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Where were you when....?
Author: TriSec
Date: 07/18/2009 12:43:51
Good Morning!
Bob beat me yesterday in the "Race to the Moon", but there's still plenty more to think about during this anniversary weekend.
"Where were you when...." is a refrain heard throughout the 20th and 21st century. Some of us with a nose for history often seek out elder relatives or friends on the anniversary of a historic event, just for that little insight into what it might possibly have been like.
More often than not, those folks were watching the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
This morning, Mr. Cronkite's voice has been silenced, and he's gone to meet his maker at age 92.
Perhaps more than anyone else, Mr. Cronkite defined what it meant to be a newsman, seamlessly transitioning from wire services, to radio, to the postwar TV era. When something important or disturbing happened.....Walter was the person to tell America about it.
This comes from the Boston Globe this morning, but it will surely be front page news around the country, and perhaps the world.
Quite simply, there will never be another one like him, nor will journalism or TV reporting ever be the same, either. (not like it has in quite some time, anyway...)
But, back to the "Where were you?". Bob shared his story yesterday about watching the moon landing. Like him, I too was watching Walter Cronkite tell us about it. But I was much smaller, and actually don't have any direct memory of the event. On July 20, 1969...I was getting ready for my 3rd birthday, and all I have are some vague, shadowy, recollections of sitting on my grandpa's lap with everyone crowded around the TV late one night. Other relatives have confirmed that it was indeed Apollo 11. It's my earliest dated memory, and perhaps the one I cherish the most.
But we're a dying breed, those of us that remember the moon landing firsthand. I saw a story earlier in the week that the median age of Americans is now just 38...meaning half the country wasn't even alive when it happened.
The moon landing is just one of those events that stand out. Perhaps it is the only 'positive' national "where were you" moment. Looking back through our history, it's only in the 20th century and the advent of mass media that's created that effect. You could probably list them all without too much effort, and more often than not, it's been some kind of disaster or national tragedy that makes "the list".
Return with me now not to 1969, but 1962. In that year, Russia was beating the pants off us in the "Space Race". By this time, they had already amassed an impressive list of "firsts":
1957: First intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7 Semyorka
1957: First satellite, Sputnik 1
1957: First animal to enter Earth orbit, the dog Laika on Sputnik 2
1959: First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit, first man-made object to escape Earth's orbit, Luna 1
1959: First data communications, or telemetry, to and from outer space, Luna 1.
1959: First man-made object to pass near the Moon, first man-made object in Solar orbit, Luna 1
1959: First probe to impact the Moon, Luna 2
1959: First images of the moon's far side, Luna 3
1960: First animals to safely return from Earth orbit, the dogs Belka and Strelka on Sputnik 5.
1960: First probe launched to Mars, Marsnik 1
1961: First probe launched to Venus, Venera 1
1961: First person in space (International definition) and in Earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1, Vostok programme
1961: First person to spend over a day in space Gherman Titov, Vostok 2 (also first person to sleep in space).
1962: First dual manned spaceflight and approach, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4
On our side of the coin, we'd had a number of rockets blow up, and we sent Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom on 15-minute suborbital flights off Florida. In terms of national prestige, technical know-how, and world leadership, things were looking pretty grim in those days.
But in 1962, that all changed. John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and Wally Schirra all completed multiple-orbit flights, and the confidence of the nation surged. Shortly before the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted, President Kennedy gave a short speech at Rice University.
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
So I'll close with a little muse. On October 27, 2004...like most of the rest of New England, I held up my infant son in front of the TV late one night so he could see the Red Sox win the world series. On January 20, 2009....We were on the mall with 2 million of our closest friends to see the President inaugurated. While I hope Javier remembers these things, in the big picture they are small beans.
For one brief, shining moment on the evening of July 20, 1969....we weren't Americans, Russians, Chinese....we were all "Terrans" (I hate the term Earthling). Nothing before or since has unified the planet like that moment. When man walks again on the moon (probably as a "taikonaut")....what will we remember then?
Bob beat me yesterday in the "Race to the Moon", but there's still plenty more to think about during this anniversary weekend.
"Where were you when...." is a refrain heard throughout the 20th and 21st century. Some of us with a nose for history often seek out elder relatives or friends on the anniversary of a historic event, just for that little insight into what it might possibly have been like.
More often than not, those folks were watching the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
This morning, Mr. Cronkite's voice has been silenced, and he's gone to meet his maker at age 92.
Perhaps more than anyone else, Mr. Cronkite defined what it meant to be a newsman, seamlessly transitioning from wire services, to radio, to the postwar TV era. When something important or disturbing happened.....Walter was the person to tell America about it.
This comes from the Boston Globe this morning, but it will surely be front page news around the country, and perhaps the world.
Walter Cronkite, whose steadying, avuncular presence made “The CBS Evening News’’ the dominant network news program for much of his 19 years as its anchorman, died yesterday in New York. He was 92.
Mr. Cronkite’s longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said he died at 7:42 p.m. at his Manhattan home surrounded by family, the Associated Press reported. She said the cause of death was cerebral vascular disease.
Columnist Nicholas von Hoffman once called Mr. Cronkite America’s “national security blanket,’’ and public opinion polls often named him as the man Americans trusted most. One such survey, in 1973, found that Mr. Cronkite led the runner-up, President Nixon, by 16 percentage points.
Mr. Cronkite’s nightly signoff, “And that’s the way it is,’’ became a fixture of America’s aural decor, and the 20 million viewers of his evening newscast, as well as the many more who turned to him for coverage of national traumas and natural disasters, lunar landings, and landslide elections, came to regard him as the network news anchor. That opinion was in ternational: In Sweden, anchormen and women are known as “Cronkiters.’’
As David Halberstam wrote of Mr. Cronkite in his book “The Powers That Be’’: “He had that special quality that television demands, that audiences sense, and that is somehow intangible - he had weight; he projected a kind of authority.’’
“It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism, or indeed America without Walter Cronkite,’’ Sean McManus, CBS News president, said in a statement released to the AP. “More than just the best and most trusted anchor in history, he guided America through our crises, tragedies, and also our victories and greatest moments.’’
“He was the consummate television newsman,’’ Don Hewitt, a longtime CBS News executive and creator of the long-running “60 Minutes’’ news program, told Reuters. “He had all the credentials to be a writer, an editor, a broadcaster. There was only one Walter Cronkite, and there may never be another one.’’
President Obama praised Mr. Cronkite last night for his deep sense of integrity.
“For decades, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted voice in America,’’ Obama said. “His rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter set the standard by which all others have been judged.
“Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world. He was family. . . . This country has lost an icon and a dear friend, and he will be truly missed.’’
Trying to account for her husband’s popularity, Betsy (Maxwell) Cronkite once said, “It’s because he looks like everyone’s dentist.’’
Continued...
Quite simply, there will never be another one like him, nor will journalism or TV reporting ever be the same, either. (not like it has in quite some time, anyway...)
But, back to the "Where were you?". Bob shared his story yesterday about watching the moon landing. Like him, I too was watching Walter Cronkite tell us about it. But I was much smaller, and actually don't have any direct memory of the event. On July 20, 1969...I was getting ready for my 3rd birthday, and all I have are some vague, shadowy, recollections of sitting on my grandpa's lap with everyone crowded around the TV late one night. Other relatives have confirmed that it was indeed Apollo 11. It's my earliest dated memory, and perhaps the one I cherish the most.
But we're a dying breed, those of us that remember the moon landing firsthand. I saw a story earlier in the week that the median age of Americans is now just 38...meaning half the country wasn't even alive when it happened.
The moon landing is just one of those events that stand out. Perhaps it is the only 'positive' national "where were you" moment. Looking back through our history, it's only in the 20th century and the advent of mass media that's created that effect. You could probably list them all without too much effort, and more often than not, it's been some kind of disaster or national tragedy that makes "the list".
Return with me now not to 1969, but 1962. In that year, Russia was beating the pants off us in the "Space Race". By this time, they had already amassed an impressive list of "firsts":
1957: First intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7 Semyorka
1957: First satellite, Sputnik 1
1957: First animal to enter Earth orbit, the dog Laika on Sputnik 2
1959: First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit, first man-made object to escape Earth's orbit, Luna 1
1959: First data communications, or telemetry, to and from outer space, Luna 1.
1959: First man-made object to pass near the Moon, first man-made object in Solar orbit, Luna 1
1959: First probe to impact the Moon, Luna 2
1959: First images of the moon's far side, Luna 3
1960: First animals to safely return from Earth orbit, the dogs Belka and Strelka on Sputnik 5.
1960: First probe launched to Mars, Marsnik 1
1961: First probe launched to Venus, Venera 1
1961: First person in space (International definition) and in Earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1, Vostok programme
1961: First person to spend over a day in space Gherman Titov, Vostok 2 (also first person to sleep in space).
1962: First dual manned spaceflight and approach, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4
On our side of the coin, we'd had a number of rockets blow up, and we sent Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom on 15-minute suborbital flights off Florida. In terms of national prestige, technical know-how, and world leadership, things were looking pretty grim in those days.
But in 1962, that all changed. John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and Wally Schirra all completed multiple-orbit flights, and the confidence of the nation surged. Shortly before the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted, President Kennedy gave a short speech at Rice University.
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
So I'll close with a little muse. On October 27, 2004...like most of the rest of New England, I held up my infant son in front of the TV late one night so he could see the Red Sox win the world series. On January 20, 2009....We were on the mall with 2 million of our closest friends to see the President inaugurated. While I hope Javier remembers these things, in the big picture they are small beans.
For one brief, shining moment on the evening of July 20, 1969....we weren't Americans, Russians, Chinese....we were all "Terrans" (I hate the term Earthling). Nothing before or since has unified the planet like that moment. When man walks again on the moon (probably as a "taikonaut")....what will we remember then?
