Walter Cronkite Google doodle marks 100th birthday of America’s favorite journalist

Google used its home page today to celebrate what would have been Walter Cronkite’s 100th birthday.

During a career that stretched nearly five decades — from his start as a radio announcer in Oklahoma to his last day as CBS Evening News anchorman in 1981 — the journalist became known as “the most trusted man in America.”

The doodle leads to a search for “Walter Cronkite journalist” and includes a sharing icon to post the image on social profiles or send via email. The animated doodle rotates through a series of significant dates during Cronkite’s career at CBS Evening News, including:

• April 16, 1962 — Takes over as anchorman on CBS Evening News.
• November 22, 1963 — Announces death of President John F. Kennedy.
• July 20, 1969 — Reports Apollo 11’s successful lunar landing putting the first man on the moon.
• March 6, 1981 — Cronkite’s last day as CBS Evening News anchorman, giving up his chair to Dan Rather.

“Walter Cronkite, the legendary broadcast journalist reported, served, and comforted a nation during its most trying times, including World War II, Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the assassination of JFK, to name a few,” writes Google on the Google Doodle Blog.

In celebrating the iconic journalist, Google included the following quote from Conkrite’s autobiography, “A Reporter’s Life” published in 1996:

Press freedom is essential to our democracy, but the press must not abuse this license. We must be careful with our power. The free press, after all, is the central nervous system of a democratic society.

That’s an idea that is as relevant and important today, if not more so, than when it was originally penned 20 years ago.

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Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.