How much impact did Walter Cronkite leave on the American public?

Answer 1

There are some historians who believe Cronkite, a widely admired news reporter and anchors, known as "the most trusted man in America," was responsible for President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision not to seek re-election. Cronkite had at first been a supporter of the war in Vietnam, but began having his doubts about the government's insistence that the U.S. was winning. He went to Vietnam on several occasions and the more he investigated, the more he came to believe the government was not being honest with the American people. He did a broadcast in which he suggested that it was time for the United States to negotiate with the North Vietnamese and seek an honorable way to withdraw, as he believed the US could not win this war. For a news anchor with Cronkite's prestige to say such a thing was a blow to Johnson, who had counted on the media's support. He was reported to have said "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."

But in addition to his Vietnam reporting, Walter Cronkite had a long and distinguished career as a journalist and as a TV news anchor. He was the one who announced that President Kennedy had been assassinated in 1963; in fact, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he was there for some of the seminal moments in American news. While every news reporter has both fans and critics, most Americans did in fact trust him and see him as both fair and accurate.