Newsman, Volvo racer Walter Cronkite dies at 92
by Damon Lavrinc on Jul 17th 2009 at 9:26PM 
Former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite has passed away at 92. Although Cronkite was primarily known for his coverage of the JFK assassination, moon landing and the Vietnam war, he also enjoyed success in endurance racing with teammate and Volvo of Long Island dealer Art Riley.When Riley died earlier this year at 93, his obit briefly mentions Cronkite's involvement with the team and its successes behind the wheel of a Volvo PV444. The team campaigned and won races at Lime Rock's "Little LeMans" in 1957, '58 and '61. Cronkite was the only finisher in a five-car team one year, taking a B-division win and placing third overall. The two also teamed up to compete in the Trans-Canada rally.
You can read Riley's full obit here, a look back on Cronkite's life here, and thanks to Mike Spinelli for bringing this little historical footnote to our attention.
[Source: RRDC | Images: Wikimedia; Evan Agostini/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
paul34 9:52PM (7/17/2009)
RIP Mr. Cronkite.
You were before my time, but I still know the effect you had on journalism. If only current outlets were anything near the "old" style of journalistic integrity.
Now it's all about sensationalism and political agendas from all ends of the spectrum.
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notYou 9:45AM (7/18/2009)
Oh, you mean like when he lied to the American people about the results of the Tet offensive in Vietnam? Thereby forcing the first modern American military defeat via public opinion?*
Look, Cronkite he was a journalistic _hero_ up to and during WWII (ala Murrow). But after that, he turned way, wacky, Carter-like left. The country - if not the world - was poorer for it.
(This has parallels with Michael Jackson: celebrate what the man did in his prime, but realize that afterwords he was a shadow of his former self - if not another person almost unrecognizable from the former altogether)
*this viewpoint is historically and factually correct, however it is not politically correct. if you're public educated, this will sound like heresy.
homunculus 12:31PM (7/18/2009)
wow, way to inject your misguided political and historical beliefs into this. it's fascinating how respected and trusted men in the mainstream of american life like cronkite have become demonized by the fringe for disagreeing with their fringe beliefs.
notYou 8:05PM (7/18/2009)
homunculus: "wow, way to inject your misguided political and historical beliefs into this"
Remember the footage of those south vietnamese people flooding our abandoned embassy and clamoring for the ladders of the last leaving American choppers? Trying to hand their babies over to GIs and begging for them to be taken, anywhere but there?
For those people who weren't lined up and executed immediately afterwards, I'd be willing to bet they don't see my previous post as misguided political or historical "beliefs", for them it was real life.
I doubt any of those survivors are mourning the loss of Mr. "The VIetnam war is unwinnable" Cronkite today*
(*Again, I'll point out that I think of Mr. Cronkite as a hero and model American for his WWII era brave as hell in-the-field journalism, and I'll acknowledge that he was America's favorite news uncle in the early TV years, but beyond that he went from reporting the news to trying to manipulate it, to all our shame.)
Venom 9:57PM (7/17/2009)
R.I.P. Mr. Cronkite.
The definition of a real journalist, not the jokers out there today.
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Mike 10:45PM (7/17/2009)
Yeah, just about anyone these days can write for a blog and call themselves a journalist....oh wait. ;)
RIP Cronkite!
Quantumphysics 11:24PM (7/17/2009)
...before journalism was glenn beck convincing rednecks the government was out to get them ...there was real journalism.
Noidor 3:51AM (7/18/2009)
At 27 never had the privilege of enjoying his newscasts, but from what I've read and seen in clips, he was a brilliant man with an ability to cut through nonsense and get to the issue.
Walter Cronkite
Peter Jennings
Tim Russert
notYou 9:50AM (7/18/2009)
@Noidor: At 27 never had the privilege of enjoying his newscasts,
That explains why you put Jennings and Russert in with Cronkite. You should go back and watch Cronkite's WWII reports, then you'll see why Jennings and Russert were a joke - with virtually all other modern "anchors" - by comparison.
Cronkite was a far better man as a reporter in the field than the anchor he eventually became jockeying a desk. Yes, he pioneered the modern media broadcast show and anchor position, but ultimately I think we're all coming to the conclusion that "broadcast news" is as oxymoronic as "military intelligence".
You just can't do objective news in an advertiser supported and federally regulated medium without compromises (or, at least, appearance of compromise). It worked for a short while in the naive new world of black-and-white TV, where the spectacle of the technology overshadowed the content (and it's backers), but today where broadcasting is a commodity, it no longer holds cache.
Graham 10:06PM (7/17/2009)
I am old enough to remember his moving report that President Kennedy had died. He took off his black-rimmed glasses and wiped away a tear. I also remember another broadcast -- the landing of the first humans on the moon. He was as excited and inarticulate as a schooboy. And with good reason.
But. But, as the years wore on, he became the godfather of advocacy journalism. Eventually he would be the guest at the Italian home of well-known geo-political analyst, George Clooney. If only a few million viewers bother with CBS News (or ABC News or NBC Nightly News), it is because his acolytes have turned journalism into a slick spectacle producing only wariness in its observers. A profession now just short of the career of John Callendar -- the newspaper publisher bought and paid for by Thomas Jefferson. So today, a Supreme Court nominee is described in USA Today as skillful and charming as she parries with mean men asking hard questions about the very nature and future of rule of law in this country. As for the President -- they don't cover him; they cover for him. There are few things as sad as greatness self-denied. Who watches the watchmen indeed. Walter Cronkite. RIP.
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The Hit 11:08PM (7/17/2009)
Bravo, never a moment inappropiate to inject politicism, not even to celebrate the life of a man.
Some respect you have...
RIP, Mr. Cronkite. Honestly, I never knew ye but I hope your life benefits future generations to the fullest. Losing a fellow auto enthusiast is sad indeed.
ronnie schreiber 12:02PM (7/18/2009)
And what respect do you have for the millions of dead Vietnamese and Cambodians who died as a result of Cronkite's dissembling on the Tet offensive?
If this was, let's say, Rush Limbaugh or some other prominent conservative commentator who died, would you also say that people should not speak ill of the dead or inject politics into the discussion?
notYou 8:03PM (7/18/2009)
@TheHit: "Bravo, never a moment inappropiate to inject politicism, not even to celebrate the life of a man."
Funny, since the latter half of the man's life _was_ political advocacy (and I think we can agree now that, in retrospect, his later reporting was the same thing, albeit cloaked in "journalism") but somehow that is off limits.
It's always entertaining to see the naive rewrite history.
artandcolour 10:38PM (7/17/2009)
Cronkite had some friends in my town, specifically at the yacht club in town. i remember him driving into the club in the early-mid '60s with a Triumph TR2 (or 3) and a pipe. Cronkite and that little British sportscar equalled entry everywhere he wanted to go. great man! i've worked in journalism most of my life and he was one of those Mt. Rushmore types of individuals the world has been lucky to have.
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Epyx 11:07PM (7/17/2009)
Maybe we can stop talking about MJ now.
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Aloysius Vampa 11:36PM (7/17/2009)
Having studied many famous journalists and anchormen, including Mr. Cronkite, this really saddens me.
I recall reading about his last official broadcast as a CBS anchorman. He said something about people making too big of a deal about his departure. At this point, I feel okay making a bigger deal about this departure.
And that's the way it is.
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JayP 11:47PM (7/17/2009)
Can't say that I agree with his politics, but a car guy is a car guy.
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RLQ 7:06PM (7/18/2009)
America lost the best journalist. RIP Cronkite.
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Raz 3:56AM (7/18/2009)
RIP
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DASMAN 6:42AM (7/18/2009)
And thats the way it is, Friday, July 17, 2009.
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