And that's the way it was...

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Doggone it! I just know that picture of Walter Cronkite, with his wife Mary Elizabeth ("Betsy"), my husband Bill and me, our arms entwined around one anothers' shoulders, is somewhere around this house, but I can't find it anywhere. I value that photo, I treasure it, and yet at this moment when I need it most, I just can't put my hands on it. And that's the way it is now with Walter: we valued him, we treasured him, but we will no longer be able to put our hands on him or place our arms around his shoulders. He was more than a man; he was a symbol of the best days of broadcast journalism.Over the years, my most intimate encounters with him were all, of course, official business occasions, but these were exciting, nail-biting events for me and the other news anchors. Walter Cronkite inspired many journalists of my generation, of all races and both genders, just as he often inspired this country in ways that brought us all together.In 1962, he accepted the anchor chair for the CBS Evening News. His show had not yet advanced to the rank of "highest-rated national newscast" when I began my career at CBS' local affiliate station KPIX in 1967. But Channel Five was by far the most popular evening news program in Northern California during the early years of the Cronkite era. Our local show was the lead-in to the national news and our success handed the network a big audience for Walter's show each night.Once a year, "Walter", as he insisted we call him, visited the large-market stations that carried his national news broadcasts, including San Francisco. How we all wanted to impress him! We worried for days in advance about possible topics of discussion. We tried to formulate clever questions that would make us seem smart when we interviewed him. We knew he liked to ask sharp questions, even in polite conversation, so we crammed our brains with endless details about national and international events. After all, he had been an award-winning foreign correspondent, plus he knew as much about the nation's space program as the NASA guys did.I remember always being a little surprised that he actually remembered me from one visit to the next, until one day it occurred to me that, during my early years in television, there had been no other black women anchors in this part of the world. Cronkite closely followed the civil rights movement--he often reported its progress on his nightly broadcast---and, ever the reporter, he always took a moment to inquire how I was faring out in the field.It wasn't until 1970 that Cronkite's "CBS Evening News" finally beat ratings-rival NBC's Huntley-Brinkley newscast. "Uncle Walter" became the number one source of news in American homes and held that perch until he retired from the chair in 1981.At one time, he was described as being "the most trusted man in America". The New York Times' Douglas Martin memorialized him as being more an institution than a mere mortal, television newsman, during the height of his career:From 1962 to 1981, Mr. Cronkite was a nightly presence in American homes and always a reassuring one, guiding viewers through national triumphs and tragedies alike, from moonwalks to war, in an era when network news was central to many people's lives. He became something of a national institution.  Fast forward: A few years ago, Walter and I met again at a fancy party where he was being honored by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists at the top of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. He and his wife Betsy greeted me and Bill as old friends. We took pictures, including the very photo I can't put my hands on now. He asked me, where I was working? I told him; we now had something else in common: at that point, we both worked part-time for public broadcasting.   Over the years, there was so much I learned from him, in person and by example, and I have tried to integrate everything he taught me into my understanding of news and the responsibilities of being a journalist. Once, he counseled me that "if you get your facts straight, you will succeed. If you couple that with fairness and as much objectivity as you can muster, you are almost there. If you are honest and interested in the people you talk to and the topics you cover, you will be a big success."Those "Cronkite Principles" have served me well. I will always remember his kindness and concern for a "wet-behind-the-ears" female reporter, who was, in those days, very much in need of a kindly guide.Thanks so much to the man America trusted the most, the man who entered our homes night after night to inform us of "the way it is". Your image will stay in our minds and in our hearts.