'...And that's the way it is'
Retiring.
"Oh, well, I want to say that probably 24 hours after I told CBS that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday, I was already regretting it," Cronkite told TV critics. "And I regretted it every day since. It's too good a job for anybody to give up as I did."
Twenty-five years after leaving the anchor desk, Cronkite remains an icon. Time and again, he has been named the most-trusted man in America in polls — including 14 years after retirement.
At the age of 89, he needs a bit of help to climb up and down stairs, and his hearing isn't the best. But Cronkite remains as sharp as he is humble. Promoting an installment of "American Masters" that is devoted to his life and career, he insists, "Golly, I don't have any concept that I belong in that pantheon of stars."
But in the pantheon of journalists, Cronkite stands on a pedestal occupied by few others. He was witness to and reporter of some of the great events of the 20th century — from the Battle of Britain to the John Kennedy assassination to man's first landing on the moon.
"Of course, when you ask somebody as old as I am, who was an active war correspondent for World War II, there was a new experience every day practically that lives in my memory," he said. Such as:
• "I made a trip in a B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany. That was certainly one of the great, exciting days of all time."
• "I landed in a glider in the battle of the Netherlands. I covered the war when the Germans invaded Belgium. And so I had excitement after excitement that were great to report on."
• "I even managed to get myself bombed out of my apartment in London just to make sure that I experienced all the problems of being a civilian at wartime."
• "I was proud of coverage throughout the buildup of the space program. I took that as my own assignment. I spent a lot of time with it."
He may be most remembered for his reporting on the Vietnam War, particularly when he spoke out against continued American involvement. "One of those that I'm proudest of was the editorializing that I did on the Tet offensive in Vietnam. That, I think, helped speed the end of that war."
Cronkite went to Vietnam as the Tet offensive began, covered it from there, and then came back to the United States and put together a documentary. CBS News management decided the time was right for the anchorman to editorialize on the air about the war. "I was surprised. I wouldn't have expected that the boss would do that. But, by gosh, I was pleased to be able to do it."
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