Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was born November 4, 1916, and lived until July17, 2009. He was best known for being one of the most influential news broadcasters and journalist in America. He joined the CBS News during the heights of its popularity in the 1960s and through the 1970s.  He was often referred to as “The most trusted man in America.”

Walter Cronkite was the iconic voice that reported some of the most historic events in American history including the Vietnam War, the Assassination of President Kennedy, Watergate and the Iran Hostage Crisis. He is the only recipient of the Moon-rock award who wasn’t associated with NASA. The Beatles rock band even chose Walter Cronkite for their first American TV broadcast.

He was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, to Helen Lena and Dr.

Walter Leland Cronkite Sr., wh0se profession was that of a dentist. Walter Cronkite lived the earliest days of his life in Kansas City, Missouri, until the age of ten, then he and his family moved to Houston, Texas, where he attended junior high school at what was then  Lanier Junior High School.  In Jacinto High School he became an editor for the high school newspaper and afterward he attended college at the University of Texas at Austin.

The young Cronkite dropped out of college during his junior year in 1935, and began working for a newspaper reporting the news and sports. He first started broadcasting as a radio announcer for the Oklahoma City radio station WKY, in Oklahoma.

It was in 1936 that he met his future wife Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (she was better known by her nickname, Betsy). Walter and Betsy remained married for 65 years until she lost her battle with cancer on March 15, 2005.

In 1950 Cronkite joined the CBS News team in its infancy and began working as part of the network’s 15 minute late evening newscast entitled Up To the Minute, which aired on Sundays. It wasn’t until April 16, 1962, that Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edward as anchorman for the CBS Evening News.

The program expanded from just 15 minutes to a 30 minute broadcast in 1963 making Cronkite the first anchor in America with a half-hour news program. On February 14, 1980, Walter Cronkite announced that he intended to retire from the CBS Evening News. His last day in the anchor’s chair at CBS was on March 6, 1981.  He was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather.