from documentaries was CNN's coverage of John Glenn's Space Shuttle flight. You could tell from that that he had a great love of space exploration. I can remember him remarking about the improvements in TV technology since the 1960's, in particular he said that on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights after the rocket went through the clouds you would lose track of it, in contrast modern cameras can track a Shuttle all the way into orbit and they could show the SRB's after jettison "falling through the sky like giant cigarettes!"

R.I.P. Walter.

[scooter]

Those were the days, before PCs, satellite radio and TV, when you had the newspaper and the TV, with maybe 5 channels. Radio was basically AM channels, a few FM.
Walter was something of a father figure to many Americans back then, especially in the Apollo context....always had astronauts with him, Wally was a regular. He did a lot to get us to the Moon, no doubt about it. We could use him again right about now.

I think he's up there now, wandering around the old sights...thanks, Walter.

ETA...oh, and who can forget the rudimentary "simulations" of the LM descending, little Bunsen burner flame coming out of the bottom of the LM model and such...state of the art graphics of the day.

[Ginnie]

Even though I live in Canada, we always got the three American networks on cable. I remember Walter well, especially the Vietnam War reporting.

[PhantomWolf]

Tonight TV3 played In the Shadow of the Moon. There are many Cronkite clips in the Doco, it was sad seeing it and knowing he had just died, it put a damper on what was a great day otherwise.

[BertL]

In the Shadow of the Moon was broadcasted on the Dutch TV channel Nederland 2 here as well. I didn't watch most of it however; unfortunately I was occupied with other things. I might still be able to find it on the channel's website though.

[gillianren]

I love, incidentally, that Walter Cronkite tore Roger Ebert a new one when Roger said that no one believes Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. Roger was kinda wrong on that.

[rush]

I'm a new member, and I got hooked on conspiracy theories the past two years. May I suggest that regular members here watch a very interesting movie, which by the way features an appearance by Walter Cronkite, among other very interesting people, the name of the film is "American Ruling Class". I would like to hear your comments if you've seen it already.

[echnaton]

John Kirby, the director of this film is something a a conspiracy theorist.

Form the blog on the movies web page.

Of course, since the country is governed by a shadowy cabal, a bipartisan oligarchy, a ruling class interested in maintaining the power and wealth of the few, it doesn't really matter who the president is; that is largely a cosmetic choice having to do with manipulating the electorate.

While I have my dissatisfaction with our parties as well, I find the claim that they are in league with each other to elect the president to be dubious. Mostly I just don't have time to spend chasing down unprovable conspiracies. If you find the film make concrete claims and offers solid evidence of this conspiracy, start a new thread and I'll at least give it a read.

[Jason]

The liberal control of the mainstream media isn't the result of a conspiracy - it's the natural result of letting a few prominent liberal figures in the media choosing their successors and others aping them.

[Ginnie]

Mr. Cronkites words on TV when Apollo 11 touched down on the moon:
"Oh, boy! Whew! Boy!"

[gillianren]

I was at the grocery store today, and People magazine has a big spread on its cover about What's-His-Name from Twilight and a little sidebar about Walter Cronkite. The checker and I agreed that they had their priorities backward.