Walter Cronkite Biography, Wiki, Net Worth, Cause Of Death, Facts

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., popularly known as Walter Cronkite, was an American broadcast journalist best known as the host for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) Evening News.

The journalist, who worked with newspapers for 19 years, was considered the most trusted man in the United States. He was a pioneer of television news broadcasts and served the station until his retirement in 1981.

Walter Cronkite Biography And Wiki

Cronkite was born on November 4, 1916, in Saint Joseph, Missouri. His mother’s name is Helen Lena (née Fritsche), while his father’s name is Walter Leland Cronkite. They died in November 1993 and May 1973 respectively, but Cronkite had lived with them in Kansas City, Missouri before the family moved to Houston, Texas, where he began his elementary education at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School. He then continued his education at Lanier Junior High School (now Lanier Middle School) and San Jacinto High School.

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During his school years, Cronkite, who was an avid reader of books, magazines, and newspapers, became an editor for his school’s newspapers. In 1933, the young journalist was admitted to the University of Texas, Austin, to study political science, economics, and journalism. In order to pay his school fees, Cronkite took a job as a correspondent for a Houston newspaper, while at the same time engaging in other school activities such as scouting and the Chi Phi social brotherhood. After leaving university, Cronkite became a news editor for United Press in 1939. From there, the young journalist’s career took another upswing as he was given a senior position as a war correspondent, reporting on the U.S. involvement in World War II in Europe in 1941.

In 1950 he became a full-time journalist and was transferred to London, where he was given a new assignment to report on the German bombing of the city and to document the invasion of North Africa. During the remaining 1950s, Cronkite hosted numerous television shows, including CBS’s You, Are There, an imaginary broadcast of historical events, The Morning Show, a documentary series called The Twentieth Century, and the CBS news discussion series Pick the Winner, among many others. However, one of Cronkite’s famous shows was the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, in November 1963, which was a very controversial moment for the American citizens who remained connected to Walter Cronkite when he revealed information about the assassination of the President. Other broadcasts for which he was famous were the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal. After his tenure, he was one of the few journalists of his time who helped shape the face of television news. However, he retained his position as the presenter of the CBS evening news until his retirement in 1981.

Walter Cronkite Net Worth

Prior to his retirement on March 6, 1981, Cronkite had received numerous awards, including the Carr Van Anda Award for sustained contributions to journalism, which he received in 1968 from the faculty of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at the University of Ohio, the Paul White Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981. Cronkite has received the prestigious Peabody Award twice, but the News World International Lifetime Achievement Award 2003 and the Truman Foundation’s Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award 2004 were the last awards he received before his death on July 17, 2009. At the time of his death, the American broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite had a net worth of $20 million. One of his biggest contracts was in 1981 when he signed a 7-year contract with CBS, which offered him $1 million per year. When he was hired as a consultant for the station, he received $150,000 a year. His net worth has steadily declined since his death.

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 Cause Of Walter Cronkite’s Death

Cronkite died on 17 July 2009 at the age of 92 years. The reported cause of death was cerebrovascular disease – a condition that affects the blood supply to the brain. He died four years after the death of his beloved wife, Mary Elizabeth “Betsy” Maxwell Cronkite, who died of cancer on March 15, 2005. The couple married on March 30, 1940, and had three children, including American actress and psychotherapist Kathy Cronkite, Nancy Cronkite, and Walter Leland (Chip) Cronkite III, who is married to popular actress Deborah Rush.

Walter Cronkite died in his home in New York City and was buried next to his wife in the family cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.

Quick Facts About Walter Cronkite Jr.