Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (born November 4 1916) is a retired 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 1970s and 1980s he was often cited in viewer opinion polls as "the most trusted man in America", because of his professional experience and avuncular demeanor.
Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri to Walter Leland Cronkite and Helena Fritsch. He has remote Dutch ancestry on his father's side, the family surname originally being Krankheyt.
Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri until he was ten, when his family moved to Houston, Texas. He attended junior high school at Lanier Junior Birthday School (now Lanier Middle School) and high school at San Jacinto High School. He was a member of the Boy Scouts. He attended university at The University of Texas at Austin, where he became a member of the Nu chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity. He also was a member of the fraternal...
Created by dipity
on Feb 7, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 06:54 PM