It was a fitting tribute to Walter Cronkite: Two Presidents,
all the major anchors, the U.S. Marine Band, Jimmy
Buffett,
CBS Executives, Nick Clooney, Mickey Hart, drummer of the
Grateful Dead and Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Sextet who
marched around Avery Fisher Hall in a New Orleans style jazz funeral on September 9.
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| President Barack Obama speaks at OPC member Walter Cronkite’s Memorial.
photos by Sonya K. Fry
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SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 — It was a fitting tribute to Walter Cronkite: Two Presidents, Clinton and Obama;
all the major anchors (past and present); the U.S. Marine Band, Jimmy Buffett,
CBS Executives in abundance, Nick Clooney, Mickey Hart, drummer of the Grateful Dead and Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Sextet who marched around Avery Fisher Hall in a New Orleans style jazz funeral – it was just fabulous.
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| Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Sextet perform at Avery Fisher Hall for the Walter Cronkite memorial. |
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| Many television personalities were interviewed after the Cronkite Memorial including Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. |
William Jefferson Clinton spoke of Cronkite the man "a profoundly good man
and that is the way it was." He was eternally grateful to Walter and Betsy for
inviting him, Hillary and Chelsea to go sailing off Martha’s Vineyard the summer
of his scandals. Clinton also paid tribute to President Obama who came to New York
to speak at the memorial on the day of his important address to Congress on healthcare.
There were many, many Uncle Walter stories and I will share just a few. This one
is a re-telling of a Cronkite story. Walter was dancing with his Mother at her 100th
birthday party. When the music stopped Mrs. Cronkite asked her son to get her medicine. Walter dutifully produced the prescription drug and it was rejected. “By saying get me my medicine I meant a martini.” We can now see where Walter got his sense of humor.
When Walter was asked about the new title he was given as “The Most Trusted Man
in America” he said “apparently they didn’t talk to my wife.”
On a serious note Tom Brokaw captured the moment when he said “Walter Cronkite was also our dad. He was the godfather who showed us the way to be good journalists.”
The newsman Nick Clooney said that Walter was only interested in the content of news,
the truthfulness, checking the facts and not concerned about the delivery systems. That
steadfastness has been lost, in my opinion, in the search for newer, better, fast ways to
deliver tidbits of news (often gossip). We have been caught up in the delivery system
and ignored the content.
President Obama, who never knew Cronkite personally the way all the other speakers did, spoke of reverence for Cronkite and his commitment to finding the truth. “I did not know him any better than the tens of millions who turned to him each night in search of the answer to a simple question – what happened today. … I have benefited as a citizen from his dogged pursuit of the truth, his passionate defense of objective reporting, and his view that journalism is more than just a profession. It is a public good, vital to our democracy.”
Reverence for the man and his contribution to our society as the most trust man in America abounded throughout the ceremony, but there were also the revelation that
Walter aspired to be a good drummer… . He was a follower and friend of Mickey Hart
of the Grateful Dead and practiced drumming with him with the aspiration of “being in the groove.” Who Knew!!