Reporter's Life, A

New York: A Borzoi Book - Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1996. BOOK: Corners, Spine, Boards Bumped; Light Shelf Rub to Boards; Slight Yellowing Due to Age. DUST JACKET: Lightly Creased; Lightly Chipped; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. With 36 photographs. SYNOPSIS: From the age of six, when he went dashing down a hill to spread the news of President Harding' death through his Kansas City neighborhood, Walter Cronkite's vocation was unmistakable. Three years later, when he started peddling the Kansas City Star, the die was truly cast: "My mother was horrified and frightened, as I suppose many mothers have been, or should have been, when their children got into newspapering." The next year the Cronkite family moved to Houston, and other boyhood activities intervened; but when shin splints kept him off the high school track team he landed the job of sports editor for the Campus Club and discovered the "sacred covenant between newspaper people and their readers. We journalists had to be right and we had to be fair." It was no accident that Walter Cronkite came to be known as the most trusted man in America. Now, at the age of eighty, Cronkite has written his life story - the personal and professional odyssey of the original "anchorman," for whom that very word was coined. As a witness to the crucial events of this century-first for the Houston Press, then for the United Press wire service and finally for CBS in the fledgling medium of television - Cronkite has set a standard for integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm, compassion and insight that would be difficult to surpass. He is an overflowing vessel of history, a direct link with the people and places that have defined our nation and established its unique role in the world. But Walter Cronkite is also the man who loved to drive race cars "for the same reason that others do exhibitionist, dangerous stunts. It sets us apart from the average man; puts us, in our own minds, on a level just a little above the chap who doesn't race." He is also the man whose "softheartedness knows no rational bounds," and who always has had "great problems at the theater, tearing up at the slightest offense against animals and people, notably the very old or the very young." He is the man who could barely refrain from spitting on the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials, and who could barely announce President Kennedy's assassination over the air for the sobs in his throat. Walter Cronkite helped launch the juggernaut of television, and tried to imbue it with his own respect for quality and ethics; but now he occupies a ringside seat during the decline of his profession and the ascent of the lowest common denominator: As he aptly observes, "They'd rewrite Exodus to include a car chase." Still, the American people know the difference. They know that for decades they have had the privilege of getting their news from a gentleman of the highest caliber. And they will immensely enjoy A Reporter's Life. Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on November 4, 1916. He began his career in journalism as a campus correspondent at the Houston Post and also worked as a sports announcer for a local radio station in Oklahoma City. In 1937 he joined the United Press and remained there for eleven years, covering World War II and then serving as chief correspondent in Moscow from 1946 to 1948. In 1950 Mr. Cronkite joined CBS News in Washington as a correspondent, and on April 16, 1962, he assumed his duties on the "Evening News." Nineteen years later, he stepped down as anchorman and managing editor to become a special correspondent for CBS. He also has hosted many public affairs and cultural programs for PBS and for syndication and, in 1993, formed the Cronkite Ward Company to produce documentaries for the Discovery Channel, PBS and other networks. The recipient of numerous awards and citations for his journalistic achievements, Mr. Cronkite was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter in 1981. Arizona State University named its communications . . .. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.