The German health care system has been subject to continual reform efforts and is still a subject of fierce debate. The most recent reform aims to simplify health benefits, provide more choices, increase transparency and create competition among providers. The most important issue at hand, however, is the strengthening of the program’s long-term financial foundation. For many of those involved in the health care industry, this reform merely represents a compromise between two parties that offer differing solutions. As such, it seems unlikely to achieve the stated goals.
The following article summarizes the key elements of the new reform and takes a look into what the near future might hold. Last updated: 26 May 2009
Since the 1980s, Germany has enacted and implemented 14 health care reforms. While previous reforms were directed at providing more efficient and cost-effective health care services, the most recent reform focuses on the structure of health insurance funds, marking the first time this topic has been addressed. The current reform is designed to ensure that the country will be able to finance future health care expenses in light of disproportionately rising health care costs. Among other things, the reform gives consideration to the impact of cost-intensive treatments, demographic change and the emergence of new disease patterns.
The topic of health care funding is set to remain a crucial issue and, consequently, to play a role in the upcoming campaigns for the Bundestag elections in September 2009. The fact that the various parties advocate different concepts means that the issue is a top priority. It is highly probable therefore that further health care reform will be introduced following the formation of a new government, as follows:
The goal of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is to adopt private insurance. Every German citizen would be required to be a member of the social health insurance system and to pay a portion of premiums based on a percentage of the individual’s total income, including salary, rental income, interest received and any other sources.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) likely would propose a per-capita premium for every adult, which would pay for basic and supplemental coverage available through individual private health investment.
Both ideas would include hardship regulations to cover lower-income individuals.
Regardless of the outcome of the Bundestag elections and the possible consequences for health care policy, the current trend of German employers becoming more involved in employee health care provisions is likely to continue. Today, government statutory and tax benefit schemes are leading many companies to take more responsibility for implementing employee health care programs, including higher contributions to health benefits or appropriate action as part of occupational health care management. Companies should, therefore, start developing programs now that will allow them to keep pace with this trend.
How the new fund will be structured
Germany’s 2006 health care policy changes and amendments have been gradually implemented over the past few years, culminating at present in the introduction of the health care fund (Gesundheitsfonds). The health care fund is the new cornerstone for funding German health care spending. It serves as a tool for distributing income that comes from social security contributions and taxes to the new health insurance funds.
Employer and employee contributions to health insurance funds will flow into the health care fund. Until at least 2011, this will happen the same way as before − via the social sickness funds. But from 2011, the contributions will flow directly into the fund. In addition, for the first time in Germany’s history, taxes are being contributed to these funds in order to finance growing health care costs.
The most significant recent changes for employees and employers, taking into account the information for foreign employers who have foreign nationals working in Germany, are as follows:
Compulsory health insurance, through either a statutory policy or a private health insurance policy, was required by 1 January 2009 at the latest for all persons living in Germany as of 1 January 2007.
Insurance coverage may be provided by authorized German health insurers only; this requirement also applies to insurance coverage for foreign nationals who have a German work permit. However, an expat employee who remains in Germany for more than five years must be covered by a German statutory policy or private health insurance policy starting no later than the sixth year (source: Book V of the Social Security Code [Sozialgesetzbuch]).
The general contribution rate to health insurance increased to 15.5 % of gross salary, up to the social security contribution ceiling, as of 1 January 2009. The second economic stimulus package specifies that this rate shall be reduced to 14.9 % as of 1 July 2009.
The contribution requirements for the health care fund are allocated as follows:
1. Beginning January 2009: 7.3 % employer contribution and 8.2 % employee contribution
2. Beginning July 2009: 7.0 % employer contribution and 7.9 % employee contribution
3. As of 1 January 2009, old-age reserve allocations will be transferred for those individuals changing to a new private health insurer. These financial reserves take into account the higher health care costs incurred by older individuals.
In addition, as of 1 January 2009, a new fee structure was introduced for German doctors to replace the old point-based fee scale for treatment centers. This change is negatively affecting patients covered by social health insurance because some doctors are providing treatment only if payment is made in advance, although this practice is unlawful.
Implications
As stated above, the new reform aims to simplify health benefits, provide more choices, increase transparency and create competition among providers. These results have not yet come to pass, and many believe that the core issue of financing the enormous German health care system has not been properly addressed. We have seen no mention of reducing cost, only of spreading the cost risk differently and hoping that the government will subsidize a greater amount.
In addition to hoping for more government funding, many social funds plan to implement the so-called Zusatzbeitrag, whereby an additional 1 % of income is added to the maximum social health security contribution ceiling. The Zusatzbeitrag is a government instrument intended to extract an additional premium to pay for members’ health insurance.
Compounding the problem of adequate funding are concurrent reforms in the long-term nursing care system, which are likely to lead to higher premiums. Rather than controlling cost, these efforts collectively may result in increasing the overall cost. At the moment, it seems that real reform will not take place in 2009, but will be delayed or reviewed following the next election. Until that review occurs, we are likely to see further cost increases. Unfortunately, the more centralized medicine gets, the easier it seems to be to pass along health insurance premiums to the members. The German health system uses a rather ironic slogan: “After the reform is before the reform.” We will have a clearer picture after the elections . . . so stay tuned.
http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1346005
Sunday, July 19, 2009
They Got Some ’Splainin’ to Do By FRANK RICH
AS political theater, the Sonia Sotomayor hearings tanked faster than the 2008 Fred Thompson presidential campaign. They boasted no drama to rival the Clarence-Anita slapdown, the Bork hissy fits or the tearful exodus of Samuel Alito’s wife. There was rarely a moment to match even the high point of the Senate’s previous grilling of Sotomayor — in 1997, when she was elevated to the Second Circuit. It was then that Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri previewed the brand of white male legal wisdom that would soon become his hallmark at the Bush Justice Department. “Do you believe there’s a constitutional right to homosexual conduct by prisoners?” he asked. (She aced it: “No, sir.”)
Yet the Sotomayor show was still rich in historical significance. Someday we may regard it as we do those final, frozen tableaus of Pompeii. It offered a vivid snapshot of what Washington looked like when clueless ancien-régime conservatives were feebly clinging to their last levers of power, blissfully oblivious to the new America that was crashing down on their heads and reducing their antics to a sideshow as ridiculous as it was obsolescent.
The hearings were pure “Alice in Wonderland.” Reality was turned upside down. Southern senators who relate every question to race, ethnicity and gender just assumed that their unreconstructed obsessions are America’s and that the country would find them riveting. Instead the country yawned. The Sotomayor questioners also assumed a Hispanic woman, simply for being a Hispanic woman, could be portrayed as The Other and patronized like a greenhorn unfamiliar with How We Do Things Around Here. The senators seemed to have no idea they were describing themselves when they tried to caricature Sotomayor as an overemotional, biased ideologue.
At least they didn’t refer to “Maria Sotomayor” as had Mike Huckabee, whose sole knowledge of Latinos apparently derives from “West Side Story.” But when Tom Coburn of Oklahoma merrily joked to Sotomayor that “You’ll have lots of ’splainin’ to do,” it clearly didn’t occur to him that such mindless condescension helps explain why the fastest-growing demographic group in the nation is bolting his party.
Coburn wouldn’t know that behind the fictional caricature Ricky Ricardo was the innovative and brilliant Cuban-American show-business mogul Desi Arnaz. As Lucie Arnaz, his and Lucille Ball’s daughter, told me last week, it always seemed unfair to her that those laughing at her father’s English usually lacked his fluency in two languages. Then again, Coburn was so unfamiliar with Jews he didn’t have a clear fix on what happened in the Holocaust until 1997, when he was 48. Party elders like Bill Bennett had to school him after he angrily berated NBC for subjecting children and “decent-minded individuals everywhere” to the violence, “full-frontal nudity and irresponsible sexual activity” of “Schindler’s List.”
The antediluvian political culture of Coburn and his peers, for all its roots in the race-baiting “Southern strategy” of the Nixon era, is actually of a more recent vintage. It dates back just 15 years, to what my Times colleague Sam Tanenhaus calls conservatism’s “most decadent phase” in his coming book “The Death of Conservatism.” This was the Newt Gingrich revolution, swept into Congress by the midterms of 1994. Its troops came armed with a reform agenda titled the “Contract With America” and a mother lode of piety. Their promises included an end to federal deficits, the restoration of national security, transparent (and fewer) House committees, and “a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.”
That the class of ’94 failed on almost every count is a matter of history, no matter how hard it has retroactively tried to blame its disastrous record on George W. Bush. Its incompetence may even have been greater than its world-class hypocrisy. Its only memorable achievements were to shut down the government in a fit of pique and to impeach Bill Clinton in a tsunami of moral outrage.
The class of ’94 gave us J.D. Hayworth and Bob Ney of the Jack Abramoff casino-lobbying scandals. Ney, a House committee chairman, did 17 months in jail. It gave us the sexual adventurers Mark Sanford, John Ensign and Mark Foley. (All these distinguished gentlemen voted for articles of impeachment, as did Gingrich, their randy role model.) The class of ’94 also included a black Republican, J. C. Watts, who at least had the integrity to leave Congress in 2003 to become a bona fide lobbyist rather than go on a K Street lobbyist’s payroll while still in public office. He was a fleeting novelty; there’s been no black Republican elected to either chamber of Congress since. Today the G.O.P.’s token black is its party chairman, Michael Steele, who last week unveiled his latest strategy for recruiting minority voters. “My plan is to say, ‘Ya’ll come!’ ” he explained, adding “I got the fried chicken and potato salad!”
Among Sotomayor’s questioners, both Coburn and Lindsey Graham are class of ’94. They — along with Jeff Sessions, a former Alabama attorney general best known for his unsuccessful prosecutions of civil rights activists — set the Republicans’ tone last week. In one of his many cringe-inducing moments, Graham suggested to Sotomayor that she had “a temperament problem” and advised that “maybe these hearings are a time for self-reflection.” That’s the crux of the ’94 spirit, even more than its constant, whiny refrain of white victimization: Hold others to a standard that you would not think of enforcing on yourself or your peers. Self-reflection may be mandatory for Sotomayor, but it certainly isn’t for Graham.
In his ’94 Congressional campaign in South Carolina, Graham made a big deal of promising to enact term limits. At the Clinton impeachment, he served as a manager of the prosecution. That was then, and this is now. Graham hasn’t even term-limited himself — an action he could have taken at any time unilaterally — and his pronouncements on marital morality (unencumbered by any marital attachments of his own) are a study in relativism. On “Meet the Press,” he granted absolution to his ’94 classmate Sanford, now his state’s governor, for abusing his office with his taxpayer-financed extramarital “trade mission” to Argentina. “I think the people of South Carolina will give him a second chance,” he said, as long as “Jenny and Mark can get back together.” Maybe Graham judges the Sanfords by a more empathetic standard than the Clintons because the Republican lieutenant governor who would replace Sanford is already fending off rumors that he’s gay.
Graham has also given a pass to his ’94 classmate Ensign, now a Nevada senator. Ensign not only committed adultery with an employee but sat by as his wealthy parents gave the mistress and her cuckolded husband nearly $100,000 to ease their pain. Ensign’s lawyer deflected questions that this beneficence might be hush money by claiming it was part of the senior Ensigns’ “pattern of generosity.”
When asked about these unsavory matters, Graham said that an ethics investigation of Ensign “isn’t high” among his priorities. This moral abdication still puts him on a higher plane than Coburn, who has been a murky broker in Ensign’s sexcapades. The husband of Ensign’s mistress told The Las Vegas Sun that Coburn urged Ensign to give him and his wife more than $1 million to pay off their mortgage and “move them to a new life.” Too bad no one thought of that one for the “Contract With America.”
Coburn maintains that he has immunity from testifying in any Ensign inquiry because he counseled Ensign as “a physician” and an “ordained deacon.” Coburn is an obstetrician and gynecologist, but never mind. What’s more relevant is the gall of his repeatedly lecturing Sotomayor last week on the “proper role” of judges — even to the point of reading her oath of office out loud. Coburn finds Sotomayor’s views “extremely troubling.” There’s nothing in Sotomayor’s history remotely as troubling as Coburn’s role in the Ensign scandal. Or as his inability to grasp Al Qaeda any better than he did the Nazis. In 2004, he claimed in all seriousness that the “gay agenda” is “the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today.”
You’d think that Coburn’s got some ’splainin’ to do, but as Washington etiquette has it, we spent the week learning every last footnote about Sotomayor while acres of press coverage shed scant light on the shoddy records of those judging her. The public got the point anyway about this dying order and its tired racial and culture wars. With Sotomayor’s fate never in doubt, it changed the channel.
Much of the audience was surely driven away by the sheer boredom of watching white guys incessantly parse the nominee’s “wise Latina” remark. This badgering was their last-ditch effort to prove that Gingrich was right when he called Sotomayor a racist at the start of the nomination process. She confronted that overheated controversy directly. “I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judgment,” Sotomayor testified.
It’s the American way that we judge people as individuals, not as groups. And by that standard we can say unequivocally that this particular wise Latina, with the richness of her experiences, would far more often than not reach a better conclusion than the individual white males she faced in that Senate hearing room. Even those viewers who watched the Sotomayor show for only a few minutes could see that her America is our future and theirs is the rapidly receding past.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/opinion/19rich.html?_r=1&em=&exprod=myyahoo&pagewanted=print
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Yet the Sotomayor show was still rich in historical significance. Someday we may regard it as we do those final, frozen tableaus of Pompeii. It offered a vivid snapshot of what Washington looked like when clueless ancien-régime conservatives were feebly clinging to their last levers of power, blissfully oblivious to the new America that was crashing down on their heads and reducing their antics to a sideshow as ridiculous as it was obsolescent.
The hearings were pure “Alice in Wonderland.” Reality was turned upside down. Southern senators who relate every question to race, ethnicity and gender just assumed that their unreconstructed obsessions are America’s and that the country would find them riveting. Instead the country yawned. The Sotomayor questioners also assumed a Hispanic woman, simply for being a Hispanic woman, could be portrayed as The Other and patronized like a greenhorn unfamiliar with How We Do Things Around Here. The senators seemed to have no idea they were describing themselves when they tried to caricature Sotomayor as an overemotional, biased ideologue.
At least they didn’t refer to “Maria Sotomayor” as had Mike Huckabee, whose sole knowledge of Latinos apparently derives from “West Side Story.” But when Tom Coburn of Oklahoma merrily joked to Sotomayor that “You’ll have lots of ’splainin’ to do,” it clearly didn’t occur to him that such mindless condescension helps explain why the fastest-growing demographic group in the nation is bolting his party.
Coburn wouldn’t know that behind the fictional caricature Ricky Ricardo was the innovative and brilliant Cuban-American show-business mogul Desi Arnaz. As Lucie Arnaz, his and Lucille Ball’s daughter, told me last week, it always seemed unfair to her that those laughing at her father’s English usually lacked his fluency in two languages. Then again, Coburn was so unfamiliar with Jews he didn’t have a clear fix on what happened in the Holocaust until 1997, when he was 48. Party elders like Bill Bennett had to school him after he angrily berated NBC for subjecting children and “decent-minded individuals everywhere” to the violence, “full-frontal nudity and irresponsible sexual activity” of “Schindler’s List.”
The antediluvian political culture of Coburn and his peers, for all its roots in the race-baiting “Southern strategy” of the Nixon era, is actually of a more recent vintage. It dates back just 15 years, to what my Times colleague Sam Tanenhaus calls conservatism’s “most decadent phase” in his coming book “The Death of Conservatism.” This was the Newt Gingrich revolution, swept into Congress by the midterms of 1994. Its troops came armed with a reform agenda titled the “Contract With America” and a mother lode of piety. Their promises included an end to federal deficits, the restoration of national security, transparent (and fewer) House committees, and “a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.”
That the class of ’94 failed on almost every count is a matter of history, no matter how hard it has retroactively tried to blame its disastrous record on George W. Bush. Its incompetence may even have been greater than its world-class hypocrisy. Its only memorable achievements were to shut down the government in a fit of pique and to impeach Bill Clinton in a tsunami of moral outrage.
The class of ’94 gave us J.D. Hayworth and Bob Ney of the Jack Abramoff casino-lobbying scandals. Ney, a House committee chairman, did 17 months in jail. It gave us the sexual adventurers Mark Sanford, John Ensign and Mark Foley. (All these distinguished gentlemen voted for articles of impeachment, as did Gingrich, their randy role model.) The class of ’94 also included a black Republican, J. C. Watts, who at least had the integrity to leave Congress in 2003 to become a bona fide lobbyist rather than go on a K Street lobbyist’s payroll while still in public office. He was a fleeting novelty; there’s been no black Republican elected to either chamber of Congress since. Today the G.O.P.’s token black is its party chairman, Michael Steele, who last week unveiled his latest strategy for recruiting minority voters. “My plan is to say, ‘Ya’ll come!’ ” he explained, adding “I got the fried chicken and potato salad!”
Among Sotomayor’s questioners, both Coburn and Lindsey Graham are class of ’94. They — along with Jeff Sessions, a former Alabama attorney general best known for his unsuccessful prosecutions of civil rights activists — set the Republicans’ tone last week. In one of his many cringe-inducing moments, Graham suggested to Sotomayor that she had “a temperament problem” and advised that “maybe these hearings are a time for self-reflection.” That’s the crux of the ’94 spirit, even more than its constant, whiny refrain of white victimization: Hold others to a standard that you would not think of enforcing on yourself or your peers. Self-reflection may be mandatory for Sotomayor, but it certainly isn’t for Graham.
In his ’94 Congressional campaign in South Carolina, Graham made a big deal of promising to enact term limits. At the Clinton impeachment, he served as a manager of the prosecution. That was then, and this is now. Graham hasn’t even term-limited himself — an action he could have taken at any time unilaterally — and his pronouncements on marital morality (unencumbered by any marital attachments of his own) are a study in relativism. On “Meet the Press,” he granted absolution to his ’94 classmate Sanford, now his state’s governor, for abusing his office with his taxpayer-financed extramarital “trade mission” to Argentina. “I think the people of South Carolina will give him a second chance,” he said, as long as “Jenny and Mark can get back together.” Maybe Graham judges the Sanfords by a more empathetic standard than the Clintons because the Republican lieutenant governor who would replace Sanford is already fending off rumors that he’s gay.
Graham has also given a pass to his ’94 classmate Ensign, now a Nevada senator. Ensign not only committed adultery with an employee but sat by as his wealthy parents gave the mistress and her cuckolded husband nearly $100,000 to ease their pain. Ensign’s lawyer deflected questions that this beneficence might be hush money by claiming it was part of the senior Ensigns’ “pattern of generosity.”
When asked about these unsavory matters, Graham said that an ethics investigation of Ensign “isn’t high” among his priorities. This moral abdication still puts him on a higher plane than Coburn, who has been a murky broker in Ensign’s sexcapades. The husband of Ensign’s mistress told The Las Vegas Sun that Coburn urged Ensign to give him and his wife more than $1 million to pay off their mortgage and “move them to a new life.” Too bad no one thought of that one for the “Contract With America.”
Coburn maintains that he has immunity from testifying in any Ensign inquiry because he counseled Ensign as “a physician” and an “ordained deacon.” Coburn is an obstetrician and gynecologist, but never mind. What’s more relevant is the gall of his repeatedly lecturing Sotomayor last week on the “proper role” of judges — even to the point of reading her oath of office out loud. Coburn finds Sotomayor’s views “extremely troubling.” There’s nothing in Sotomayor’s history remotely as troubling as Coburn’s role in the Ensign scandal. Or as his inability to grasp Al Qaeda any better than he did the Nazis. In 2004, he claimed in all seriousness that the “gay agenda” is “the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today.”
You’d think that Coburn’s got some ’splainin’ to do, but as Washington etiquette has it, we spent the week learning every last footnote about Sotomayor while acres of press coverage shed scant light on the shoddy records of those judging her. The public got the point anyway about this dying order and its tired racial and culture wars. With Sotomayor’s fate never in doubt, it changed the channel.
Much of the audience was surely driven away by the sheer boredom of watching white guys incessantly parse the nominee’s “wise Latina” remark. This badgering was their last-ditch effort to prove that Gingrich was right when he called Sotomayor a racist at the start of the nomination process. She confronted that overheated controversy directly. “I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judgment,” Sotomayor testified.
It’s the American way that we judge people as individuals, not as groups. And by that standard we can say unequivocally that this particular wise Latina, with the richness of her experiences, would far more often than not reach a better conclusion than the individual white males she faced in that Senate hearing room. Even those viewers who watched the Sotomayor show for only a few minutes could see that her America is our future and theirs is the rapidly receding past.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/opinion/19rich.html?_r=1&em=&exprod=myyahoo&pagewanted=print
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Walter Cronkite
Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on November 4,1916 and died July 17, 2009, former CBS-TV News anchorman Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., was raised in Houston, Texas. He went to Houston's San Jacinto High School. In 1933, he became a student at the University of Texas where he developed his love and passion for journalism.
In Austin, Cronkite worked at both his college newspaper, The Daily Texan, and the State Capitol forming a lifelong tie to the city. He got paid for part-time work as a copy boy and sometimes reporter for various newspapers at their Capitol bureaus. "It was a very happy time in my life," Cronkite said during a 1999 reunion for The Daily Texan's centennial celebration. "I had too good a time," he added, saying that he visits Austin "as often as I can but not often enough." His daughter Kathy and her family live there.
At UT, Cronkite joined the Chi Phi fraternity and ran for freshman class president. He lost to high school buddy Joe Greenhill, who was later chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Cronkite's newspaper work, along with a magazine article he read about a foreign correspondent, motivated him to quit UT in 1935 and take a full-time news job at the Houston Post.
Another professional influence on Cronkite was long-time Texas newspaperman Gordon Kent Shearer, perhaps best known for his service as bureau chief for the United Press in Austin. He opened that office in 1927 and worked there for twenty years. Shearer's column, "Under the Dome," was a popular political feature. Cronkite worked under Shearer and credited much of his early journalistic training to him.
Cronkite got his training in broadcast journalism at Midwestern radio stations, and during World War II he covered the European theater for United Press. After the war, he served as chief United Press correspondent at the Nuremberg trials.
Cronkite joined CBS News in 1950, worked on a variety of programs, and covered national political conventions and elections from 1952 to 1981. He was one of the original creators of the CBS Evening News in 1962. He anchored that broadcast until his 1981 retirement. The public's perception of him as honest, objective and level-headed led to his popular title as "the most trusted man in America." His nightly sign-off, "and that's the way it is," was his trademark. His voice enthusiastically narrated the U.S. manned space program and was one of relative reason during the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.
Cronkite himself became involved in a story in 1976 when television newsman Sam Jaffe reported seeing his name on an alleged White House list of journalists who had worked for the CIA. In an angry confrontation with CIA director George Bush on February 4, Cronkite demanded that he disclose which news people had actually been CIA agents. Bush refused. A week later, the CBS Evening News reported that at least two former correspondents for CBS had secretly worked for the spy agency.
After retiring, Cronkite, whose passion has long been science and space exploration, hosted CBS's Universe (1982), coproduced Why in the World (1981) for Public Broadcasting System, and hosted Dinosaur (1991) for Arts and Entertainment Cable television.
Bibliography: "Cronkite, Walter (Leland, Jr.)," Biography.com, Oct. 4, 1999; Sharon Jayson, "And that's the way it was," Austin American-Statesman, Metro & State, October 1, 1999, http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/friday/metro_state_12.html; "SHEARER, GORDON KENT." The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/view/SS/fsh14.html; Daniel Schorr, "Clearing the Air" (New York: Berkley, 1977), p. 276.
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009)[2][3][4] was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited in viewer opinion polls as "the most trusted man in America" because of his professional experience and kindly demeanor.[5][6]
Early life
Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the son of Helen Lena (née Fritsche) and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite, a dentist.[7][8] He had remote Dutch ancestry on his father's side, the family surname originally being Krankheyt.[9]
Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri, until he was ten, when his family moved to Houston, Texas.[7] He attended junior high school at Lanier Junior High School (now Lanier Middle School) and high school at San Jacinto High School where he edited the high school newspaper.[1] He was a member of the Boy Scouts. He attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked on the Daily Texan and became a member of the Nu chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity.[10][1] He also was a member of the Houston chapter of DeMolay, a Masonic fraternal organization for boys. It was while attending the University of Texas that Cronkite had his first taste of performance, appearing in a play with fellow students Eli Wallach and Ann Sheridan.
Career
He dropped out of college in his junior year in 1935 after starting a series of newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports.[3] He entered broadcasting as a radio announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1936, he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (known by her nickname "Betsy"), while working as the sports announcer for KCMO (AM) in Kansas City, Missouri.[7][3] His broadcast name was "Walter Wilcox".[11] He would explain later that radio stations at the time did not want people to use their real names for fear of taking their listeners with them if they left. In Kansas City, he joined the United Press in 1937.[3] He became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe.[7] He was one of eight journalists selected by the United States Army Air Forces to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress.[12] He also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market-Garden and covered the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow for two years.
Early years at CBS
In 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, recruited by Edward R. Murrow, who had previously tried to hire Cronkite from UP during the war. Cronkite began working at WTOP-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.. He originally served as anchor of the network's 15-minute late-Sunday-evening newscast Up To the Minute, which followed What's My Line? at 11:00pm ET from 1951 through 1962.
On July 7, 1952, the term "anchor" was coined to describe Cronkite's role at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, which marked the first nationally-televised convention coverage.[13] Cronkite anchored the network's coverage of the 1952 presidential election as well as later conventions. In 1964 he was temporarily replaced by the team of Robert Trout and Roger Mudd; this proved to be a mistake, and Cronkite returned to the anchor chair for future political conventions.
From 1953 to 1957, Cronkite hosted the CBS program You Are There, which reenacted historical events, using the format of a news report. His famous last line for these programs 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." In 1971, the show was revived and redesigned to attract an audience of teenagers and young adults on Saturday mornings. He also hosted The Twentieth Century, a documentary series about important historical events of the century comprised almost exclusively of newsreel footage and interviews. It became a long-running hit. Cronkite also hosted It's News to Me, a game show based on news events.
The CBS Evening News
Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of the CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962, a job in which he became an American icon.[7] The program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes on September 2, 1963, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program.
During the early part of his tenure anchoring the CBS Evening News, Cronkite competed against NBC's anchor team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, who anchored the Huntley-Brinkley Report. For most of the 1960s, the Huntley-Brinkley Report had more viewers than Cronkite's broadcast. This began to change in the late 1960s, as RCA made a corporate decision not to fund NBC News at the levels CBS funded CBS News. Consequently, CBS News acquired a reputation for greater accuracy and depth in its broadcast journalism. This reputation meshed nicely with Cronkite's wire service experience, and in 1968 the CBS Evening News began to surpass The Huntley-Brinkley Report in viewership during the summer months.
In 1969, with Apollo 11, and later with Apollo 13, Cronkite received the best ratings and made CBS the most-watched television network for the missions.[1] In 1970, the CBS Evening News finally dominated the American TV news viewing audience, when Huntley retired. Although NBC finally settled on the skilled and well-respected broadcast journalist John Chancellor, Cronkite proved to be more popular and continued to be top-rated until his retirement in 1981.[7]
One of Cronkite's trademarks was ending the CBS Evening News with the phrase "...And that's the way it is," followed by the date. Keeping to standards of objective journalism, he omitted this phrase on nights when he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary.[7] Beginning with January 16, 1980, Day 50 of the Iran hostage crisis, Cronkite added the length of the hostages' captivity to the show's closing to remind the audience of the unresolved situation, ending only on Day 444, January 20, 1981.[14][15]
For many years, until a decade after he left his post as anchor,[16] Cronkite was considered one of the most trusted figures in the United States.[5] For most of his 20 years as anchor, he was the "predominant news voice in America."[16] Affectionately known as "Uncle Walter", he covered many of the important news events of the era so effectively that his image and voice are closely associated with the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the Watergate scandal.[4][1] USA Today wrote that "few TV figures have ever had as much power as Cronkite did at his height."[16] Enjoying the cult of personality surrounding Cronkite in those years, CBS allowed some good-natured fun-poking at its star anchorman in some episodes of the network's popular situation comedy All in the Family, during which the lead character Archie Bunker would sometimes complain about the newsman, calling him "Pinko Cronkite."
Cronkite trained himself to speak at a rate of 124 words per minute in his newscasts, so that viewers could clearly understand him.[17] In contrast, Americans average about 165 words per minute, and fast, difficult-to-understand talkers speak close to 200 words per minute.[18]
Awards and honors
In 1968, the faculty of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University voted to award Cronkite the Carr Van Anda Award "for enduring contributions to journalism".[19] In 1970, Cronkite received a "Freedom of the Press" George Polk Award.[1] In 1981, the year he retired, Jimmy Carter awarded Cronkite the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[1] On March 1, 2006, Cronkite became the first non-astronaut to receive NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award.[10][20]
Historic moments as anchor
Kennedy assassination
Cronkite is vividly remembered by many Americans for breaking the news of the death of President Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. Cronkite had been standing at the United Press International wire machine in the CBS newsroom as the bulletin of the President's shooting broke and clamored to get on the air to break the news. However, cameras were not ready for use and Cronkite would be forced to break the news without them while one warmed up.
At 1:40 p.m., a "CBS News Bulletin" bumper slide broke into the live broadcast of As the World Turns (ATWT). Over the slide, Cronkite began reading:
"Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."
A second bulletin arrived as Cronkite was reading the first one, which detailed the severity of President Kennedy's wounds:
"More details just arrived. These details about the same as previously...President Kennedy shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy, she called "Oh no!," the motorcade sped on. United Press [International] says that the wounds for President Kennedy perhaps could be fatal. Repeating, a bulletin from CBS News: President Kennedy has been shot by a would-be assassin in Dallas, Texas. Stay tuned to CBS News for further details."
Just before the bulletin cut out, a CBS News staffer was heard saying "Connally too," apparently having just heard the news that Texas Governor John Connally had also been shot while riding in the Presidential limousine with his wife Nellie and Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy.
CBS then rejoined the telecast of As the World Turns during the show's first commercial break. A commercial for Nescafe coffee and a sponsor bumper for the first half of the show that had just completed were then aired, followed by a bumper for the scheduled episode of Route 66 to air that night and a ten second station identification break for the CBS affiliates. Just as ATWT was set to return from break, with show announcer Dan McCullough set to announce the sponsor of the second half of the program, CBS again broke in and was once again forced to use the bulletin bumper slide as the news staff was still waiting for the camera to warm up. In this bulletin Cronkite reported in somewhat greater detail about the assassination attempt, while also breaking the news of Governor Connally's shooting.
"Here is a bulletin from CBS News. Further details on an assassination attempt against President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy was shot as he drove from Dallas Airport to downtown Dallas; Governor Connally of Texas, in the car with him, was also shot. It is reported that three bullets rang out. A Secret Service man has been...was heard to shout from the car, "He's dead." Whether he referred to President Kennedy or not is not yet known. The President, cradled in the arms of his wife Mrs. Kennedy, was carried to an ambulance and the car rushed to Parkland Hospital outside Dallas, the President was taken to an emergency room in the hospital. Other White House officials were in doubt in the corridors of the hospital as to the condition of President Kennedy. Repeating this bulletin: President Kennedy shot while driving in an open car from the airport in Dallas, Texas, to downtown Dallas."
Cronkite then recapped the events as they had happened: that the President and Governor Connally were shot and in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital and no one knew their condition as of yet. He then reminded the viewers that CBS News would continue to provide updates as more information came in.
CBS then decided to return to ATWT, which was now midway through its second segment. The cast had continued to perform live while Cronkite's bulletins broke into the broadcast, apparently unaware of the developing story taking place in Dallas. ATWT then took its second scheduled commercial break. It would be the last anyone would see of the show- or for any normal broadcast television- until Tuesday, November 26.
As he had twice before, Cronkite broke in with an audio-only bulletin accompanied by the (at least for that day) ever-present CBS News Bulletin bumper slide:
"Here is a bulletin from CBS News...President Kennedy has been the victim of an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas. It is not known as yet whether the President survived the attack against him."
This particular bulletin went into even more detail than the other two, as for the first time Cronkite detailed where the shooting victims were wounded (Kennedy had been shot in the head, Connally in the chest). At the conclusion of the bulletin, Cronkite told viewers to stay tuned for further details, perhaps implying that the network would be returning to regular programming. However, Cronkite remained on the air for the next ten minutes, continuing to read bulletins as they were handed to him, followed by recapping the events as they were known and interspersing the new information he had received where appropriate. He also brought up recent instances of assassination attempts against sitting Presidents (including the murder of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in a botched assassination attempt on then-President-elect Franklin Roosevelt), as well as a recent attack of United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson in Dallas which resulted in extra security measures being taken for Kennedy's visit to the city. He also received word that Congressman Albert Thomas of Texas had been told that for the moment the President and governor were still alive.
By 2:00 EST, Cronkite was informed that the camera was ready, and told the viewers over the air that CBS would be taking a station identification break so that affiliates could join the network. Within twenty seconds, all the CBS affiliates (with the exception of KRLD in Dallas, which was covering the tragedy locally) joined the network's coverage. Cronkite appeared on-air in shirt and tie but without his suit coat, given the urgent nature of the story, and opened with this:
"This is Walter Cronkite in our newsroom in New York. There has been an attempt, as perhaps you know now, on the life of President Kennedy. He was wounded in an automobile driving from Dallas Airport into downtown Dallas, along with Governor Connally of Texas. They have been taken to Parkland Hospital there, where their condition is as yet unknown."
Cronkite then tried to throw to KRLD's coverage of the Dallas Trade Mart meeting that the President was supposed to address, but the camera was not ready. After a few seconds, Cronkite started speaking again, but shortly after he had begun, the broadcast abruptly cut into the aforementioned meeting where the station's news director Eddie Barker was reporting (a director was audibly heard saying "Okay, go ahead. Switch it" while Cronkite was talking). He said that the President was still alive (as Cronkite had been told by the report from Congressman Thomas earlier and directly by Congressman Jim Wright just moments before Barker's report was filed). About five minutes later, Barker reported that rumors had begun to circulate that Kennedy was in fact dead.
Cronkite reappeared several minutes after Barker reported that Kennedy was rumored to have been killed, advising that two priests had been called to Kennedy's bedside, although the reasons for which were not made clear. He also played an audio report by KRLD's Jim Underwood, recounting that someone had been arrested in the assassination attempt at the Texas School Book Depository. After said report, Cronkite was told that KRLD was reporting that that the President was dead and Barker was reporting that he had been told by a doctor at Parkland Hospital of the President's death. While the coverage continued at the Dallas Trade Mart meeting, Barker said that the assassination was officially confirmed, but neither the Associated Press or United Press International had done so. He then retracted the statement, saying that it still had yet to officially be confirmed that the President was dead. Shortly thereafter, CBS stopped showing KRLD's coverage and returned to their own coverage of the incident.
As he had been doing, Cronkite again reported the events as they were known. At 2:27 PM EST, word reached Cronkite of a report filed by Dallas bureau chief Dan Rather, which had stated that the President was dead but was unconfirmed. Rather's report had been originally given to CBS Radio, which relayed the report as if Kennedy actually was dead. There was some debate going on in the newsroom at the time whether or not to air the report. Cronkite delivered the news to the nation. Since Rather's report, as he had delivered it, only theorized that the President was dead and no word to that effect had come from any wire service (although Kennedy had died nearly thirty minutes before Rather's report was filed), Cronkite stressed that the report was not an official confirmation of the President's death and continued to report on the incident as if the President was still alive.
Cronkite later reported that the priest (Father Oscar Huber) called in to perform the Last Rites to the President did not believe that he was dead when he performed them, seeming to contradict what Barker and Rather had been reporting (and contrary to what Huber had told other reporters on the scene, as he had said Kennedy was dead when he entered the room to perform the Last Rites and had to pull back a sheet covering his body to perform them). Ten minutes later he received a report that the two priests who were with Kennedy were now saying that he was dead, declaring that it was as close to official as they could get. However, Cronkite continued to stress that there was no official confirmation of the death of Kennedy from the hospital (although his words seemed to indicate that this was the most likely outcome).
Cronkite then continued to report for the next several minutes while still waiting official word of the President's apparent death. While continuing to affirm that there was no official confirmation he reminded viewers that the priests, Rather, and several government sources were relaying word that in fact Kennedy was dead. At approximately 2:38 p.m. EST, Cronkite was remarking on the increased security presence in Dallas for the President's visit for fear of protests, bringing up the assault on Adlai Stevenson again. While Cronkite was speaking one of two news editors who had been standing by the newsroom's two wire machines pulled a bulletin from the Associated Press machine and began walking toward Cronkite's desk with it.
"Throughout the streets of Dallas, the Dallas Police have been augmented by some 400 policemen called in on their day off because there were some fears and concerns in Dallas that, uh...that there might be demonstrations, at least, that could embarrass the President. Because it was only on October 24 that our ambassador of the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, was assaulted in Dallas leaving a dinner meeting there..."
Just as he had said that, the editor handed Cronkite the bulletin. Cronkite stopped speaking, put on his eyeglasses, looked over the bulletin sheet for a moment, took off his glasses, and made the official announcement:
From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official: (reading AP flash) "President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time." (glancing up at clock) 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.
After making that announcement, Cronkite paused briefly, put his glasses back on and swallowed hard to maintain his composure. There was noticeable emotion in his voice as he intoned the next sentence of the news report:
"Vice President Johnson *cough* has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States."
With emotion still in his voice, Cronkite then proceeded as he had before in recapping the events after collecting himself, this time incorporating wire photos of Kennedy's visit to Dallas that had been taken during the day and telling viewers what the pictures signified. After that Cronkite reminded the viewers one final time that it had now been confirmed that the President was dead, that Vice President Johnson was now the President and was to be sworn in (although he would not be for another hour), that Governor Connally's condition was still unknown but many reports said that he was still alive, and that there was no report if the assassin had been captured (despite the reports of arrests earlier at the Texas School Book Depository). He then tossed coverage of the events to colleague Charles Collingwood and left the newsroom, but would return several hours later to anchor The CBS Evening News as scheduled.
Two days later, at 2:33 PM EST on November 24, Cronkite broke into CBS' coverage of the memorial services in Washington to relay news regarding a situation that Harry Reasoner, his colleague, had earlier broken into the funeral coverage to report:
From our CBS newsroom in New York, a bulletin: Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who Dallas police say killed President Kennedy, himself is dead. He was cut down by a single bullet an hour and fifteen minutes before he died in Parkland Hospital in a room just ten feet from that room where President Kennedy died. He was being taken from the Dallas City Jail to to the Dallas County Jail but in the basement of the Dallas City Jail, before he left that building, he was shot. The man Dallas police seized at the scene and are holding has been identified as Jack Rubenstein, known in Dallas as Jack Ruby, a man who years ago moved to Dallas from Chicago and was operating two nightclubs, and well-known nightclubs, in Dallas. He is fifty-two years old, balding, with black hair. He is being held by the Dallas police, who say they will charge him with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
Referring to his coverage of Kennedy's assassination, in a 2006 TV interview with Nick Clooney, Cronkite recalled:
"I choked up, I really had a little trouble...my eyes got a little wet...[what Kennedy had represented] was just all lost to us. Fortunately, I grabbed hold before I was actually [crying]."
In a 2003 CBS special commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Cronkite said that he was standing at the United Press wire machine when the bulletin broke and was clamoring to get on the air as fast as was possible. Recalling his reaction upon having the death confirmed to him, he said:
And when you finally had to say it's official, the President is dead...pretty tough words in a situation like that. And they were, um, hard to come by.
Vietnam War
Cronkite reported on location during the Vietnam War.Following Cronkite's editorial report during the Tet Offensive that the Vietnam War was unwinnable, President Lyndon Johnson is reported to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."[21]
During the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Cronkite was anchoring the CBS network coverage as violence and protests occurred outside the convention, as well as scuffles inside the convention hall. When Dan Rather was punched to the floor (on camera) by security personnel, Cronkite commented, "I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan."
Other historic events
General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower returned to his former Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) headquarters for an interview by Cronkite on the CBS News Special Report D-Day + 20, telecast on June 6, 1964.
Cronkite is also remembered for his coverage of the United States space program, and at times was visibly enthusiastic, rubbing his hands together on camera with a smile on July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing mission put the first men on the Moon. Cronkite criticized himself for being at a loss for journalistic words at that moment.
According to the 2006 PBS documentary on Cronkite, there was "nothing new" in his reports on the Watergate affair; however, Cronkite brought together a wide range of reporting, and his credibility and status is credited by many with pushing the Watergate story to the forefront with the American public, ultimately resulting in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974.[1] Cronkite had anchored the CBS coverage of Nixon's address, announcing his impending resignation, the night before.
Cronkite also was one of the first to receive word of President Lyndon B. Johnson's death, receiving the information during the January 22, 1973, broadcast of the CBS Evening News.[22] While a videotaped report by Peter Kalischer about the apparently successful Vietnam war peace talks was being shown to the nation, Johnson's press secretary Tom Johnson (no relative of Lyndon Johnson) telephoned Cronkite to inform him of Johnson's death. CBS cut abruptly from the report at 6:38 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to Cronkite, who was still speaking to Johnson on the phone. After holding up a finger to pause and let Johnson finish, he broke the news to the nation that the former President had died, then continued to speak with Johnson (who was not patched through to the air) for a few more seconds to gather whatever remaining details he could, then hung up the phone and relayed those details to the audience.[23] During the final ten minutes of that broadcast, Cronkite reported on the death, giving a retrospective on the life of nation's 36th president, and announced that CBS would air a special on Lyndon Johnson later that evening. This story was re-told on a 2007 CBS-TV special honoring Cronkite's 90th birthday. Tom Johnson later became president of CNN.
NBC-TV's Garrick Utley, anchoring NBC Nightly News that evening, also interrupted his newscast in order to break the story, doing so about three minutes after Cronkite on CBS. ABC, however, did not cover the story at all, since, at the time, that network fed its evening newscast to local stations at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, even though many affiliates tape-delayed the broadcast to air at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m..[24]
Other TV appearances
Cronkite made a cameo appearance on the Mary Tyler Moore show, in which he met with Lou Grant in his office. Ted Baxter, who at first tried to convince Cronkite that he (Baxter) was as good a newsman as Eric Sevareid, pleaded with Cronkite to hire him for the network news, at least to give sport scores, and gave an example: "The North Stars 3, the Kings Oh!" Cronkite turned to Lou and said, "I'm gonna get you for this!" Cronkite later said that he was disappointed that his scene was filmed in one take, since he had hoped to sit down and chat with the cast.
In the late 1980s and again in the 1990s, Cronkite appeared on the news-oriented situation comedy Murphy Brown as himself. Both episodes were written by the Emmy-award winning team of Tom Seeley and Norm Gunzenhauser.
Movie appearances
Cronkite appeared briefly in the 2005 dramatic documentary The American Ruling Class written by Lewis Lapham, Thirteen Days, reporting on the Cuban missile crisis and provided the opening synopsis of the American Space Program leading to the events in Apollo 13 for the Ron Howard film of the same name.
He also was the voice of Captain NewEyes, the twin brother of Prof. ScrewEyes, in 1993's We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story.
Personal life
Cronkite at the helm of the USS Constitution in July 1997.Cronkite was married for nearly sixty-five years to Betsy Maxwell Cronkite, whom he married on March 30, 1940. They remained together until her death on March 16, 2005. They had three children: Nancy Cronkite, Kathy Cronkite, and Walter (Chip) Cronkite III (who is married to actress Deborah Rush).[5][2] Cronkite also had four grandchildren, two of whom, Peter Cronkite and Walter Cronkite IV, are alumni of St. Bernard's School. Peter Cronkite is currently attending Horace Mann School. Walter attends Hamilton College, having graduated from The Horace Mann School.
In late 2005 Cronkite began dating opera singer Joanna Simon, Carly Simon's older sister. Of their relationship Cronkite stated in an interview for the New York Post in January 2006: "We are keeping company, as the old phrase used to be."[25]
Death
Cronkite died at his home in New York City on July 17, 2009, at the age of 92 from cerebrovascular disease,[26] described by his son as complications from dementia.[27]
Retirement
Cronkite announced that he intended to retire from the CBS Evening News on February 14, 1980; at the time, CBS had a policy in place that called for mandatory retirement by age 65.[28] Although sometimes compared to a father figure or an uncle figure, in an interview about his retirement he described himself as being more like a "comfortable old shoe" to his audience. By this, he meant that they could "comfortably put their foot in him like a slipper." His last day in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News was on March 6, 1981; he was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather.
Cronkite's farewell statement:[29]
“ This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of The CBS Evening News; for me, it's a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness. For almost two decades, after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and I'll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I'm afraid have made too much. This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman, Doug Edwards, preceded me in this job, and another, Dan Rather, will follow.[1] And anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists; writers, reporters, editors, producers, and none of that will change. Furthermore, I'm not even going away! I'll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries, and, beginning in June, every week, with our science program, Universe. Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981. I'll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night. ”
Activities from 1981 to 2009
Cronkite meets with President Ronald Reagan at the White House, 1981
Reporting
As he had promised on his last show as anchor in 1981, Cronkite continued to broadcast occasionally as a special correspondent for CBS, CNN, and NPR into the 21st century; one such occasion was Cronkite anchoring the second space flight by John Glenn in 1998 as he had Glenn's first in 1962. In 1983, he reported on the British General Election for the ITV current affairs series World In Action, interviewing, among many others, the victorious Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.[30] Cronkite hosted the annual Vienna New Year's Concert on PBS from 1985 to 2007, succeeded by Julie Andrews in 2008.[31] For many years, until 2005, he was also the host of the annual Kennedy Center Honors.
In 1998, Cronkite hosted the 90-minute documentary, Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, produced by the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association. The film documented Silicon Valley's rise from the origin of Stanford University to the current high-technology powerhouse. The documentary was broadcast on PBS throughout the United States and in 26 countries. Prior to 2004, he could also be seen in the opening movie 'Back to Neverland' shown in the Walt Disney World attraction, The Magic of Disney Animation, interviewing Robin Williams as if he is still on the CBS News channel, ending his on-camera time with his famous catchphrase. In the featurette, Cronkite describes the steps taken in the creation of an animated film, while Robin Williams becomes an animated character (and even becomes Walter Cronkite, impersonating his voice). He also was shown inviting Disney guests and tourists to the Disney Classics Theater.
On May 21, 1999, Walter Cronkite participated in a panel discussion on Integrity in the Media with Ben Bradlee and Mike McCurry at the Connecticut Forum in Hartford, Connecticut. Cronkite provided a particularly funny anecdote about taking a picture from a house in Houston, Texas where a newsworthy event occurred and being praised for getting a unique photograph, only to find out later that the city desk had provided him with the wrong address.[32]
Voiceovers
Cronkite narrated the IMAX film about the Space Shuttle, The Dream is Alive, released in 1985. From May 26, 1986 to August 15, 1994, he was the narrator's voice in the EPCOT Center attraction, Spaceship Earth, at Walt Disney World. He provided the pivotal voice of Captain Neweyes in the 1993 animated film We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, delivering his trademark line at the end. In 1995, he made an appearance on Broadway, providing the voice of the titular book in the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Cronkite was also considered to be a finalist for NASA's "Journalist in Space" program, which mirrored the Teacher in Space Project, an opportunity that was suspended after the Challenger Disaster in 1986. He recorded voice-overs for the 1995 film Apollo 13, modifying the script he was given to make it more "Cronkitian". In 2002, Cronkite was the voice of Benjamin Franklin in all 40 episodes of the educational television cartoon Liberty's Kids, which included a news segment ending with "And that's the way it is on...[a historic date]." His distinctive voice provided the narration for the television ads of the University of Texas at Austin, his alma mater, with its We're Texas ad campaign.[33]
He held amateur radio operator license KB2GSD and narrated a 2003 American Radio Relay League documentary explaining amateur radio's role in disaster relief. Unusually, Cronkite was a Novice-class licensee -- the entry level license -- for his entire, and long, tenure in the hobby.
On February 15, 2005, he went into the studio at CBS to record narration for WCC Chatham Radio, a documentary about Guglielmo Marconi and his Chatham station, which became the busiest ship-to-shore wireless station in North America from 1914 to 1994. The documentary was directed by Christopher Seufert of Mooncusser Films and premiered at the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center[34] in April 2005. In May 2009, Legacy of War, produced by PBS, was released. Cronkite chronicles, over archive footage, the events following World War II that resulted in America's rise as the dominant world power.
Prior to his death, "Uncle Walter" hosted a number of TV specials and was featured in interviews about the times and events that occurred during his career as America's "most trusted" man.[5] In July 2006, the 90-minute documentary Walter Cronkite: Witness to History aired on PBS. The special was narrated by Katie Couric, who assumed the CBS Evening News anchor chair in September 2006. Cronkite provides the voiceover introduction to Couric's CBS Evening News, which began on September 5, 2006.
Political activism
Walter Cronkite speaks at a NASA ceremony in February 2004Cronkite wrote a syndicated opinion column for King Features Syndicate. In 2005 and 2006, he contributed to The Huffington Post.[35] Cronkite was the chairman of The Interfaith Alliance.[36] In 2006, he presented the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award to actor and activist George Clooney on behalf of his organization at its[37] annual dinner in New York.
Cronkite was a vocal advocate for free airtime for political candidates. He worked with the Alliance for Better Campaigns and Common Cause, for instance, on an unsuccessful lobbying effort to have an amendment added to the McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2001 that would have required TV broadcast companies to provide free airtime to candidates. Cronkite criticized the present system of campaign finance which allows elections to "be purchased" by special interests, and he noted that all the European democracies "provide their candidates with extensive free airtime." "In fact", Cronkite pointed out, "of all the major nations worldwide that profess to have democracies, only seven — just seven — do not offer free airtime", putting the United States on a list with Ecuador, Honduras, Malaysia, Taiwan, Tanzania, and Trinidad and Tobago. Cronkite concluded that "The failure to give free airtime for our political campaigns endangers our democracy." In the 2000 election year, the amount spent by candidates in the major TV markets approached $1 billion. "What our campaign asks is that the television industry yield just a tiny percentage of that windfall, less than 1 percent, to fund free airtime."[38]
He was a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee.[39][40] He also supported the nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International.
In 1998, he supported President Bill Clinton during Clinton's impeachment trial. He was also a proponent of limited world government on the American federalist model, writing fund-raising letters for the World Federalist Association (now Citizens for Global Solutions). In accepting the 1999 Norman Cousins Global Governance Award at the ceremony at the United Nations, Cronkite said:[41]
"It seems to many of us that if we are to avoid the eventual catastrophic world conflict we must strengthen the United Nations as a first step toward a world government patterned after our own government with a legislature, executive and judiciary, and police to enforce its international laws and keep the peace. To do that, of course, we Americans will have to yield up some of our sovereignty. That would be a bitter pill. It would take a lot of courage, a lot of faith in the new order. But the American colonies did it once and brought forth one of the most nearly perfect unions the world has ever seen."
Cronkite contrasted his support for accountable global government with the opposition to it by politically active Christian fundamentalists in the United States:[42]
"Even as with the American rejection of the League of Nations, our failure to live up to our obligations to the United Nations is led by a handful of willful senators who choose to pursue their narrow, selfish political objectives at the cost of our nation’s conscience.They pander to and are supported by the Christian Coalition and the rest of the religious right wing. Their leader, Pat Robertson, has written that we should have a world government but only when the messiah arrives. Any attempt to achieve world order before that time must be the work of the Devil! Well join me… I'm glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan."
In 2003, Cronkite, who owned property on Martha's Vineyard,[5] became involved in a long-running debate over his opposition to the construction of a wind farm in that area. In his column, he repeatedly condemned President George W. Bush and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization — beyond that; a far-right-wing organization". In January 2006, during a press conference to promote the PBS documentary about his career, Cronkite said that he felt the same way about America's presence in Iraq as he had about their presence in Vietnam in 1968 and that he felt America should recall its troops.[43]
Cronkite spoke out against the War on Drugs in support of the Drug Policy Alliance, writing a fundraising letter and appearing in advertisements on behalf of the DPA.[44] In the letter, Cronkite wrote: "Today, our nation is fighting two wars: one abroad and one at home. While the war in Iraq is in the headlines, the other war is still being fought on our own streets. Its casualties are the wasted lives of our own citizens. I am speaking of the war on drugs. And I cannot help but wonder how many more lives, and how much more money, will be wasted before another Robert McNamara admits what is plain for all to see: the war on drugs is a failure."[44]
Other activities
Cronkite was also an avid sailor and a member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, with the honorary rank of commodore.[45]
Legacy
Cronkite School at Arizona State University
The namesake Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.A few years after Cronkite retired, Tom Chauncey, the longtime owner of the CBS affiliate in Phoenix, contacted Cronkite, an old friend, and asked him if he would be willing to have the journalism school at Arizona State University named after him. Cronkite immediately agreed. Attaching the name of the nation’s most prominent and respected journalist to ASU’s program gave the school an immediate boost and national recognition.
Cronkite became intimately involved with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication,[1][46] advising the school's leadership, meeting with students and faculty, and traveling to Arizona each year to personally give the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism to a media leader.
“The values that Mr. Cronkite embodies – excellence, integrity, accuracy, fairness, objectivity – we try to instill in our students each and every day,” says Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan. “There is no better role model for our faculty or our students.”
The school, with approximately 1,200 majors, is widely regarded as one of the top journalism schools in the country. It is housed in a new facility in downtown Phoenix that is equipped with 14 digital newsrooms and computer labs, two TV studios, 280 digital student work stations, the Cronkite Theater, the First Amendment Forum, and new technology. The school's students regularly finish at the top of national collegiate journalism competitions, such as the Hearst Journalism Awards program and the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards. In 2009, students won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for college print reporting.
In 2008, The state-of-the-art journalism education complex in the heart of ASU's Downtown Campus was also built in his honor. The Walter Cronkite Regents Chair in Communication seats the Texas College of Communications dean.[1]
Walter Cronkite Papers
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin is home to the personal papers of Walter Cronkite, one of the twentieth century's most eminent pioneers and leaders in television broadcast news.[1] The Walter Cronkite Papers, consisting of 293 linear feet, cover the noted CBS newsman's more than five-decades-long career as one of the nation's most respected journalists. Materials begin with Cronkite's early life in Houston and his student days at The University of Texas at Austin and include his work as a correspondent for the United Press International covering World War II and the Nuremberg war crimes trial. The majority of the papers, however, deal with his career with CBS News from 1950 through his retirement in 1981 as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
The Cronkite Papers include research files, audio and video recordings and clippings on news events of the 1960s and 1970s, with a special emphasis on space exploration and politics; presidential nominating conventions; mail from viewers, representing opinions about current events from the 1950s to 1980s; personal correspondence with well-known figures, many in the news business; television and radio production materials from CBS news series Cronkite reported such as You are There, Twentieth Century, Eyewitness to History, and CBS Reports; and Cronkite’s appearances, narrations, and speeches, business interests, awards, and personal life, especially his boats, travel, and organizations with which Cronkite was associated. Other materials include scripts and outlines, memos, and source materials for documentary productions by the Cronkite Ward Company and Cronkite Productions, Inc. The Cronkite Papers also include a number of photographs that document Cronkite's early life and his reportage from World War II and Vietnam, as well as his interviews with U.S. presidents from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan.[1]
The relationship between Walter Cronkite and the Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin was forged in 1988, when the newsman, a student in the 1930s, returned as an honors seminar guest lecturer for the College of Communication. During Cronkite's visit, Dr. Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center, invited him to donate his papers to the University's archives. The Cronkite collection has become the bedrock of the News Media History archives at the Center, considered one of the most important archives in existence covering the history of television journalism.
In 1990, nine years after retiring from broadcast journalism, Cronkite turned to Carleton for assistance in recording his memoirs. Over the next three years, Carleton interviewed Cronkite extensively, resulting in an in-depth oral history of several hundred pages. Cronkite relied on the oral history to write his autobiography, A Reporter's Life, which was published in 1996.[7][1] The taped memoirs, now part of the Walter Cronkite Papers, was equally important to the creation of the eight-part television series Cronkite Remembers, broadcast on The Discovery Channel. For that project, the Center and Cronkite entered into another collaboration, with Carleton serving as the historical advisor to the series.
As a newsman, one of Cronkite's proudest achievements was that of anchoring CBS News coverage of the space program, from the early days of the Mercury program and continuing through the Gemini and the Apollo eras. He reported on every major event in the "space race" between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cronkite's reporting on space exploration brought him and the Center together again on February 28, 2006, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recognized Cronkite's singular journalistic achievements in this arena. Michael Coats, director of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, presented Cronkite with the Ambassador of Exploration Award, making him the first non-astronaut ever so honored.
The moon rock NASA gave to Cronkite was taken from the 842 pounds of lunar samples brought back to Earth during six Apollo expeditions to the moon between 1969 and 1972. Cronkite in turn presented the moon rock to University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers, who accepted it on behalf of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.[5] Speaking at the event, Carleton said, "We are deeply honored by Walter Cronkite’s decision to entrust this prestigious award to the Center for American History." He added, "The Center already serves as the proud steward of his professional and personal papers, which include his coverage of the space program for CBS News. It is especially fitting that the archive documenting Walter's distinguished career should also include one of the Moon rocks that the heroic astronauts of the Apollo program brought to Earth."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite
In Austin, Cronkite worked at both his college newspaper, The Daily Texan, and the State Capitol forming a lifelong tie to the city. He got paid for part-time work as a copy boy and sometimes reporter for various newspapers at their Capitol bureaus. "It was a very happy time in my life," Cronkite said during a 1999 reunion for The Daily Texan's centennial celebration. "I had too good a time," he added, saying that he visits Austin "as often as I can but not often enough." His daughter Kathy and her family live there.
At UT, Cronkite joined the Chi Phi fraternity and ran for freshman class president. He lost to high school buddy Joe Greenhill, who was later chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Cronkite's newspaper work, along with a magazine article he read about a foreign correspondent, motivated him to quit UT in 1935 and take a full-time news job at the Houston Post.
Another professional influence on Cronkite was long-time Texas newspaperman Gordon Kent Shearer, perhaps best known for his service as bureau chief for the United Press in Austin. He opened that office in 1927 and worked there for twenty years. Shearer's column, "Under the Dome," was a popular political feature. Cronkite worked under Shearer and credited much of his early journalistic training to him.
Cronkite got his training in broadcast journalism at Midwestern radio stations, and during World War II he covered the European theater for United Press. After the war, he served as chief United Press correspondent at the Nuremberg trials.
Cronkite joined CBS News in 1950, worked on a variety of programs, and covered national political conventions and elections from 1952 to 1981. He was one of the original creators of the CBS Evening News in 1962. He anchored that broadcast until his 1981 retirement. The public's perception of him as honest, objective and level-headed led to his popular title as "the most trusted man in America." His nightly sign-off, "and that's the way it is," was his trademark. His voice enthusiastically narrated the U.S. manned space program and was one of relative reason during the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.
Cronkite himself became involved in a story in 1976 when television newsman Sam Jaffe reported seeing his name on an alleged White House list of journalists who had worked for the CIA. In an angry confrontation with CIA director George Bush on February 4, Cronkite demanded that he disclose which news people had actually been CIA agents. Bush refused. A week later, the CBS Evening News reported that at least two former correspondents for CBS had secretly worked for the spy agency.
After retiring, Cronkite, whose passion has long been science and space exploration, hosted CBS's Universe (1982), coproduced Why in the World (1981) for Public Broadcasting System, and hosted Dinosaur (1991) for Arts and Entertainment Cable television.
Bibliography: "Cronkite, Walter (Leland, Jr.)," Biography.com, Oct. 4, 1999; Sharon Jayson, "And that's the way it was," Austin American-Statesman, Metro & State, October 1, 1999, http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/friday/metro_state_12.html; "SHEARER, GORDON KENT." The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/view/SS/fsh14.html; Daniel Schorr, "Clearing the Air" (New York: Berkley, 1977), p. 276.
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009)[2][3][4] was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited in viewer opinion polls as "the most trusted man in America" because of his professional experience and kindly demeanor.[5][6]
Early life
Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the son of Helen Lena (née Fritsche) and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite, a dentist.[7][8] He had remote Dutch ancestry on his father's side, the family surname originally being Krankheyt.[9]
Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri, until he was ten, when his family moved to Houston, Texas.[7] He attended junior high school at Lanier Junior High School (now Lanier Middle School) and high school at San Jacinto High School where he edited the high school newspaper.[1] He was a member of the Boy Scouts. He attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked on the Daily Texan and became a member of the Nu chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity.[10][1] He also was a member of the Houston chapter of DeMolay, a Masonic fraternal organization for boys. It was while attending the University of Texas that Cronkite had his first taste of performance, appearing in a play with fellow students Eli Wallach and Ann Sheridan.
Career
He dropped out of college in his junior year in 1935 after starting a series of newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports.[3] He entered broadcasting as a radio announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1936, he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (known by her nickname "Betsy"), while working as the sports announcer for KCMO (AM) in Kansas City, Missouri.[7][3] His broadcast name was "Walter Wilcox".[11] He would explain later that radio stations at the time did not want people to use their real names for fear of taking their listeners with them if they left. In Kansas City, he joined the United Press in 1937.[3] He became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe.[7] He was one of eight journalists selected by the United States Army Air Forces to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress.[12] He also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market-Garden and covered the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow for two years.
Early years at CBS
In 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, recruited by Edward R. Murrow, who had previously tried to hire Cronkite from UP during the war. Cronkite began working at WTOP-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.. He originally served as anchor of the network's 15-minute late-Sunday-evening newscast Up To the Minute, which followed What's My Line? at 11:00pm ET from 1951 through 1962.
On July 7, 1952, the term "anchor" was coined to describe Cronkite's role at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, which marked the first nationally-televised convention coverage.[13] Cronkite anchored the network's coverage of the 1952 presidential election as well as later conventions. In 1964 he was temporarily replaced by the team of Robert Trout and Roger Mudd; this proved to be a mistake, and Cronkite returned to the anchor chair for future political conventions.
From 1953 to 1957, Cronkite hosted the CBS program You Are There, which reenacted historical events, using the format of a news report. His famous last line for these programs 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." In 1971, the show was revived and redesigned to attract an audience of teenagers and young adults on Saturday mornings. He also hosted The Twentieth Century, a documentary series about important historical events of the century comprised almost exclusively of newsreel footage and interviews. It became a long-running hit. Cronkite also hosted It's News to Me, a game show based on news events.
The CBS Evening News
Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of the CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962, a job in which he became an American icon.[7] The program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes on September 2, 1963, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program.
During the early part of his tenure anchoring the CBS Evening News, Cronkite competed against NBC's anchor team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, who anchored the Huntley-Brinkley Report. For most of the 1960s, the Huntley-Brinkley Report had more viewers than Cronkite's broadcast. This began to change in the late 1960s, as RCA made a corporate decision not to fund NBC News at the levels CBS funded CBS News. Consequently, CBS News acquired a reputation for greater accuracy and depth in its broadcast journalism. This reputation meshed nicely with Cronkite's wire service experience, and in 1968 the CBS Evening News began to surpass The Huntley-Brinkley Report in viewership during the summer months.
In 1969, with Apollo 11, and later with Apollo 13, Cronkite received the best ratings and made CBS the most-watched television network for the missions.[1] In 1970, the CBS Evening News finally dominated the American TV news viewing audience, when Huntley retired. Although NBC finally settled on the skilled and well-respected broadcast journalist John Chancellor, Cronkite proved to be more popular and continued to be top-rated until his retirement in 1981.[7]
One of Cronkite's trademarks was ending the CBS Evening News with the phrase "...And that's the way it is," followed by the date. Keeping to standards of objective journalism, he omitted this phrase on nights when he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary.[7] Beginning with January 16, 1980, Day 50 of the Iran hostage crisis, Cronkite added the length of the hostages' captivity to the show's closing to remind the audience of the unresolved situation, ending only on Day 444, January 20, 1981.[14][15]
For many years, until a decade after he left his post as anchor,[16] Cronkite was considered one of the most trusted figures in the United States.[5] For most of his 20 years as anchor, he was the "predominant news voice in America."[16] Affectionately known as "Uncle Walter", he covered many of the important news events of the era so effectively that his image and voice are closely associated with the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the Watergate scandal.[4][1] USA Today wrote that "few TV figures have ever had as much power as Cronkite did at his height."[16] Enjoying the cult of personality surrounding Cronkite in those years, CBS allowed some good-natured fun-poking at its star anchorman in some episodes of the network's popular situation comedy All in the Family, during which the lead character Archie Bunker would sometimes complain about the newsman, calling him "Pinko Cronkite."
Cronkite trained himself to speak at a rate of 124 words per minute in his newscasts, so that viewers could clearly understand him.[17] In contrast, Americans average about 165 words per minute, and fast, difficult-to-understand talkers speak close to 200 words per minute.[18]
Awards and honors
In 1968, the faculty of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University voted to award Cronkite the Carr Van Anda Award "for enduring contributions to journalism".[19] In 1970, Cronkite received a "Freedom of the Press" George Polk Award.[1] In 1981, the year he retired, Jimmy Carter awarded Cronkite the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[1] On March 1, 2006, Cronkite became the first non-astronaut to receive NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award.[10][20]
Historic moments as anchor
Kennedy assassination
Cronkite is vividly remembered by many Americans for breaking the news of the death of President Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. Cronkite had been standing at the United Press International wire machine in the CBS newsroom as the bulletin of the President's shooting broke and clamored to get on the air to break the news. However, cameras were not ready for use and Cronkite would be forced to break the news without them while one warmed up.
At 1:40 p.m., a "CBS News Bulletin" bumper slide broke into the live broadcast of As the World Turns (ATWT). Over the slide, Cronkite began reading:
"Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."
A second bulletin arrived as Cronkite was reading the first one, which detailed the severity of President Kennedy's wounds:
"More details just arrived. These details about the same as previously...President Kennedy shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy, she called "Oh no!," the motorcade sped on. United Press [International] says that the wounds for President Kennedy perhaps could be fatal. Repeating, a bulletin from CBS News: President Kennedy has been shot by a would-be assassin in Dallas, Texas. Stay tuned to CBS News for further details."
Just before the bulletin cut out, a CBS News staffer was heard saying "Connally too," apparently having just heard the news that Texas Governor John Connally had also been shot while riding in the Presidential limousine with his wife Nellie and Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy.
CBS then rejoined the telecast of As the World Turns during the show's first commercial break. A commercial for Nescafe coffee and a sponsor bumper for the first half of the show that had just completed were then aired, followed by a bumper for the scheduled episode of Route 66 to air that night and a ten second station identification break for the CBS affiliates. Just as ATWT was set to return from break, with show announcer Dan McCullough set to announce the sponsor of the second half of the program, CBS again broke in and was once again forced to use the bulletin bumper slide as the news staff was still waiting for the camera to warm up. In this bulletin Cronkite reported in somewhat greater detail about the assassination attempt, while also breaking the news of Governor Connally's shooting.
"Here is a bulletin from CBS News. Further details on an assassination attempt against President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy was shot as he drove from Dallas Airport to downtown Dallas; Governor Connally of Texas, in the car with him, was also shot. It is reported that three bullets rang out. A Secret Service man has been...was heard to shout from the car, "He's dead." Whether he referred to President Kennedy or not is not yet known. The President, cradled in the arms of his wife Mrs. Kennedy, was carried to an ambulance and the car rushed to Parkland Hospital outside Dallas, the President was taken to an emergency room in the hospital. Other White House officials were in doubt in the corridors of the hospital as to the condition of President Kennedy. Repeating this bulletin: President Kennedy shot while driving in an open car from the airport in Dallas, Texas, to downtown Dallas."
Cronkite then recapped the events as they had happened: that the President and Governor Connally were shot and in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital and no one knew their condition as of yet. He then reminded the viewers that CBS News would continue to provide updates as more information came in.
CBS then decided to return to ATWT, which was now midway through its second segment. The cast had continued to perform live while Cronkite's bulletins broke into the broadcast, apparently unaware of the developing story taking place in Dallas. ATWT then took its second scheduled commercial break. It would be the last anyone would see of the show- or for any normal broadcast television- until Tuesday, November 26.
As he had twice before, Cronkite broke in with an audio-only bulletin accompanied by the (at least for that day) ever-present CBS News Bulletin bumper slide:
"Here is a bulletin from CBS News...President Kennedy has been the victim of an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas. It is not known as yet whether the President survived the attack against him."
This particular bulletin went into even more detail than the other two, as for the first time Cronkite detailed where the shooting victims were wounded (Kennedy had been shot in the head, Connally in the chest). At the conclusion of the bulletin, Cronkite told viewers to stay tuned for further details, perhaps implying that the network would be returning to regular programming. However, Cronkite remained on the air for the next ten minutes, continuing to read bulletins as they were handed to him, followed by recapping the events as they were known and interspersing the new information he had received where appropriate. He also brought up recent instances of assassination attempts against sitting Presidents (including the murder of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in a botched assassination attempt on then-President-elect Franklin Roosevelt), as well as a recent attack of United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson in Dallas which resulted in extra security measures being taken for Kennedy's visit to the city. He also received word that Congressman Albert Thomas of Texas had been told that for the moment the President and governor were still alive.
By 2:00 EST, Cronkite was informed that the camera was ready, and told the viewers over the air that CBS would be taking a station identification break so that affiliates could join the network. Within twenty seconds, all the CBS affiliates (with the exception of KRLD in Dallas, which was covering the tragedy locally) joined the network's coverage. Cronkite appeared on-air in shirt and tie but without his suit coat, given the urgent nature of the story, and opened with this:
"This is Walter Cronkite in our newsroom in New York. There has been an attempt, as perhaps you know now, on the life of President Kennedy. He was wounded in an automobile driving from Dallas Airport into downtown Dallas, along with Governor Connally of Texas. They have been taken to Parkland Hospital there, where their condition is as yet unknown."
Cronkite then tried to throw to KRLD's coverage of the Dallas Trade Mart meeting that the President was supposed to address, but the camera was not ready. After a few seconds, Cronkite started speaking again, but shortly after he had begun, the broadcast abruptly cut into the aforementioned meeting where the station's news director Eddie Barker was reporting (a director was audibly heard saying "Okay, go ahead. Switch it" while Cronkite was talking). He said that the President was still alive (as Cronkite had been told by the report from Congressman Thomas earlier and directly by Congressman Jim Wright just moments before Barker's report was filed). About five minutes later, Barker reported that rumors had begun to circulate that Kennedy was in fact dead.
Cronkite reappeared several minutes after Barker reported that Kennedy was rumored to have been killed, advising that two priests had been called to Kennedy's bedside, although the reasons for which were not made clear. He also played an audio report by KRLD's Jim Underwood, recounting that someone had been arrested in the assassination attempt at the Texas School Book Depository. After said report, Cronkite was told that KRLD was reporting that that the President was dead and Barker was reporting that he had been told by a doctor at Parkland Hospital of the President's death. While the coverage continued at the Dallas Trade Mart meeting, Barker said that the assassination was officially confirmed, but neither the Associated Press or United Press International had done so. He then retracted the statement, saying that it still had yet to officially be confirmed that the President was dead. Shortly thereafter, CBS stopped showing KRLD's coverage and returned to their own coverage of the incident.
As he had been doing, Cronkite again reported the events as they were known. At 2:27 PM EST, word reached Cronkite of a report filed by Dallas bureau chief Dan Rather, which had stated that the President was dead but was unconfirmed. Rather's report had been originally given to CBS Radio, which relayed the report as if Kennedy actually was dead. There was some debate going on in the newsroom at the time whether or not to air the report. Cronkite delivered the news to the nation. Since Rather's report, as he had delivered it, only theorized that the President was dead and no word to that effect had come from any wire service (although Kennedy had died nearly thirty minutes before Rather's report was filed), Cronkite stressed that the report was not an official confirmation of the President's death and continued to report on the incident as if the President was still alive.
Cronkite later reported that the priest (Father Oscar Huber) called in to perform the Last Rites to the President did not believe that he was dead when he performed them, seeming to contradict what Barker and Rather had been reporting (and contrary to what Huber had told other reporters on the scene, as he had said Kennedy was dead when he entered the room to perform the Last Rites and had to pull back a sheet covering his body to perform them). Ten minutes later he received a report that the two priests who were with Kennedy were now saying that he was dead, declaring that it was as close to official as they could get. However, Cronkite continued to stress that there was no official confirmation of the death of Kennedy from the hospital (although his words seemed to indicate that this was the most likely outcome).
Cronkite then continued to report for the next several minutes while still waiting official word of the President's apparent death. While continuing to affirm that there was no official confirmation he reminded viewers that the priests, Rather, and several government sources were relaying word that in fact Kennedy was dead. At approximately 2:38 p.m. EST, Cronkite was remarking on the increased security presence in Dallas for the President's visit for fear of protests, bringing up the assault on Adlai Stevenson again. While Cronkite was speaking one of two news editors who had been standing by the newsroom's two wire machines pulled a bulletin from the Associated Press machine and began walking toward Cronkite's desk with it.
"Throughout the streets of Dallas, the Dallas Police have been augmented by some 400 policemen called in on their day off because there were some fears and concerns in Dallas that, uh...that there might be demonstrations, at least, that could embarrass the President. Because it was only on October 24 that our ambassador of the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, was assaulted in Dallas leaving a dinner meeting there..."
Just as he had said that, the editor handed Cronkite the bulletin. Cronkite stopped speaking, put on his eyeglasses, looked over the bulletin sheet for a moment, took off his glasses, and made the official announcement:
From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official: (reading AP flash) "President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time." (glancing up at clock) 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.
After making that announcement, Cronkite paused briefly, put his glasses back on and swallowed hard to maintain his composure. There was noticeable emotion in his voice as he intoned the next sentence of the news report:
"Vice President Johnson *cough* has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States."
With emotion still in his voice, Cronkite then proceeded as he had before in recapping the events after collecting himself, this time incorporating wire photos of Kennedy's visit to Dallas that had been taken during the day and telling viewers what the pictures signified. After that Cronkite reminded the viewers one final time that it had now been confirmed that the President was dead, that Vice President Johnson was now the President and was to be sworn in (although he would not be for another hour), that Governor Connally's condition was still unknown but many reports said that he was still alive, and that there was no report if the assassin had been captured (despite the reports of arrests earlier at the Texas School Book Depository). He then tossed coverage of the events to colleague Charles Collingwood and left the newsroom, but would return several hours later to anchor The CBS Evening News as scheduled.
Two days later, at 2:33 PM EST on November 24, Cronkite broke into CBS' coverage of the memorial services in Washington to relay news regarding a situation that Harry Reasoner, his colleague, had earlier broken into the funeral coverage to report:
From our CBS newsroom in New York, a bulletin: Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who Dallas police say killed President Kennedy, himself is dead. He was cut down by a single bullet an hour and fifteen minutes before he died in Parkland Hospital in a room just ten feet from that room where President Kennedy died. He was being taken from the Dallas City Jail to to the Dallas County Jail but in the basement of the Dallas City Jail, before he left that building, he was shot. The man Dallas police seized at the scene and are holding has been identified as Jack Rubenstein, known in Dallas as Jack Ruby, a man who years ago moved to Dallas from Chicago and was operating two nightclubs, and well-known nightclubs, in Dallas. He is fifty-two years old, balding, with black hair. He is being held by the Dallas police, who say they will charge him with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
Referring to his coverage of Kennedy's assassination, in a 2006 TV interview with Nick Clooney, Cronkite recalled:
"I choked up, I really had a little trouble...my eyes got a little wet...[what Kennedy had represented] was just all lost to us. Fortunately, I grabbed hold before I was actually [crying]."
In a 2003 CBS special commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Cronkite said that he was standing at the United Press wire machine when the bulletin broke and was clamoring to get on the air as fast as was possible. Recalling his reaction upon having the death confirmed to him, he said:
And when you finally had to say it's official, the President is dead...pretty tough words in a situation like that. And they were, um, hard to come by.
Vietnam War
Cronkite reported on location during the Vietnam War.Following Cronkite's editorial report during the Tet Offensive that the Vietnam War was unwinnable, President Lyndon Johnson is reported to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."[21]
During the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Cronkite was anchoring the CBS network coverage as violence and protests occurred outside the convention, as well as scuffles inside the convention hall. When Dan Rather was punched to the floor (on camera) by security personnel, Cronkite commented, "I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan."
Other historic events
General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower returned to his former Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) headquarters for an interview by Cronkite on the CBS News Special Report D-Day + 20, telecast on June 6, 1964.
Cronkite is also remembered for his coverage of the United States space program, and at times was visibly enthusiastic, rubbing his hands together on camera with a smile on July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing mission put the first men on the Moon. Cronkite criticized himself for being at a loss for journalistic words at that moment.
According to the 2006 PBS documentary on Cronkite, there was "nothing new" in his reports on the Watergate affair; however, Cronkite brought together a wide range of reporting, and his credibility and status is credited by many with pushing the Watergate story to the forefront with the American public, ultimately resulting in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974.[1] Cronkite had anchored the CBS coverage of Nixon's address, announcing his impending resignation, the night before.
Cronkite also was one of the first to receive word of President Lyndon B. Johnson's death, receiving the information during the January 22, 1973, broadcast of the CBS Evening News.[22] While a videotaped report by Peter Kalischer about the apparently successful Vietnam war peace talks was being shown to the nation, Johnson's press secretary Tom Johnson (no relative of Lyndon Johnson) telephoned Cronkite to inform him of Johnson's death. CBS cut abruptly from the report at 6:38 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to Cronkite, who was still speaking to Johnson on the phone. After holding up a finger to pause and let Johnson finish, he broke the news to the nation that the former President had died, then continued to speak with Johnson (who was not patched through to the air) for a few more seconds to gather whatever remaining details he could, then hung up the phone and relayed those details to the audience.[23] During the final ten minutes of that broadcast, Cronkite reported on the death, giving a retrospective on the life of nation's 36th president, and announced that CBS would air a special on Lyndon Johnson later that evening. This story was re-told on a 2007 CBS-TV special honoring Cronkite's 90th birthday. Tom Johnson later became president of CNN.
NBC-TV's Garrick Utley, anchoring NBC Nightly News that evening, also interrupted his newscast in order to break the story, doing so about three minutes after Cronkite on CBS. ABC, however, did not cover the story at all, since, at the time, that network fed its evening newscast to local stations at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, even though many affiliates tape-delayed the broadcast to air at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m..[24]
Other TV appearances
Cronkite made a cameo appearance on the Mary Tyler Moore show, in which he met with Lou Grant in his office. Ted Baxter, who at first tried to convince Cronkite that he (Baxter) was as good a newsman as Eric Sevareid, pleaded with Cronkite to hire him for the network news, at least to give sport scores, and gave an example: "The North Stars 3, the Kings Oh!" Cronkite turned to Lou and said, "I'm gonna get you for this!" Cronkite later said that he was disappointed that his scene was filmed in one take, since he had hoped to sit down and chat with the cast.
In the late 1980s and again in the 1990s, Cronkite appeared on the news-oriented situation comedy Murphy Brown as himself. Both episodes were written by the Emmy-award winning team of Tom Seeley and Norm Gunzenhauser.
Movie appearances
Cronkite appeared briefly in the 2005 dramatic documentary The American Ruling Class written by Lewis Lapham, Thirteen Days, reporting on the Cuban missile crisis and provided the opening synopsis of the American Space Program leading to the events in Apollo 13 for the Ron Howard film of the same name.
He also was the voice of Captain NewEyes, the twin brother of Prof. ScrewEyes, in 1993's We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story.
Personal life
Cronkite at the helm of the USS Constitution in July 1997.Cronkite was married for nearly sixty-five years to Betsy Maxwell Cronkite, whom he married on March 30, 1940. They remained together until her death on March 16, 2005. They had three children: Nancy Cronkite, Kathy Cronkite, and Walter (Chip) Cronkite III (who is married to actress Deborah Rush).[5][2] Cronkite also had four grandchildren, two of whom, Peter Cronkite and Walter Cronkite IV, are alumni of St. Bernard's School. Peter Cronkite is currently attending Horace Mann School. Walter attends Hamilton College, having graduated from The Horace Mann School.
In late 2005 Cronkite began dating opera singer Joanna Simon, Carly Simon's older sister. Of their relationship Cronkite stated in an interview for the New York Post in January 2006: "We are keeping company, as the old phrase used to be."[25]
Death
Cronkite died at his home in New York City on July 17, 2009, at the age of 92 from cerebrovascular disease,[26] described by his son as complications from dementia.[27]
Retirement
Cronkite announced that he intended to retire from the CBS Evening News on February 14, 1980; at the time, CBS had a policy in place that called for mandatory retirement by age 65.[28] Although sometimes compared to a father figure or an uncle figure, in an interview about his retirement he described himself as being more like a "comfortable old shoe" to his audience. By this, he meant that they could "comfortably put their foot in him like a slipper." His last day in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News was on March 6, 1981; he was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather.
Cronkite's farewell statement:[29]
“ This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of The CBS Evening News; for me, it's a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness. For almost two decades, after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and I'll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I'm afraid have made too much. This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman, Doug Edwards, preceded me in this job, and another, Dan Rather, will follow.[1] And anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists; writers, reporters, editors, producers, and none of that will change. Furthermore, I'm not even going away! I'll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries, and, beginning in June, every week, with our science program, Universe. Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981. I'll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night. ”
Activities from 1981 to 2009
Cronkite meets with President Ronald Reagan at the White House, 1981
Reporting
As he had promised on his last show as anchor in 1981, Cronkite continued to broadcast occasionally as a special correspondent for CBS, CNN, and NPR into the 21st century; one such occasion was Cronkite anchoring the second space flight by John Glenn in 1998 as he had Glenn's first in 1962. In 1983, he reported on the British General Election for the ITV current affairs series World In Action, interviewing, among many others, the victorious Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.[30] Cronkite hosted the annual Vienna New Year's Concert on PBS from 1985 to 2007, succeeded by Julie Andrews in 2008.[31] For many years, until 2005, he was also the host of the annual Kennedy Center Honors.
In 1998, Cronkite hosted the 90-minute documentary, Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, produced by the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association. The film documented Silicon Valley's rise from the origin of Stanford University to the current high-technology powerhouse. The documentary was broadcast on PBS throughout the United States and in 26 countries. Prior to 2004, he could also be seen in the opening movie 'Back to Neverland' shown in the Walt Disney World attraction, The Magic of Disney Animation, interviewing Robin Williams as if he is still on the CBS News channel, ending his on-camera time with his famous catchphrase. In the featurette, Cronkite describes the steps taken in the creation of an animated film, while Robin Williams becomes an animated character (and even becomes Walter Cronkite, impersonating his voice). He also was shown inviting Disney guests and tourists to the Disney Classics Theater.
On May 21, 1999, Walter Cronkite participated in a panel discussion on Integrity in the Media with Ben Bradlee and Mike McCurry at the Connecticut Forum in Hartford, Connecticut. Cronkite provided a particularly funny anecdote about taking a picture from a house in Houston, Texas where a newsworthy event occurred and being praised for getting a unique photograph, only to find out later that the city desk had provided him with the wrong address.[32]
Voiceovers
Cronkite narrated the IMAX film about the Space Shuttle, The Dream is Alive, released in 1985. From May 26, 1986 to August 15, 1994, he was the narrator's voice in the EPCOT Center attraction, Spaceship Earth, at Walt Disney World. He provided the pivotal voice of Captain Neweyes in the 1993 animated film We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, delivering his trademark line at the end. In 1995, he made an appearance on Broadway, providing the voice of the titular book in the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Cronkite was also considered to be a finalist for NASA's "Journalist in Space" program, which mirrored the Teacher in Space Project, an opportunity that was suspended after the Challenger Disaster in 1986. He recorded voice-overs for the 1995 film Apollo 13, modifying the script he was given to make it more "Cronkitian". In 2002, Cronkite was the voice of Benjamin Franklin in all 40 episodes of the educational television cartoon Liberty's Kids, which included a news segment ending with "And that's the way it is on...[a historic date]." His distinctive voice provided the narration for the television ads of the University of Texas at Austin, his alma mater, with its We're Texas ad campaign.[33]
He held amateur radio operator license KB2GSD and narrated a 2003 American Radio Relay League documentary explaining amateur radio's role in disaster relief. Unusually, Cronkite was a Novice-class licensee -- the entry level license -- for his entire, and long, tenure in the hobby.
On February 15, 2005, he went into the studio at CBS to record narration for WCC Chatham Radio, a documentary about Guglielmo Marconi and his Chatham station, which became the busiest ship-to-shore wireless station in North America from 1914 to 1994. The documentary was directed by Christopher Seufert of Mooncusser Films and premiered at the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center[34] in April 2005. In May 2009, Legacy of War, produced by PBS, was released. Cronkite chronicles, over archive footage, the events following World War II that resulted in America's rise as the dominant world power.
Prior to his death, "Uncle Walter" hosted a number of TV specials and was featured in interviews about the times and events that occurred during his career as America's "most trusted" man.[5] In July 2006, the 90-minute documentary Walter Cronkite: Witness to History aired on PBS. The special was narrated by Katie Couric, who assumed the CBS Evening News anchor chair in September 2006. Cronkite provides the voiceover introduction to Couric's CBS Evening News, which began on September 5, 2006.
Political activism
Walter Cronkite speaks at a NASA ceremony in February 2004Cronkite wrote a syndicated opinion column for King Features Syndicate. In 2005 and 2006, he contributed to The Huffington Post.[35] Cronkite was the chairman of The Interfaith Alliance.[36] In 2006, he presented the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award to actor and activist George Clooney on behalf of his organization at its[37] annual dinner in New York.
Cronkite was a vocal advocate for free airtime for political candidates. He worked with the Alliance for Better Campaigns and Common Cause, for instance, on an unsuccessful lobbying effort to have an amendment added to the McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2001 that would have required TV broadcast companies to provide free airtime to candidates. Cronkite criticized the present system of campaign finance which allows elections to "be purchased" by special interests, and he noted that all the European democracies "provide their candidates with extensive free airtime." "In fact", Cronkite pointed out, "of all the major nations worldwide that profess to have democracies, only seven — just seven — do not offer free airtime", putting the United States on a list with Ecuador, Honduras, Malaysia, Taiwan, Tanzania, and Trinidad and Tobago. Cronkite concluded that "The failure to give free airtime for our political campaigns endangers our democracy." In the 2000 election year, the amount spent by candidates in the major TV markets approached $1 billion. "What our campaign asks is that the television industry yield just a tiny percentage of that windfall, less than 1 percent, to fund free airtime."[38]
He was a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee.[39][40] He also supported the nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International.
In 1998, he supported President Bill Clinton during Clinton's impeachment trial. He was also a proponent of limited world government on the American federalist model, writing fund-raising letters for the World Federalist Association (now Citizens for Global Solutions). In accepting the 1999 Norman Cousins Global Governance Award at the ceremony at the United Nations, Cronkite said:[41]
"It seems to many of us that if we are to avoid the eventual catastrophic world conflict we must strengthen the United Nations as a first step toward a world government patterned after our own government with a legislature, executive and judiciary, and police to enforce its international laws and keep the peace. To do that, of course, we Americans will have to yield up some of our sovereignty. That would be a bitter pill. It would take a lot of courage, a lot of faith in the new order. But the American colonies did it once and brought forth one of the most nearly perfect unions the world has ever seen."
Cronkite contrasted his support for accountable global government with the opposition to it by politically active Christian fundamentalists in the United States:[42]
"Even as with the American rejection of the League of Nations, our failure to live up to our obligations to the United Nations is led by a handful of willful senators who choose to pursue their narrow, selfish political objectives at the cost of our nation’s conscience.They pander to and are supported by the Christian Coalition and the rest of the religious right wing. Their leader, Pat Robertson, has written that we should have a world government but only when the messiah arrives. Any attempt to achieve world order before that time must be the work of the Devil! Well join me… I'm glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan."
In 2003, Cronkite, who owned property on Martha's Vineyard,[5] became involved in a long-running debate over his opposition to the construction of a wind farm in that area. In his column, he repeatedly condemned President George W. Bush and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization — beyond that; a far-right-wing organization". In January 2006, during a press conference to promote the PBS documentary about his career, Cronkite said that he felt the same way about America's presence in Iraq as he had about their presence in Vietnam in 1968 and that he felt America should recall its troops.[43]
Cronkite spoke out against the War on Drugs in support of the Drug Policy Alliance, writing a fundraising letter and appearing in advertisements on behalf of the DPA.[44] In the letter, Cronkite wrote: "Today, our nation is fighting two wars: one abroad and one at home. While the war in Iraq is in the headlines, the other war is still being fought on our own streets. Its casualties are the wasted lives of our own citizens. I am speaking of the war on drugs. And I cannot help but wonder how many more lives, and how much more money, will be wasted before another Robert McNamara admits what is plain for all to see: the war on drugs is a failure."[44]
Other activities
Cronkite was also an avid sailor and a member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, with the honorary rank of commodore.[45]
Legacy
Cronkite School at Arizona State University
The namesake Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.A few years after Cronkite retired, Tom Chauncey, the longtime owner of the CBS affiliate in Phoenix, contacted Cronkite, an old friend, and asked him if he would be willing to have the journalism school at Arizona State University named after him. Cronkite immediately agreed. Attaching the name of the nation’s most prominent and respected journalist to ASU’s program gave the school an immediate boost and national recognition.
Cronkite became intimately involved with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication,[1][46] advising the school's leadership, meeting with students and faculty, and traveling to Arizona each year to personally give the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism to a media leader.
“The values that Mr. Cronkite embodies – excellence, integrity, accuracy, fairness, objectivity – we try to instill in our students each and every day,” says Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan. “There is no better role model for our faculty or our students.”
The school, with approximately 1,200 majors, is widely regarded as one of the top journalism schools in the country. It is housed in a new facility in downtown Phoenix that is equipped with 14 digital newsrooms and computer labs, two TV studios, 280 digital student work stations, the Cronkite Theater, the First Amendment Forum, and new technology. The school's students regularly finish at the top of national collegiate journalism competitions, such as the Hearst Journalism Awards program and the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards. In 2009, students won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for college print reporting.
In 2008, The state-of-the-art journalism education complex in the heart of ASU's Downtown Campus was also built in his honor. The Walter Cronkite Regents Chair in Communication seats the Texas College of Communications dean.[1]
Walter Cronkite Papers
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin is home to the personal papers of Walter Cronkite, one of the twentieth century's most eminent pioneers and leaders in television broadcast news.[1] The Walter Cronkite Papers, consisting of 293 linear feet, cover the noted CBS newsman's more than five-decades-long career as one of the nation's most respected journalists. Materials begin with Cronkite's early life in Houston and his student days at The University of Texas at Austin and include his work as a correspondent for the United Press International covering World War II and the Nuremberg war crimes trial. The majority of the papers, however, deal with his career with CBS News from 1950 through his retirement in 1981 as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
The Cronkite Papers include research files, audio and video recordings and clippings on news events of the 1960s and 1970s, with a special emphasis on space exploration and politics; presidential nominating conventions; mail from viewers, representing opinions about current events from the 1950s to 1980s; personal correspondence with well-known figures, many in the news business; television and radio production materials from CBS news series Cronkite reported such as You are There, Twentieth Century, Eyewitness to History, and CBS Reports; and Cronkite’s appearances, narrations, and speeches, business interests, awards, and personal life, especially his boats, travel, and organizations with which Cronkite was associated. Other materials include scripts and outlines, memos, and source materials for documentary productions by the Cronkite Ward Company and Cronkite Productions, Inc. The Cronkite Papers also include a number of photographs that document Cronkite's early life and his reportage from World War II and Vietnam, as well as his interviews with U.S. presidents from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan.[1]
The relationship between Walter Cronkite and the Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin was forged in 1988, when the newsman, a student in the 1930s, returned as an honors seminar guest lecturer for the College of Communication. During Cronkite's visit, Dr. Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center, invited him to donate his papers to the University's archives. The Cronkite collection has become the bedrock of the News Media History archives at the Center, considered one of the most important archives in existence covering the history of television journalism.
In 1990, nine years after retiring from broadcast journalism, Cronkite turned to Carleton for assistance in recording his memoirs. Over the next three years, Carleton interviewed Cronkite extensively, resulting in an in-depth oral history of several hundred pages. Cronkite relied on the oral history to write his autobiography, A Reporter's Life, which was published in 1996.[7][1] The taped memoirs, now part of the Walter Cronkite Papers, was equally important to the creation of the eight-part television series Cronkite Remembers, broadcast on The Discovery Channel. For that project, the Center and Cronkite entered into another collaboration, with Carleton serving as the historical advisor to the series.
As a newsman, one of Cronkite's proudest achievements was that of anchoring CBS News coverage of the space program, from the early days of the Mercury program and continuing through the Gemini and the Apollo eras. He reported on every major event in the "space race" between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cronkite's reporting on space exploration brought him and the Center together again on February 28, 2006, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recognized Cronkite's singular journalistic achievements in this arena. Michael Coats, director of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, presented Cronkite with the Ambassador of Exploration Award, making him the first non-astronaut ever so honored.
The moon rock NASA gave to Cronkite was taken from the 842 pounds of lunar samples brought back to Earth during six Apollo expeditions to the moon between 1969 and 1972. Cronkite in turn presented the moon rock to University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers, who accepted it on behalf of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.[5] Speaking at the event, Carleton said, "We are deeply honored by Walter Cronkite’s decision to entrust this prestigious award to the Center for American History." He added, "The Center already serves as the proud steward of his professional and personal papers, which include his coverage of the space program for CBS News. It is especially fitting that the archive documenting Walter's distinguished career should also include one of the Moon rocks that the heroic astronauts of the Apollo program brought to Earth."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite
Germany: Health Care for All
Most Patients Happy With German Health Care by Richard Knox Morning Edition, July 3, 2008 · Mention European health care to an American, and it probably conjures up a negative stereotype — high taxes, long waiting lines, rationed care. It's not that way in Germany. Very little tax money goes into the system. The lion's share comes, as in America, from premiums paid by workers and employers to insurance companies. German health benefits are very generous. And there's usually little or no wait to get elective surgery or diagnostic tests, such as MRIs. It's one of the world's best health care systems, visible in little ways that most Germans take for granted. Checking In With An Old Friend Juergen in der Schmitten was a medical student when I first met him 17 years ago. Now, he's a 42-year-old general practitioner in a suburb of Dusseldorf. On one particular night, Juergen was the doctor on call for the region. Any German who needs after-hours care can call a central number and get connected to a doctor. Around 11 p.m., a woman with a fever called Juergen. She wanted him to make a house call. They talked for maybe five minutes, in the end agreeing that she would come into his office in the morning. A situation like this would be unlikely in the United States. Americans might not get through to a doctor at all, let alone have a discussion about whether the physician should make a house call in the middle of the night to treat a case of flu. The Patients' Perspective Sabina and Jan Casagrandes say they've had really good care from the German health system. And they've used it a lot. Sabina is American, Jan is German. They live in a fourth-floor walkup with their two little girls in Cologne, an ancient city on the Rhine in western Germany. "I've probably been very expensive for the health insurance system here," Sabina says. "When I was 33 years old, I had a giant lump on my neck all of a sudden, where your thyroid is. And it was a big tumor." It took two operations to remove her cancer. Luckily it was curable with surgery and radiation. Sabina says she had the best care she could imagine. "Then I came home to my little daughter, who I couldn't really lift up because of my neck having been cut open," Sabina says. "So I asked my doctor, 'What can I do?' And she said, 'Well, your health insurance will pay for someone to come help you in the house.'" Sabina's health insurer paid a friend to shop, cook and even help care for the baby until Sabina was back on her feet. That's not unusual in Germany. In fact, under the country's system for long-term care, family members can choose to be paid for taking care of a frail elder at home if they want to avoid nursing home care. Coverage For All The health care system that took such good care of Sabina is not funded by government taxes. But it is compulsory. All German workers pay about 8 percent of their gross income to a nonprofit insurance company called a sickness fund. Their employers pay about the same amount. Workers can choose among 240 sickness funds. Basing premiums on a percentage-of-salary means that the less people make, the less they have to pay. The more money they make, the more they pay. This principle is at the heart of the system. Germans call it "solidarity." The idea is that everybody's in it together, and nobody should be without health insurance. "If I don't make a lot of money, I don't have to pay a lot of money for health insurance," Sabina says. "But I have the same access to health care that someone who makes more money has." But she acknowledges that nearly 8 percent of her salary is a sizable bite. "Yes, it's expensive. You know, it's a big chunk of your monthly income," Sabina says. "But considering what you can get for it, it's worth it." Actually, it's about the same proportion of income that American workers pay, on average, if they get their health insurance through their job. The big difference is that U.S. employers pay far more, on average, than German employers do — 18 percent of each employee's gross income versus around 8 percent in Germany. More Added Benefits In Germany Moreover, German health insurance has more generous benefits than U.S. policies cover. There are never any deductibles, for instance, before coverage kicks in. And all Germans get the same coverage. For instance, the Casagrandes' insurance covers an expensive medicine Jan needs for a chronic intestinal problem. He says if they moved to America, they might not be able to buy insurance at all because of their pre-existing conditions — a nonproblem in Germany. "He says for himself — or for us — the health care system in the United States is the major reason why we have never moved there, and never will move there. Because both of us have chronic illnesses that have to have a lot of medical attention, and we would go broke," Sabina says, translating for Jan. Jan adds something else. "It's also the No. 1 reason in the United States that people personally go bankrupt," Sabina translates, "which would never happen here ... never!" Coverage For The Family On the other side of Germany, in Berlin, we meet another couple who know both the American and German health systems. Nicole and Chris Ertl own Tip Toe Shoes, a children's shoe shop in a well-off area of the German capital. The Ertls sell high-quality European shoes — tiny Italian sandals, French and Danish boots and clogs in wonderful colors. Chris is from San Diego, Nicole is German. She also works part time as a physician therapist and gets her health care through her job like the great majority of Germans. Like the Casagrandes, she's happy with her coverage. "It's a good deal!" she says. "It's really good because it's a package." It's a package many Americans might envy. Nicole pays a premium of $270 a month for insurance that covers her children, too. Nicole pays a single $15 copayment once every three months to see her primary-care doctor — and another $15 a quarter to see each specialist, as often as she wants. She pays no copayments for her children's care —-and her insurance even covers her daughter's orthodontia bill. "They always have good care," Nicole says, "because for kids, everything is free. The drugs, it's always free" until they turn 18. Different Rules For The Self-Employed But even though her insurance covers the kids, it doesn't cover her husband. Because Chris Ertl is self-employed, he has to buy insurance on his own, from a for-profit insurance company. About one in 10 Germans buy this so-called "private" coverage. It's not just for people who are self-employed. Civil servants and anyone who makes more than $72,000 a year can opt out of the main system. It's a kind of safety valve for people who want more and can pay for it. But most people don't opt out. Chris says that's because there's a fundamental difference in the way Germans view health care and the government's role — which, in Germany, means refereeing the system and making sure it's fair and affordable. "The general opinion in Germany is always that the government will do it for us, everything will be OK," Chris says. "In the States, I think you grow up knowing that no one's going to help you do anything. If you want health care, go get it." It's important to remember that the German government doesn't provide health care or finance it directly. It does regulate insurance companies closely — the nonprofits in the main system and the for-profits where Chris gets his coverage. So Chris' insurer can't raise his rates if he gets sick or jack up his premiums too much as he gets older. The government also requires insurers to keep costs down so things don't get too expensive. "Where am I better off medically?" Chris says. "I would probably say Germany." In some ways, Chis Ertl's coverage is better than his wife's. He gets his choice of top doctors — the chief of medicine, if he wants. If he goes into the hospital, he gets a private room. When he goes to the doctor, he gets a free cup of coffee and goes to the head of the line. All this embarrasses him — and annoys Nicole. "When he goes to the doctor, he has a lot more service," she complains. Germans really hate any hint of unfairness in health care. The fundamental idea is that everybody must be covered and, preferably, everybody should get equal treatment. So the fact that 10 percent or so can buy some perks is an irritant — something Germans complain about but manage to put up with. But it's unthinkable that 48 million people wouldn't have health insurance at all — the situation in America. As an American, Chris thinks that's shameful. "It's terrible," he says. "It's unbelievable. It shouldn't happen." Germans, he says, would never tolerate that. And their system has been working pretty well for 138 years.Radio piece produced by Jane Greenhalgh Correction: In an interview, we said, "And when Germany became a nation in the 1880s, one of the first big things that the government did was to unite all of these what they call sickness funds into one system." In fact, Germany became a nation in 1871. Health Care: An International Comparison Countries with governments and economies similar to the United States have come up with a variety of methods to make sure that all of their citizens receive health care. While residents in Europe and Japan may pay higher insurance premiums or taxes than Americans, in the end, when all costs are added up, Americans spend more money on health care per person — with fewer people covered. (Data most recent available as of July 2008.) Use the drop-downs below to compare countries. Select a country: United States verses Germany United States Population: 302 million Life expectancy at birth: 78.1 Health spending as part of GDP: 15.3% System type: Employer-employee based (54%) and government funding (46%). Government covers all older adults and the disabled (Medicare), the poor (Medicaid), veterans, government employees and Native Americans. Coverage: 82% of people under 65; 100% of people 65 or over. Average annual per-person spending: Total: $6,402. Breakdown: $2,884 by government; $2,676 for private insurance, with 52% paid by employers, 48% paid by employees; $842 by consumer out-of-pocket* Financing: Larger companies self-insured. Employers and employees share costs. Income taxes fund Medicare, Medicaid and other public programs. Co-payments and deductibles highly variable in the private system. Notable features: Leading-edge technology, drugs and facilities. Most patients can choose doctors, hospitals. Biggest challenges: Health access for working poor. Discrepancies in care between rich and poor. Rising costs. Overuse of tests and procedures. Low international rankings on basic health measures, including infant mortality and preventable deaths. Prescription drug coverage: Of those with insurance, 84% are covered. Most plans require co-payments. No government controls on prices or availability. Doctors: Payments regulated in government programs; insurers set fees; no price controls for uninsured. Hospitals: Payments regulated in government programs; insurers set fees; no price controls for uninsured. Germany Population: 82.3 million Life expectancy at birth: 79 Health spending as part of GDP: 10.7% System type: Universal coverage. Mostly employer-employee based (88%). Coverage: 99.8 % -- all citizens and legal residents Average annual per-person spending: Total: $3,673 Breakdown: $2,518 on mandatory employment-based coverage, nonprofit insurance; $259 on for-profit insurance; $349 by government; and $547 consumer out-of-pocket*. Financing: Workers split premiums with employers, with each paying about 8% of workers' gross income to nonprofit "sickness funds." Those earning over $75,000 may purchase insurance from for-profit insurers. Notable features: Comprehensive coverage including basic dental and long-term care. Short waits - usually less than a month - for elective surgery. New programs provide extra attention to diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Biggest challenges: Large and growing aged population, high costs, high rate of specialist visits. Prescription drug coverage: Full coverage with small copayments. Federal panel controls prices and an expert committee decides which new treatments should be covered. Doctors: Regional groups of office-based doctors negotiate with insurers over annual budgets. Hospital-based doctors, including most specialists, are salaried. Hospitals: Insurers negotiate with hospitals over annual budgets. France Population: 61.7 millionLife expectancy at birth: 80.3 Health spending as part of GDP: 11.1% System type: Universal coverage. Employment-based system, with supplemental private insurance. Coverage: 100% Average annual per-person spending: Total: $3,374. Breakdown: $2,693 by government, $448 on private insurance, $233 consumer out-of-pocket* Financing: Employers pay equivalent of 13.1% of employee's salary to the national health insurance program. Employees pay 0.75% of salary. Income taxes also helps provide universal coverage for retirees, unemployed, disabled and the poor. Most people (87%) also have supplemental insurance from private for-profit insurers, which they purchase or is often paid for by an employer. Notable features: The national system pays 100 percent of costs for people with one of 30 long-term conditions, including diabetes and cancer. Broad choice in doctors and specialists. Strong pre- and post-natal care, strong cancer case management. Biggest challenges: Controlling costs, improving efficiency. Government currently cutting number of acute hospital beds and promoting computerized medical records to curb redundancy. Shifting some doctor duties to nurses. Prescription drug coverage: Drug effectiveness determines patient's co-pay: 0% for most cost-effective drugs; sliding scale of 35%, 65% and 100% for drugs with more limited therapeutic value. More generics since 2006, new co-pays as of 2008. Doctors: Government negotiates fees with doctor unions. Most are in fee-based private practice. Hospitals: Government sets rates for most hospitals. Great Britain Population: 61 million Life expectancy at birth: 79 Health spending as part of GDP: 8.3% System type: Tax-funded, government-run. Coverage: Universal coverage. All citizens and legal residents. Average annual per-person spending: Total: $2,723. Breakdown: $2,371 by government; $352 on supplemental private insurance, OTC drugs, direct payments to doctors. Financing: 95% of funding comes from taxes; 5% comes from user charges, such as co-payments for prescription drugs. Notable features: "Socialized" medicine. Government directly pays doctor and hospital fees. Patients do not receive bills for National Health Service care. The government's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence advises which high-cost treatments should be covered. Biggest challenges: Government doesn't cover care that it deems cost-ineffective and some cosmetic surgery. Maintaining a steady source of government funding in the face of increasingly expensive treatments and drugs. Prescription drug coverage: Half of England's population receives drugs for free, based on exceptions for age, disability and pregnancy. Co-payments for the rest in England. Wales and Scotland have abolished all co-payments. Doctors: Most paid by government through salary or fees; some doctors accept private insurance or fees directly from patients. Hospitals: Paid by government, some funding from private insurers. Netherlands Population: 16.4 million Life expectancy at birth: 79.4 Health spending as part of GDP: 9.2% System type: Universal coverage. Employer-employee based system, some private financing. Coverage: Universal coverage. 98.5% -- all citizens and legal residents. Average annual per-person spending: Total: $3,580. Breakdown: $1,733 by government; $1,614 on private insurance; $223 consumer out-of-pocket* Financing: A 7.2% tax on salaries, up to a maximum of $3,798 per year. Employers often pay two-thirds of that tax. Half of the tax goes into risk equalization fund to compensate insurers with high-risk subscribers. Adults under 65 also pay annual premiums averaging $1,614 to a private insurer of their choice. Government subsidizes seniors, disabled and the poor. Government covers costs for children under 18. Notable features: Blend of private health insurance companies and government regulation. Consumers have wide choice of private insurers who can't deny coverage, but can decide who provides care and how much. Strong primary and after-hours care. Biggest challenges: Controlling costs. Prescription drug coverage: Covered by private insurance, though extent, cost and quality depend on subscriber's policy. Doctors: Insurers negotiate rates. Two-thirds of primary care doctors in fee-based private practice. Most specialists based at hospitals and paid by salary. Hospitals: Market-based rates negotiated with insurers. Switzerland Population: 7.5 million Life expectancy at birth: 81.3 Health spending as part of GDP: 11.6% System type: Universal coverage. Individuals must buy coverage directly from private insurers. Coverage: All citizens and legal residents. Average annual per-person spending: Total: $4,177 Breakdown: $2,493 by government; $408 on private insurance; $1,276 consumer out-of-pocket* Financing: Consumers pay for insurance premiums and uninsured expenses. Government provides subsidies for those in need of financial assistance. Notable features: Fully private system, with government-regulated and subsidized private health care providers and insurers. Biggest challenges: The Swiss pay more for health care than anyone else in Europe. Lower- and middle-income people pay higher proportion of income for insurance. Little consumer information about physicians and hospitals compared with United States. Prescription drug coverage: Private insurance covers. Government controls prices; higher than in neighboring countries. Co-payments are 10%. Doctors: Government negotiates rates with doctor organizations. Hospitals: Government sets rates. Japan Population: 127.7 million Life expectancy at birth: 82.1 Health spending as part of GDP: 8% System type: Universal coverage. Compulsory employer-employee financed national health insurance (52%); government-paid program for people over 70, the poor and small businesses. Coverage: 100 % -- all citizens and legal residents. Average annual per-person spending: Total: $2,358 Breakdown: $1,927 by government; $71 on private insurance; $360 consumer out-of-pocket* Financing: Employers and employees each required to pay approximately 4% of salary to nonprofit, community-based insurance plan. Public assistance for small businesses and the poor. Co-payments of 30% for outpatient care; 20% for hospitalization. Ceiling on out-of-pocket costs. Notable features: Frequent doctor visits, long hospital stays. Insurers must cover everyone; can't deny a claim. Biggest challenges: Rapidly aging population. Overuse of care. Highest number of hospitals per person in the world. Shortage of physicians in many specialties and rural areas. Prescription drug coverage: 30% co-payment; government controls set prices at relatively low levels. Doctors: Government regulates fees via negotiation. Hospitals: Mostly private; government sets rates. NOTE: Out-of-pocket expenses are payments borne directly by a patient, separate from insurance fees.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A Wise Latina
The other day as I watched a group of elderly and unhappy white guys trying to intimidate a small Hispanic woman of Latin ancestry, I could not help but admire Sonia Sotomayer’s composure and grace under fire from so many Republican men who seemed obsessed that the largest ethnic minority in the United States would dare try to judge legal opinion. I heard Senator Orrin Hatch said that she had once declared nunchucks as potentially violent weapons. I head some other angry Republican accuse her of intimidating an attorney once in oral arguments. Somebody else questioned whether she is really a wise Latina and would apply the law in a racial based manner, which good Republicans certainly never would do.
I watched as the days went on and decided it was overdue that Latinos had a voice in our legal system from the highest level. A voice to apply the legal system fairly and impartially to which help that poor attorney defend himself against that lone Latina who would ask him to be prepared for court. That the intimidating Judge was a lady who had worked her way up from the death of her father and a single mother family life to have years of experience on the bench, and had enough respect for the law as to be prepared to render judgment on legal matters.
Now I know Senator Orrin Hatch would not give the cowering attorney nunchucks to defend himself against the wise Latina, but maybe he could loan him the jawbone of an ass for his defense.
- Thomas Love
I watched as the days went on and decided it was overdue that Latinos had a voice in our legal system from the highest level. A voice to apply the legal system fairly and impartially to which help that poor attorney defend himself against that lone Latina who would ask him to be prepared for court. That the intimidating Judge was a lady who had worked her way up from the death of her father and a single mother family life to have years of experience on the bench, and had enough respect for the law as to be prepared to render judgment on legal matters.
Now I know Senator Orrin Hatch would not give the cowering attorney nunchucks to defend himself against the wise Latina, but maybe he could loan him the jawbone of an ass for his defense.
- Thomas Love
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Red and the Blue:The Economist Special Report on Texas
Whisper it softly, but Texas looks set to become a Democratic state
THE elected sheriff of Dallas County is a lesbian Latina. The leading candidates to become mayor of Houston in November include a black man and a gay white woman. The speaker of the House of Representatives is the first Jew to hold the job in 164 years of statehood and only the second speaker to be elected from an urban district in modern times. In this year’s legislative session, bills to compel women to undergo an ultrasound examination before having an abortion (to bring home to them what they are about to do) and to allow the carrying of guns on campus both fell by the wayside; a bill to increase compensation for people wrongly convicted sailed through. Lakewood, in Houston, the biggest church not just in Texas but in America, claims to welcome gays. As Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” might have said, we’re not in Texas any more.
Or at least, not in Texas as we have recently come to know it. A Democratic-voting Texas would be nothing new, but political memories are short, and the blunders of the Bush presidency have coloured global perceptions of what Texas is like. It mostly voted Democratic in presidential elections until 1968, when, alone among the former Confederate states, it went for Hubert Humphrey, and 1976, when it voted for Jimmy Carter. Many of those voters were highly conservative “Dixiecrats” and later flipped to the Republicans. But there has always been a strong radical streak too. William Jennings Bryan was hugely popular in Texas. Jim Hightower, a former Texas agriculture commissioner and the perennial voice of Texas populism, says that “Texas has always been a purple state”—up for grabs by either the red Republicans or the blue Democrats.
It had a Democratic governor, in the feisty and liberal shape of Ann Richards, until as recently as 1995; but since that year, which saw George Bush’s ascent to the governor’s mansion, the Republicans have been firmly in control, and no Democrat has won statewide office. Since 2003 the Republicans have controlled the House as well as the Senate, monopolising every lever of power in the state. Now the pendulum is swinging back.
With no prospect of a local son to vote for in future elections (a Bush has been on the ballot paper for six of the past eight presidential votes), the Republicans have lost one big advantage. In the 2008 election the Democrats did much better all over the state. They won the presidential vote in all the big cities except Fort Worth (see map). They made big inroads into the Republicans’ dominance of the suburbs, where American elections are lost and won these days. Overall they took 44% of the vote, up from 38% in 2004, even though Barack Obama barely campaigned in Texas.
They secured a blocking minority, 12 seats out of 31, in the heavily gerrymandered state Senate, and almost took control of the Texas House of Representatives: the Republicans now hold it by just 76 seats to 74. The conservative speaker was promptly ousted and replaced by Joe Straus, who depended for his election on a sizeable block of Democratic votes.
The mild-mannered and charming Mr Straus has turned out to be a bipartisan and moderate figure, though he insists that he made no promises to the Democrats who backed him. But this year’s legislative session showed the Democrats flexing their muscles in the House, blocking a bill on voter identification that they said discriminated against their supporters.
The rise of the Democrats poses a dilemma for Republicans in Texas, just as it does nationally. And just as the national party seems to be lapsing into fratricide, so a vicious internal war has broken out over the governorship. Rick Perry is running for a third full term in the job, but the main challenge he faces is not from the Democrats who, oddly, have come up with a remarkably unconvincing candidate: Tom Schieffer, who used to be Mr Bush’s business partner and who is famous mainly because his brother is a TV presenter. The real rival is within, in the shape of Kay Bailey Hutchison, probably the most popular politician in the state. Mrs Hutchison has served as one of Texas’s two senators in Washington, DC, since 1993, and was last re-elected in 2006 with 62% of the vote.
Internecine warfare
Mr Perry has a strong economic record to run on, but because his toughest fight is against a fellow Republican, this has already turned into a battle for the souls of the 600,000 conservative sorts who vote in the Republican primary, due to be held next March. Mr Perry has lurched to the right to woo this atypical electorate.
Thus, he has backed allowing “Choose Life” to be an official Texas car licence-plate motto. This hurts Mrs Hutchison, who is in trouble with social conservatives for having once voted against overturning Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects the right to abortion. He has also refused to take up a big chunk of the stimulus funds offered to Texas to help pay unemployment benefit, on the ground that this would create a long-lasting obligation.
No one doubts that Mrs Hutchison would beat Mr Perry or anyone else in Texas in a general election, but recent polls have her lagging behind Mr Perry in the primary. If she does formally enter the race, as expected, she will have to face being branded as a baby-killer and a creature of spendthrift Washington, DC.
Mrs Hutchison insists that “it’s very important that we don’t build a party around an issue [abortion] that is so personal, on which even families disagree.” She is surely right, but primary voters may not see it that way. This race matters hugely to Texas: it is a moment when the state’s Republicans will have to decide which wing of the party they are on.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are pinning their hopes for the 2010 election on securing a majority in the state House of Representatives and on winning a US Senate seat (which may come up sooner if Mrs Hutchison resigns to concentrate on her race for governor). Their chances in the House are good: as the recession starts to bite in Texas, later than elsewhere in the country, support for the Democrats is likely to rise. On the other hand Barack Obama will not be at the head of the ticket in 2010, as he was in 2008—though in Texas he was never quite the draw he was on the coasts.
And now for someone completely different
The steady rise in the Hispanic population, coupled with a slow but continuous increase in Latinos’ tendency to vote, bodes well for the Democrats. George Bush did an impressive job courting the Hispanic vote, but the Republican Party threw that advantage away by rejecting his plans for immigration reform in 2006-07. In the 2008 presidential election Texas Latinos voted Democrat by 63% to 37%. Mr Obama’s nomination of the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice is unlikely to hurt, and nor will his commitment to immigration reform. As Hispanics increasingly spread out across the state they will start to tip the balance in many suburban counties, which is where the big political battles in America are being fought.
In the Senate race the Democrats’ probable candidate will be Bill White, the current mayor of Houston. He has done an excellent job balancing the needs of business with those of his core voters, and he will have a lot of money behind him.
Texas had become used to being at the centre of events, having supplied the president, the vice-president or at least the treasury secretary for all but a handful of the past 50 years. Now it does not even have a senator in the majority party, meaning that Texas has no voice in any of the big deliberations in Washington, DC. That will help the Democrats too.
But it does seem fair to ask what Texas Democrats actually stand for. They say they want more money spent on health and education, but pretty much every politician in Texas says the same, and the party’s leadership shows no appetite for delivering this by taxing Texans more heavily. Hardly anyone seeks to abolish the death penalty, even though, in most years, Texas executes as many people as the rest of America put together. Gun control and recognition of gay marriage are off the table. Everyone has jumped on the renewable-energy bandwagon.
It would, in short, be possible to imagine Texas slipping back to the Democrats without much happening in consequence, except for two considerations. The first is that, should Texas go Democratic at the presidential level, the Republicans nationally would be in deep trouble: with its 34 electoral-college votes, Texas is the only big state they have regularly won in recent presidential elections. The second consideration is the Hispanics. As they become ever more powerful in an ever stronger Democratic Party, there is every chance that they will turn against a model that has left far too many of them behind.
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13938887
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper
THE elected sheriff of Dallas County is a lesbian Latina. The leading candidates to become mayor of Houston in November include a black man and a gay white woman. The speaker of the House of Representatives is the first Jew to hold the job in 164 years of statehood and only the second speaker to be elected from an urban district in modern times. In this year’s legislative session, bills to compel women to undergo an ultrasound examination before having an abortion (to bring home to them what they are about to do) and to allow the carrying of guns on campus both fell by the wayside; a bill to increase compensation for people wrongly convicted sailed through. Lakewood, in Houston, the biggest church not just in Texas but in America, claims to welcome gays. As Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” might have said, we’re not in Texas any more.
Or at least, not in Texas as we have recently come to know it. A Democratic-voting Texas would be nothing new, but political memories are short, and the blunders of the Bush presidency have coloured global perceptions of what Texas is like. It mostly voted Democratic in presidential elections until 1968, when, alone among the former Confederate states, it went for Hubert Humphrey, and 1976, when it voted for Jimmy Carter. Many of those voters were highly conservative “Dixiecrats” and later flipped to the Republicans. But there has always been a strong radical streak too. William Jennings Bryan was hugely popular in Texas. Jim Hightower, a former Texas agriculture commissioner and the perennial voice of Texas populism, says that “Texas has always been a purple state”—up for grabs by either the red Republicans or the blue Democrats.
It had a Democratic governor, in the feisty and liberal shape of Ann Richards, until as recently as 1995; but since that year, which saw George Bush’s ascent to the governor’s mansion, the Republicans have been firmly in control, and no Democrat has won statewide office. Since 2003 the Republicans have controlled the House as well as the Senate, monopolising every lever of power in the state. Now the pendulum is swinging back.
With no prospect of a local son to vote for in future elections (a Bush has been on the ballot paper for six of the past eight presidential votes), the Republicans have lost one big advantage. In the 2008 election the Democrats did much better all over the state. They won the presidential vote in all the big cities except Fort Worth (see map). They made big inroads into the Republicans’ dominance of the suburbs, where American elections are lost and won these days. Overall they took 44% of the vote, up from 38% in 2004, even though Barack Obama barely campaigned in Texas.
They secured a blocking minority, 12 seats out of 31, in the heavily gerrymandered state Senate, and almost took control of the Texas House of Representatives: the Republicans now hold it by just 76 seats to 74. The conservative speaker was promptly ousted and replaced by Joe Straus, who depended for his election on a sizeable block of Democratic votes.
The mild-mannered and charming Mr Straus has turned out to be a bipartisan and moderate figure, though he insists that he made no promises to the Democrats who backed him. But this year’s legislative session showed the Democrats flexing their muscles in the House, blocking a bill on voter identification that they said discriminated against their supporters.
The rise of the Democrats poses a dilemma for Republicans in Texas, just as it does nationally. And just as the national party seems to be lapsing into fratricide, so a vicious internal war has broken out over the governorship. Rick Perry is running for a third full term in the job, but the main challenge he faces is not from the Democrats who, oddly, have come up with a remarkably unconvincing candidate: Tom Schieffer, who used to be Mr Bush’s business partner and who is famous mainly because his brother is a TV presenter. The real rival is within, in the shape of Kay Bailey Hutchison, probably the most popular politician in the state. Mrs Hutchison has served as one of Texas’s two senators in Washington, DC, since 1993, and was last re-elected in 2006 with 62% of the vote.
Internecine warfare
Mr Perry has a strong economic record to run on, but because his toughest fight is against a fellow Republican, this has already turned into a battle for the souls of the 600,000 conservative sorts who vote in the Republican primary, due to be held next March. Mr Perry has lurched to the right to woo this atypical electorate.
Thus, he has backed allowing “Choose Life” to be an official Texas car licence-plate motto. This hurts Mrs Hutchison, who is in trouble with social conservatives for having once voted against overturning Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects the right to abortion. He has also refused to take up a big chunk of the stimulus funds offered to Texas to help pay unemployment benefit, on the ground that this would create a long-lasting obligation.
No one doubts that Mrs Hutchison would beat Mr Perry or anyone else in Texas in a general election, but recent polls have her lagging behind Mr Perry in the primary. If she does formally enter the race, as expected, she will have to face being branded as a baby-killer and a creature of spendthrift Washington, DC.
Mrs Hutchison insists that “it’s very important that we don’t build a party around an issue [abortion] that is so personal, on which even families disagree.” She is surely right, but primary voters may not see it that way. This race matters hugely to Texas: it is a moment when the state’s Republicans will have to decide which wing of the party they are on.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are pinning their hopes for the 2010 election on securing a majority in the state House of Representatives and on winning a US Senate seat (which may come up sooner if Mrs Hutchison resigns to concentrate on her race for governor). Their chances in the House are good: as the recession starts to bite in Texas, later than elsewhere in the country, support for the Democrats is likely to rise. On the other hand Barack Obama will not be at the head of the ticket in 2010, as he was in 2008—though in Texas he was never quite the draw he was on the coasts.
And now for someone completely different
The steady rise in the Hispanic population, coupled with a slow but continuous increase in Latinos’ tendency to vote, bodes well for the Democrats. George Bush did an impressive job courting the Hispanic vote, but the Republican Party threw that advantage away by rejecting his plans for immigration reform in 2006-07. In the 2008 presidential election Texas Latinos voted Democrat by 63% to 37%. Mr Obama’s nomination of the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice is unlikely to hurt, and nor will his commitment to immigration reform. As Hispanics increasingly spread out across the state they will start to tip the balance in many suburban counties, which is where the big political battles in America are being fought.
In the Senate race the Democrats’ probable candidate will be Bill White, the current mayor of Houston. He has done an excellent job balancing the needs of business with those of his core voters, and he will have a lot of money behind him.
Texas had become used to being at the centre of events, having supplied the president, the vice-president or at least the treasury secretary for all but a handful of the past 50 years. Now it does not even have a senator in the majority party, meaning that Texas has no voice in any of the big deliberations in Washington, DC. That will help the Democrats too.
But it does seem fair to ask what Texas Democrats actually stand for. They say they want more money spent on health and education, but pretty much every politician in Texas says the same, and the party’s leadership shows no appetite for delivering this by taxing Texans more heavily. Hardly anyone seeks to abolish the death penalty, even though, in most years, Texas executes as many people as the rest of America put together. Gun control and recognition of gay marriage are off the table. Everyone has jumped on the renewable-energy bandwagon.
It would, in short, be possible to imagine Texas slipping back to the Democrats without much happening in consequence, except for two considerations. The first is that, should Texas go Democratic at the presidential level, the Republicans nationally would be in deep trouble: with its 34 electoral-college votes, Texas is the only big state they have regularly won in recent presidential elections. The second consideration is the Hispanics. As they become ever more powerful in an ever stronger Democratic Party, there is every chance that they will turn against a model that has left far too many of them behind.
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13938887
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper
Saturday, July 4, 2009
It Is Time
by Thomas P Love
On the Statue of Liberty are inscriptions about giving Americans the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. It is time to actually fulfill that promise and give our Latino brothers and Latina sisters that promised freedom. It would appear we, like some Madison Avenue advertising agency have shown the slogans, yet denied the reality to much of Latin America. We seem to say you can attempt to cross the border illegally, and have children in the United States, but you cannot become a citizen. Many have lived here for over twenty years and have as many as three generations in America, but are still considered illegal and must constantly be on constant vigil against reprisal.
Every one knows that conditions south of our borders have long been devoid of the opportunity to allow families to grow and prosper with a life style that rewards ability and enlarges the middle class. They have struggled to get here and died in closed freight trailers on some lonely desert or fallen prey to rings exploiting them into prostitution and economic slavery. They must keep watching with a constant eye for immigration and threats to be deported should they try to get better wages or living conditions. Mexicans in particular have migrated in large numbers to America to provide for their families in land that once was in fact theirs. Additionally Latinos from Latin and Central America have come here to escape political and economic hardships. Their children have grown up here and seen the hypocrisy between what we do and what we say we do.
America should be the literal shining beacon of hope and justice for immigrants, but most with the exception of the first Europeans who crossed the ocean shores, have had to suffer until they were assimilated and accepted into a kinder, gentler society. There were Irish, Italian, Jewish, Black, and Oriental slums and repressions. And so, there are now Latinos marching, shouting, and asking for justice in the American mosaic that is our culture. People that have been here ten years should be on a fast track toward citizenship. Those that have lived in America and have two or more generations that are native born and lived here have earned that right. People that have lived here and been gainfully employed for five years and have not committed an actual criminal offense other than wanting a better life in America should have that right as well. We should reform the hiring laws to penalize those that hire illegal workers and have degrees of legal work status for those that desperately seek jobs and enrich, not detract from our culture. Parents of children born here need to be able to remain and provide for their families. An Amnesty Day must be set and adhered to that is fair and real. We must retain the heritage to the claim of the Land of Opportunity and Freedom.
It is time to reestablish that culture that our Forefathers lived and died to create, not in merely the words, but the deeds. It is time!
-Thomas P Love
Reprinted from March 7, 2007
On the Statue of Liberty are inscriptions about giving Americans the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. It is time to actually fulfill that promise and give our Latino brothers and Latina sisters that promised freedom. It would appear we, like some Madison Avenue advertising agency have shown the slogans, yet denied the reality to much of Latin America. We seem to say you can attempt to cross the border illegally, and have children in the United States, but you cannot become a citizen. Many have lived here for over twenty years and have as many as three generations in America, but are still considered illegal and must constantly be on constant vigil against reprisal.
Every one knows that conditions south of our borders have long been devoid of the opportunity to allow families to grow and prosper with a life style that rewards ability and enlarges the middle class. They have struggled to get here and died in closed freight trailers on some lonely desert or fallen prey to rings exploiting them into prostitution and economic slavery. They must keep watching with a constant eye for immigration and threats to be deported should they try to get better wages or living conditions. Mexicans in particular have migrated in large numbers to America to provide for their families in land that once was in fact theirs. Additionally Latinos from Latin and Central America have come here to escape political and economic hardships. Their children have grown up here and seen the hypocrisy between what we do and what we say we do.
America should be the literal shining beacon of hope and justice for immigrants, but most with the exception of the first Europeans who crossed the ocean shores, have had to suffer until they were assimilated and accepted into a kinder, gentler society. There were Irish, Italian, Jewish, Black, and Oriental slums and repressions. And so, there are now Latinos marching, shouting, and asking for justice in the American mosaic that is our culture. People that have been here ten years should be on a fast track toward citizenship. Those that have lived in America and have two or more generations that are native born and lived here have earned that right. People that have lived here and been gainfully employed for five years and have not committed an actual criminal offense other than wanting a better life in America should have that right as well. We should reform the hiring laws to penalize those that hire illegal workers and have degrees of legal work status for those that desperately seek jobs and enrich, not detract from our culture. Parents of children born here need to be able to remain and provide for their families. An Amnesty Day must be set and adhered to that is fair and real. We must retain the heritage to the claim of the Land of Opportunity and Freedom.
It is time to reestablish that culture that our Forefathers lived and died to create, not in merely the words, but the deeds. It is time!
-Thomas P Love
Reprinted from March 7, 2007
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