Walter Cronkite anchored the CBS evening News from 1962-1981. He will speak November 6th at Faye Spanos.

“We’ve been inundated with phone calls,” said Patrick Giblin, the media relations coordinator at Pacific. “There’s been a tremendous interest.”

The office of the University president Donald DeRoss confirmed the event last month. Getting Cronkite, 89, to visit was a long process. President DeRosa’s been pursuing the visit by Cronkite for some time.

The format for the event has Cronkite speaking for half an hour and then possibly fielding questions from the audience. He will talk about relevant issues, especially related to media.

Cronkite’s experience includes coverage of the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, and the Apollo space missions. As anchor on CBS, Cronkite saw the evening newscast expand from 15 minutes to the current 30
minute format.

In 1963, the nation learned of the death of President Kennedy from Cronkite. He was the first to relay the information and became visibly upset during the broadcast.

Cronkite’s on-air evaluation of the Vietnam War is believed to be a major factor in President Lyndon Johnson’s decision not to run for reelection in 1968. Cronkite’s simple statement changed the nation’s mood on the war.

“It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is a stalemate,” he said during a
broadcast.

Cronkite was an avid supporter of the US space program in 1969. While anchoring the blast-off of Apollo XI,
Cronkite cheered, “Go, baby. Go!”

Walter Cronkite played a role in the Watergate Scandal of President Richard Nixon’s Administration. He analyzed reports in the Washington Post detailing the incident. This helped make Watergate a household name.

Cronkite remains active, blogging on The Huffington Post online. He also introduced new anchor Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News.

“He changed journalism in so many ways,” said Giblin. “He’s an American hero.”

ASUOP is co-sponsoring the event and encourages students to attend.

Note: Tickets are free but limited. Around 900 audience members will be accepted. Tickets that are phoned in
must be picked up by 4 pm, November 3. Otherwise they will become available again.

At time of publishing, all tickets had been sold out.

On the web:
www.pacific.edu/homepage/events
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database

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