Cronkite (90 page)

40 Cronkite learned that to his peers he was:
Walter Cronkite, undated [1935], Box: 2.325–E454a, WCP-UTA.

40 steel-trap memory:
Carleton, “Cronkite’s Texas.”

40 “the man who gets behind the campus news”:
Walter Cronkite, January 23, 1935, WCP-UTA.

40 “One could tell a wireless faddist”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 35.

40 warned Cronkite of misusing the airwaves:
Carleton, “Cronkite’s Texas.”

41 “I could have been the Kaiser!”:
Author interview with Kathy Cronkite, September 18, 2010.

42 “up with the pigeons”:
Carleton, “Cronkite’s Texas.”

42 “I learned the principles of great journalism”:
Nancy Martinez, “Vann Kennedy: 1905–1924,”
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
, April 19, 2004.

42 “I have never found anything I like”:
Walter Cronkite, undated letter [1935?], WCP-UTA.

42 “The columns to weekly papers”:
Walter Cronkite, undated letter home, WCP-UTA.

43 After a year at INS, Cronkite was hired by
The
Houston Press
:
Michael C. Emery, Edwin Emery, and Nancy L. Roberts,
The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media
(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996), p. 221.

43 “My duties consist of taking stories”:
Walter Cronkite, August 8, 1935, WCP-UTA.

43 “the poor old wanderluster”:
Ibid.

44 “Please don’t forget me Bit”:
Walter Cronkite to Bit Winter, Don Michel Personal Papers, Anna, IL.

44 But instead of marrying Cronkite:
Cornelia Winter Davis “funeral services” (invite), January 13, 1938, Don Michel Personal Papers, Anna, IL.

45 he romanticized the City of Fountains:
Aaron Barnhart, “Walter Cronkite, 92, America’s Anchor, KC’s Hometown Hero, Journalism’s Conscience,”
Kansas City Star
, July 20, 2009.

45 “I have not met a really complete ass”:
Thomas Hart Benton,
An Artist in
America
(Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983), p. 275.

46 Evans’s father had been a student at the Kansas City College of Pharmacy:
Tom L. Evans, Oral History Interview, August 8, 1962, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Independence, MO, p. 22.

46 “Simmons said, ‘Here is a man with the best radio voice’ ”:
Walter Cronkite to Helen Cronkite, circa 1936, WCP-UTA.

47 Cronkite was asked what his greatest achievement was:
“Proust Questionnaire.”

48 “This is Edward Murrow speaking from Vienna”:
Erik Barnouw,
The Golden We: A History of Broadcasting in the United States
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 77–78.

48 The whole CBS News “Round-up” crowd:
Edward R. Murrow and Ed Bliss, eds.,
In Search of Light: The Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow
(New York: Knopf, 1967), pp. 4–5.

49 the art of what he called “reconstructed games”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 67.

49 It was fake sports:
Hilts, “And That’s the Way It Was.”

49 “I didn’t need many facts”:
“Walter Cronkite 1916–2009,”
Sports Illustrated
, July 27, 2009.

50 “There were girls in most”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 52.

50 “I watched her coming down the hall”:
Walter Cronkite oral history interview, p. 48, WCP-UTA.

50 “It was,” she recalled, “love at first sight”:
“What in the World,” syndicated column, February 7, 1976.

50 “Betsy and I went from the studio”:
Barnhart, “Walter Cronkite, 92.”

50 while earning As:
Beverly Grunwald, “Capable Mrs. Cronkite,”
Women’s Wear Daily
news service, February 17, 1979.

51 “He used to be such a string bean”:
“What in the World,” February 7, 1976.

52 Cronkite’s sleuthing subsequently showed:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, pp. 18–19.

52 “KCMO:
Stupid Enough to Fire Cronkite”:
Justin Kendall, “KCMO: Stupid Enough to Fire Cronkite, Downhill Ever Since,”
The Pitch
blogs, September 10, 2009.

Four
: Making of a Unipresser

53 when it called UP a “scrappy alternative” to AP:
Donald Libenson, “UPI R.I.P.,”
Chicago Tribune
, May 4, 2003.

54 Most important for Cronkite’s career:
Richard Harnett and Billy G. Ferguson,
UNIPRESS:
United Press International—Covering the 20th Century
(Denver, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2003).

54 Before long, UP, a worldwide news wholesaler:
United Press International, 1907–2007, http//www.100years.upi.com/history.html (accessed September 19, 2011).

54 It is a business:
Stephen Vincent Benét, “United Press,”
Fortune
, May 1933.

55 Cronkite would hand Swayze:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 78.

56 “Good morning, John Cameron Swayze here”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, pp. 27–28.

57 He hitched a ride:
“New London Explosion,” Depot Museum; http//www.depotmuseum.com/newLondon.html (accessed July 28, 2011).

57 “It is not easy,” Cronkite quickly learned:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 64.

57 “Take oil from this town and nothing would be left”:
Walter Cronkite, “Overton, Where Blast Occurred, Is in World’s Richest Oil Field,” UP, March 19, 1937.

58 Harry Smith of
CBS Morning News
was preparing:
Author interview with Harry Smith, May 1, 2011.

58 “I got some very good lessons”:
Walter Cronkite oral history interview, p. 56, WCP-UTA.

58 Unbeknownst to Cronkite, he was walking:
Walter Cronkite interview, Archive of American Television, October 18, 1999.

58 “I used to think life wasn’t worth living”:
Lewis H. Lapham, “The Secret Life of Walter (Mitty) Cronkite,”
Saturday Evening Post
, March 16, 1962.

59 Cronkite came advertised on WKY:
Walter Cronkite interview, Archive of American Television, October 18, 1999.

59 “It was really one of the lowest moments”:
Hilts, “That’s the Way It Was.”

59 “If you’re going to be doing an ad-lib”:
Walter Cronkite interview, Archive of American Television, October 18, 1999. See also Walter Cronkite oral history interview, p. 63, WCP-UTA.

61 “I loved the United Press”:
Walter Cronkite oral history interview, p. 65, WCP-UTA.

61 “The management had not been happy”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 27.

62 “Officials of airfields throughout the nation”:
Walter Cronkite, “Hunt for Plane in Which Flyer Was Kidnapped,” United Press,
Oelwein (Iowa) Daily Register
, October 28, 1939.

62 “State authorities appealed to airports”:
Walter Cronkite, “Seek Hoosier After Plane Fails Return,” UP,
Valparaiso Vidette-Messenger
.

63 “I began calling airports”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 74.

64 “The general attitude seems”:
Edward R. Murrow,
This Is London
(New York: Schocken Books, 1941), p. 17.

64 UP ended up sending 150:
Harnett and Ferguson,
UNIPRESS
, p. 134.

65 Cronkite had, as he later recalled, all the “excitement”:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
.

Five
: Gearing Up for Europe

69 The church was bedecked:
Kansas City
Journal-Post
, undated clipping, WCP-UTA.

70 the Cronkites went on a whirlwind auto honeymoon:
Author interview with Chip Cronkite, November 1, 2011.

70 “We were traveling”:
Walter Cronkite oral history interview, WCP-UTA.

70 They became great friends with another young journalist:
Author interview with Deborah Rush, February 21, 2012.

70 One of her additional duties:
James,
Walter Cronkite
, p. 45.

71 “My journalism was really trivial”:
Beverly Grunwald, “Capable Mrs. Cronkite Is Content with Life,”
Women’s Wear Daily
wire service,
Hutchinson, Texas News
, February 17, 1979.

71 Cronkite’s United Press bureau:
Gordon and Cohen,
Down to the Wire
, p. 11.

71 this led to five years of brutal occupation:
Lance Goddard,
Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2005), p. 22.

71 “The Dutch people would never”:
Cronkite, “200th Anniversary of Friendship and Unbroken Diplomatic Relations with the Netherlands.”

72 she ended up getting her pilot’s license:
Betsy Cronkite as told to Lyn Tornabee, “My Husband: The Newscaster,”
Cosmopolitan
, May 1965.

72 Cronkite had been at:
Benét, “United Press.”

72 “If I hadn’t been trained as a journalist”:
“What in the World,” syndicated column, February 8, 1976.

73 TV was too much of a “technological toy”:
Henderson,
On the Air
, pp. 34–35.

74 “a perverse exhilaration to it all”:
John Maxwell Hamilton,
Journalism’s Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2009), pp. 317–318.

74 “A searchlight just burst into action”:
CBS News Special Report, “London After Dark,” August 24, 1940, CougarGA7, in collaboration with www.archive.org and CBS News, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2576828/posts.

75 “Off to the east, searchlights poked”:
Drew Middleton, “Eye-Witness to London Raid Finds People’s Morale Good,” AP, August 25, 1940.

75 “There was an awful lot of clatter of showmanship”:
Powers, “Walter Cronkite: A Candid Conversation.”

76 Carroll logged detailed stories:
Harnett and Ferguson,
UNIPRESS
, pp. 137–138.

76 “a long year of waiting”:
Walter Cronkite, “Remembering the North Africa Campaign of World War II,”
All Things Considered
, NPR, LexisNexis transcript, November 8, 2002.

77 Neither had ever been to the East Coast before:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 33.

77 “New York is one of the finer spots”:
Walter Cronkite to Helen Cronkite, January–February 1942, WCP-UTA.

77 Cronkite was worried:
Harnett and Ferguson,
UNIPRESS
, pp. 138–40.

78 he was a “nut animal-lover”:
Walter Cronkite Roast in Phoenix, Arizona, November 15, 1985 (transcript), http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/125802-1 (accessed July 7, 2011).

78 Cronkite would not be among their ranks:
James,
Walter Cronkite
, p. 57.

78 “to avoid getting into combat”:
Powers, “Walter Cronkite: A Candid Conversation.”

79 “I occupied the admiral’s cabin”:
Walter Cronkite to Helen Cronkite, September 6, 1942, WCP-UTA.

79 “They thought I was a chaplain”:
Cronkite, “Remembering the North Africa Campaign.”

79 “a derelict merchantman wreck had been mistaken”:
Walter Cronkite, “Biggest Convoy Sent from U.S. Reaches Britain,” UP, August 24, 1940.

80 “if I can fight it through censorship”:
Walter Cronkite to Helen Cronkite, September 6, 1942, WCP-UTA.

80 “United Press correspondent assigned to the Atlantic fleet”:
Walter Cronkite, “Fire Guts Ex-Liner Manhattan,” UP, September 3, 1942.

81 UP was printing unrelated Cronkite-bylined:
Walter Cronkite, “British Expect One More Blitz from Hitler Air Force,” UP, September 12, 1942.

81 “I was told to report to the battleship”:
Cronkite and Carleton,
Conversations with Cronkite
, p. 38.

81 By reporting on:
Harnett and Ferguson,
UNIPRESS
, p. 139.

81 The UP that prided itself for “the world’s best coverage”:
“Shock-Troops of the Press,” advertisement, UP,
Pittsburgh Press,
March 1, 1943
.

82 Cronkite was the new kid on the block:
Joe Alex Morris, “Five United Press Reporters Sent to Africa,” UP, November 10, 1942.

82 Cunningham was known to cultivate a chummy relationship:
Joe Alex Morris,
Deadline Every Minute
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1957), pp. 260–261.

83 Cronkite had filed thirteen UP stories:
Cronkite, “Remembering the North Africa Campaign.”

83 He had accidentally “hitchhiked”:
Ibid.

84 he explained every big scene and small nuance of his North African adventure:
Cronkite,
A Reporter’s Life
, p. 90.

84 “It was enough to make a young wire-service reporter”:
Cronkite, “Remembering the North Africa Campaign.”

Six
: The Writing Sixty-ninth

87 “Walter would be at sea on Christmas”:
“Betsy Cronkite: Problems of an Anchorman’s Wife,”
Anderson
(Indiana)
Daily Bulletin
, November [nd] 1968, p. 28.

87 it was determined to “compete toe-to-toe”:
Morris,
Deadline Every Minute
, p. 254.

87 a voyage “abominable from every other standpoint”:
Walter Cronkite to Betsy Cronkite, December 30, 1942, WCP-UTA.

87 whom Cronkite later called his “hero”:
Walter Cronkite oral history interview, p. 99, WCP-UTA.

87 the high-heeled prostitutes, not the ordnance:
Don L. Miller,
Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), pp. 218–221.

87 “I thought Walter was one of the big guys”:
Author interview with Andy Rooney, March 15, 2011.

88 Rooney deemed Cronkite “a tough, competitive scrambler”:
Andy Rooney,
My War
(New York: Times Books, 1995), p. 86.