Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009

Beginning of article

Byline: Ben Bradlee

I first encountered Cronkite on the telly. He was the father figure of television journalists; he had no rival except for maybe Brinkley. But Cronkite had a kind of paternal quality that made him different from David, and that is what set him apart. He was a great-white-father type--not quite that, because that connotes doddering, which he never was, but he was the dean. He was the big cheese.

In October 1972, Cronkite devoted two segments, back to back, to the Watergate story. The first was 14 minutes, the second eight. I think that second night was curtailed by CBS chairman William S. Paley because Paley was scared of it. The fact that Cronkite …