The President John F. Kennedy Assassination: 

Walter Cronkite is perhaps most vividly remembered by countless Americans for breaking the news of the death of President John F. Kennedy on Friday November 22, 1963. At the time, there was no standards in place about how to report such a sensitive news story, as Television news was still very young as a journalistic medium. Cronkite’s exhaustive coverage would forever alter the way that Americans came to expect to receive news. People were no longer willing to wait until tomorrow’s newspaper in order to read the latest updates about world events, especially about the assassination of the President of the United States.

Cronkite was standing at the United Press international wire machine in the CBS newsroom when the first bulletin announcing the shooting broke. Cronkite clamored to get on air in order to break the news. The CBS Breaking News bumper slide interrupted the CBS soap opera, “As the World Turns”, at about 1:40 p.m., just ten minutes after the shots were fired in Dallas.

At the time, Studio cameras and lights actually needed a several minutes to warm up in order to be used. Because of this, the first three bulletins were delivered by Cronkites voice, without video. The first bulletin announced that shots had been fired at the president’s motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The second bulletin arrived as Cronkite finished reading the first, adding that the shots had hit the president, and that they were perhaps fatal.

The third bulletin came a few minutes after cutting back to “As the World Turns”. The breaking news bumper slide interrupted the broadcast again, this time to add that John Connelly, Secretary to the Navy, was also shot. And also a few reports had come in that the president had already died. Cronkite made sure to stress that these reports were unconfirmed and continued the broadcast as if the president were still alive. Cronkite assured viewers, in a improvisational frenzy, that CBS would continue to provide more details as they surfaced.

By 2:00 p.m., Cronkite was informed that the cameras and lights were ready, and told the viewers that CBS would be taking a break so that affiliates could join the network. Within 20 seconds, almost all the CBS affiliates joined the networks coverage. Cronkite appeared on-air in a shirt and tie, but without his coat.

Finally, Cronkite is handed a report. He stopped speaking, put on his glasses, and broke his anchor persona. It was then that Cronkite made the official announcement that President Kennedy had died. Cronkite paused, swallowed to retain composure, and continued his report that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson would be taking Oath shortly. During this announcement, Cronkite was visibly emotional, with a crack in his voice, and a tear in his eye, Cronkite did what he did best. He read the news.

The JFK report was a defining moment for Cronkite, and for the country. His presence – in a white shirt, slowly removing his glasses to check the time and blink back tears – captured both the sense of shock, and the struggle for composure, that would consume the american public over the next four days. The major networks suspended all commercial coverage, and for four days, delivered non-stop coverage of the assassination, the funeral procession, and the killing of JFK’s accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. This extensive coverage was a signal that television was evolving into the national spotlight.