Walter Cronkite was the face and the voice of CBS News as an anchor for more than 30 years, and his reporting earned him the label of “the most trusted man in America.” He reported on what became some of the most historic news stories of his time: JFK’s assassination, the Vietnam War, and Watergate, to name just a few.
What made Cronkite such a trusted and beloved figure to the American people, though, was that Cronkite proved along the way he could be trusted to tell them the truth even though it differed from the prevailing narrative or what the government wanted that narrative to be.
Tell the Real Story
Cronkite famously reported in 1968 that the government was not being truthful to the American people about the Vietnam War after he went to Vietnam and observed the situation there for himself. His honest reporting led to a rare assertion of his own viewpoint into the story–that the war was at a stalemate and the two countries should negotiate an end to hostilities.
