in that tradition, we can only say, he will be missed. that is the way it is. more coverage on "360" and throughout the morning, next. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening, everyone, i'm john king filling in for larfy king tonight. the sad news we give you, breaking news tonight, walter cronkite, legendary anchorman, the voice of cbs news, mid-'70s, most trusted man in america passed away today. walter cronkite 92 years old. he was for many the voice of the man on the moon. for others the first voice to tell them president kennedy had been shot and killed.

he also was a voice who frustrated president johnson by coming back from vaum and saying to the american people the war there was mired in a stale meat. president johnson thought it dramally changed public opinion in the united ates. first, to my friend and colleague, larry, standing by on the telephone. larry, walter cronkite, what did he do for the business? what is his legacy? >> larry: what can you say, john? i wish i could be there. i'm with my boys on a prior commitment i couldn't change. walter cronkite was not only a great broadcaster. he was a dear friend, especially to other broadcasters. he would aid you and help you and he would always build you up if you were young in the field. if you were on your way up, he was right there. of course, i don't think -- john, i think you'll agree. there will never be a newsman, again, ever, who will have that clout. the -- too many channels, too many areas, too many

broadcasters. cronkite stands alone. he could change public opinion. no one broadcasting could do that today. no one could touch it. cronkite came back from vietnam and the mood about vietnam changed. one of the proudest things in my life, i want to get personal, was in the '90s. i got the walter cronkite award, an award he presented himself to a different broadcaster each year. that was one of the greatest nights of my life to stand up on a podium and hear that voice give something to me, a man who gave so much to this country. i'm the one he started on. you weren't born. i remember when he started on radio. he did the business report every night for cbs radio network. >> he was a wire correspondent for united press then became the voice and face of cbs. the anchor of the cbs evening news from 1962 to 1981. signing off each broadcast with "that's the way it is." larry, that was his trademark. you mentioned the trust factor.

because there is cable now, so many options out there, the interpr internet and blog. the trust factor wasn't born of the fact there are few eer platforms in those days, it was because he was a reporter first. >> larry: there are many times he was rumored to run for president. i forget the year. one of the years there was a strong group of people around america who was twittering out there. there wasn't a twitter then, but i'll use that word. ta were sending the message out to draft walter con cite. that great an image. there's no broadcaster today to even touch that. here was the man ankering the news every night. he was bitter when he left cbs, didn't want to retire. that was a forced retirmt. i don't think he got over that feeling toward a network he thought let him down that he felt he had done so much for. i'm sure at the end he got over that. he was in very failing health.

he was deaf. this was probably a peaceful -- if you're going to go, you're going to go the way walter went. that voice, isn't it in your head, john? >> yeah. i grew up listening to him at home. my mother tells me i was a baby on her lap when he learned from walter cronkite president kennedy had been killed. i didn't know him in the business. i did have the honor to meet him a few times in life, my coverage of president clinton. walter cronkite loved his boat and the sea. i want to share with our viewers, cronkite sitting down with walter cronkite. let's listen. >> larry: when you watch it, walter, do you miss it? >> oh, yes, of course, every day. every minute of the day i miss it because as things develop i hear them on the radio. i see them on the internet. i wish i could get my hands on that story, you know? >> larry: you want to go in and do it? >> it's the old -- it's the old

fire horse, you know, that when the bell rings you want to go. well-rested young white man running from the scene. >> larry, we are 40 years. s it 40 years ago man walked on the moon. walter cronkite was the great voice of much of that space movement. sometimes we try to be profound in what we say. walter cronkite watches men walk on the moon, boy. >> larry: what's the show? you are there. a show he hosted sunday on cbs. kind of a documentary in which he would take you to july 4th, 1776 and you are there. with those wonderful tonal qualities he had. there was another wonderful program in the '50s walter cronkite put his own stamp on. he continued to do a daily

commentary. he did a daily commentary on radio. there's that one moment, john, i think which nobody in america will ever forget if you were there and watching it. when he announced kennedy's death, he takes that pause -- you have to watch this, and takes the glasses off. and gives you the time he died with a lump in his throat. that was great broadcasting. >> as we listen to larry king reflect, we're watching pictures of walter cronkite. saw him with eisenhower, with president kennedy. a man, larry, who was there for the apollo landing, as we said, helped turn public opinion on vietnam, the civil rights movement. he was a man in a powerful position. cbs anchor chair at the time of remarkable change in the united states of america. >> correct, the '60s. he told me once he didn't really like being anchor. he didn't like being famous, particularly. he thought there ought to be a time when the anchor is not seen. that everything ought to be on

camera. it's a visual media. we ought to see -- the anchor ought to be a voiceover. >> i want to ask you if you can to stand by as long as you can. i know you're with your boys. >> larry: i've got about another ten minutes if you want in there. >> stand by, i want you to interact in the conversation here. dan standing by on the phone with us as well. the legendary producer of cbs "60 minutes." don, i want you to -- that program was the gold standard in news, "60 minutes." because walter cronkite made it the gold standard in the business. >> walter cronkite was the gold standard. i produced cronkite for years before we were even decided on "60 minutes." walter was a consummate newsman. could reach anybody. everybody took his phone calls.

walter was as far as i can recall was the best known newsman, print or broadcast, of his time. >> and, don, what made him the trustworthy figure? >> his knowledge of the story he was doing. walter talked to everybody who could possibly know something more about a story than he did. he was the newsman's newsman. >> as we watch some of these -- we're watching sp of the classic pictures. the apollo landing, walter cronkite holding the model of the spaceship's design. he was -- >> i know. i produced that thing with him. >> you produced that thing with him.

reflect on that moment. man on the moon 40 years ago. >> one of the singular moments in television was walter's man on the moon. i think deep down he wishes it was him, he, who was landing on the moon. >> larry: yeah, he would have gone. >> he would have gone. >> larry: you know, don, i'm sure you also agree, walter used to tell me, the fact that he had a print background, that he started in newspapers was very important to him. he thought he brought that newspaper knowledge of who, what, where, when, why. . >> we spent too much time in our business reading polls. here's a fascinating one from 1972. a public opinion poll gives

walter cronkite a 73% approval rating. most trusted public figure in the united states outranking president richard nixon who at the time had a 57%, not so bad approval rating. a news anchor who had more credibility at his moments than the president of the united states. >> larry: it wasn't difficult urging him -- it was '72 when they were urging him to try to get the democratic party nomination for president. i bet he would are given nixon a run for his money, don. >> i remember getting a call from a democrat politician in albany, very high up in the democratic party, who asked me if i would ask walter cronkite if he would consider running for a senate seat from new york. and i did. and walter said, tell him thank you very much, but no thank you.

>> don you reflected on larry ice point earlier, that walter's legacy was remarkable. at the end he was not happy. he felt he was being forced out. did he not. >> i know why he wasn't happy. he agreed to step down from the anchor chair of the evening news. he assumed that that did not mean he was stepping down as the anchor of all the big special events. now, when he found out that he was not doing the conventions and the election nights and all the things that he thought he was going to inherit, even though he stepped down as the anchor of the evening news, was a very big disappointment to him. >> larry: i don't think he ever got over that. never got over that, john. >> never got over that. we're watching walter cronkite with our wolf blitzer on the coast. he loved the coastline, the sea. we ask our viewers to stay with us. a sad night for our business and

sad night for the country. walter cronkite, legendary cbs newsman and anchor. man who helped the country understand its most tumultuous decade and held its hand through the civil rights movement, vietnam war, the assassination of a president and his brother, presidential didn't.

america has lost a legend tonight. a legend in our business and to many, a part of your life. growing up in a tumultuous time. walter cronkite, you see him there with president bill clinton in the white house, dead at the age of 92. walter cronkite, of course, the legendary cbs news anchor. with us on the phone is mike wallace, a man who worked so closely with him. and, mike, on a sad night for our business and a sad night for the nation, reflect on the legacy of your friend, walter cronkite. >> well, i'll tell you something, it's hard to imagine a man for whom i had more admiration than cronkite.

cronkite is just -- he was a superb reporter, an honorable man, a fine friend, and i have nothing but admiration for cronkite. >> he was the steady, reassuring, son of the midwest through so many tumultuous, big news stories, vietnam, the civil rights movement, man on the moon, the kennedy assassination, the robert kennedy assassination. mike wallace, did he ever say this is my favorite story, this is the one i got into, i enjoyed reporting the most? >> no, he never did that with me. we were close. we were good friends. he didn't have to do that, because we -- i admired him so damn much. he had -- he had done such a

wonderful job at "60 minutes," at cbs. he just -- he was a first-rate reporter. >> a first-rate reporter. they don't come any better. he, of course, made cbs in his tenure the gold standard. i want to bring into our conversation my friend, katie couric. you are the current anchor of the cbs "evening news," you sit, not quite exactly, but you sit in walter cronkite's chair, how do you do that every night? >> well, john, it is a huge responsibility and i have to say slightly intimidating. when i took this job and, you know, for a number of days we've known at cbs news that walter was in failing health, and we were all worried about when this day would come. and he was so revered and so beloved here. and i've read so much, john, in recent days, and really,

throughout my career about walter. but i've been reminded, really only recently, what an incredible man and journalist he was. i mean, he was the personification of integrity and decency and humanity. i think that's one thing that struck me as i've watched some of the earlier broadcasts from the past. you know, when he announced that president kennedy had died, it was so moving to see his body language and his facial expressions. and, similarly, the glee he exhibited when, you know, he was anchoring a space launch. he had sort of an adolescent enthusiasm, it's been said, about the space program, this unbridled joy in terms of reporting that story and a huge interest in science as well. but i think he -- he really connected to the audience. you know, sometimes you think about television as being this

sort of stiff, stilted profession, particularly when walter was at the helm. but what struck me is how natural he was, in his early days apparently before the era of teleprompters, john, he would write a few notes on file cards, just glance at them. know what the story was. and speak extemporaneously to the audience. and you can't find many anchors who are really capable of pulling that off in this day and age. >> speaking with the country, i think not at the country, might have been part of his gift. i want to take you back in time. walter cronkite goes on the air in february 1968, and he says on the air, that the united states is mired in a stalemate. and president johnson, we would later learn in the history books, told his aides, if i've lost cronkite, i've lost middle america. will any television anchor in today's age, when the business is so different, ever have that power? >> i don't think so. you know, it was a very different period of time. there was no cnn, no 24-hour news cycle. in fact, he often talked a bit

disparagingly about 24-hour news. said people get a little pill of nose and think that's enough. 24 hours a day. no offense to you, john, or cnn. but i think he did wield incredible influence because he was so trusted. so, when he did say, you know, the vietnam war is not working and we need to negotiate and the whole, you know, speech really he made during that special back in 1968, it had such a profound impact. but i was talking to douglas brinkley, john, earlier today, and he's writing a biography about walter, and the university of texas is the repository of all his papers. apparently he was a pack rat. he has boxes and boxes, and he has the reporters' notebooks from when he was in vietnam. and very early on, in fact, as early as 1965, he was growing disillusioned with this war, and his reporters' notebooks indicate that.

but i think he waited and went there numerous times. he was on the front lines. he showed tremendous courage in putting himself in harm's way. and, of course, i think there was that moment after the tet offensive where he felt he could be silent no longer. >> as you mentioned that, he felt he could be silent no longer. our business has changed so much. walter cronkite worked in the days of film and black and white. now came tape. now we work in the 24-hour, high-definition, digital environment. there is cable television. as his era passed, what is the lesson katie couric takes sitting in the chair? of course, so much changes. but the key is to take the things that matter most, the values that matter most, and carry them with us. what are they? >> well, i think, john, you know, that's increasingly challenging in his new environment, in this ever-changing landscape that is television or news in general. and i think what i take away from everything i know about walter cronkite is that good journalism matters. seeking the truth is really important. and, you know, you have to

source material. you have to be certain of material. he was an incredible stickler about getting it right. and, you know, things are done kind of fast and furiously, and, john, you're a former wire service guy, you know, that's where, you know, walter really honed his craft, working for united press, back in the day. and i think those same values, you know, getting to the truth and being accurate and fair. you know, i wanted to mention, john, before i took on this job, he was nice enough to take me out to dinner here in new york. and he was so wonderful. and he said, you know, he used to get in trouble from both sides of the aisle. people were angry at him, you know, whether they were liberals or conservatives, and he said, i thought i was doing something right, because i would hear it from everybody. so, you know, i think also he -- he didn't necessarily care about his popularity. and i guess he really didn't need to, because he was so trusted. but i think he was a real fact

finder and truth teller. and i think all journalists today, you know, could use a reminder of the values that he held so dear and that he imparted on all his colleagues here at cbs news. >> very, very well put. i'm going to ask katie couric, my friend and the "cbs evening news" anchor to stand by with us. as we go to break, you're watching pictures of the legendary walter cronkite, the cbs anchor, who i would say held the nation's hand through so many troubled times during the 1960s and the 1970. walter cronkite, dead today at the age of 92. our thoughts and prayers go out to his three children and, of course, our thoughts and prayers are with his colleagues, former colleagues and current colleagues at cbs "evening news." (announcer) you can make a bigger difference in the world.

you can make a positive change in your career. you can make a greater contribution to the greater good. and you can start today, by earning your degree online... at walden university. where advanced degrees advance the quality of life. welcome back to "larry king live." i'm john king, filling in for larry king. as you see there, america has lost a legend tonight. the news industry has lost a legend. walter cronkite, the longtime cbs evening news anchor, dead at the age of 92. katie couric is still with us. and, katie, you were talking before the break about his talent, his ability to

communicate, to work without a teleprompter. to talk and communicate and just have a conversation with the american people. i want to read you something that walter once said of today's news business, including the woman who sits in his chair, katie couric. i don't think if i were competing today with the anchor people out there i'd get a chance of getting on the air. minimizing his own talents. we both know that's far from true, right? >> well, you know, it's funny, john, because i was talking to doug brinkley, as i mentioned earlier, his story and he's writing a biography of walter, and going through stacks and stacks of papers. i asked doug, do you think that walter really understood the impression and the -- and the impact he's had on american life or had for so many people growing up, and as you said, i know repeatedly during this broadcast, really shared so many of the momentous events in the latter -- the second half of the 20th century through and with walter cronkite? he said he was incredibly humble. he said he liked being walter

cronkite, don't get him wrong, he said. there was, of course, a little vanity in him, because there is in everyone. he really enjoyed when people recognized him and wanted his autograph. and he connected, he said, to everyone, from the taxi driver to the cashier at the drugstore, to, of course, heads of state. but he was so humble throughout his life. and, you know, he didn't want to be a celebrity. and i thought when doug told me that, i thought, of course, because he transcended celebrity. he was much more than a celebrity in our celebrity culture. but had so much humility. and, you know, he would say, oh, i'm not that much. because i think he really saw himself as a reporter, a journalist, as somebody who had to just do his best to impart accurate information to all these people in the country, who were depending on him so every night. when you think about it, john, 90% of the american people were watching the three newscasts, when walter was at his, you

know, in his heyday, so it was a very, very different environment. but i was just struck by how -- how humble he was, really, until the end of his life. >> katie couric, the anchor of the cnbc "evening news." we want to thank you for spending some time with us, reflecting on a great man in our business and a great legend in our country. katie, thank you so much. and our thoughts and our prayers are with the men and women of cbs news on this very difficult evening tonight. i want to bring into the conversation another one of the great voices, bob schieffer, "face the nation." you worked with walter through all the times we talked about it. the civil rights era, the vietnam war, the kennedy assassination. help us understand, help the country understand tonight, what we've lost. >> well, i did work for walter a long time. i tell you, john, walter was who i wanted to be when i was a young reporter. and a lot of young reporters did. he really set the standard.

and the thing i always tried to stress to people about walter is that walter was off camera exactly the way he was on camera. he was exactly the same person. and so many times we meet people, you know, that movie stars or tv people we see, and we're always so disappointed because they turn out to be totally different when you meet them in person than when you see them in the role they play on television. walter was a reporter. he was a reporter's reporter. he loved the news. and he had -- he had the kind of curiosity and enthusiasm for the news that i don't think anyone could match. i told somebody the other day, we were talking about walter, and i said, you know, if -- if there was a car wreck outside and walter heard the noise out the window, it would be like it was the first car wreck he'd ever seen in his life. he'd want to run down there. he'd want to get the names of everybody involved. he just never lost this great fascination for the news.

and he never let anything get in the way of the news. for walter, it was find out what happened, and as an old wire service guy, that's -- that's how you were trained, and you'll know where i'm coming from when i say that. but he was -- he was my mentor. and he was my friend. and he really -- we'll never see his like again, john. we'll never see his like again. >> and as you say that, bob, you have been a correspondent who has covered some legendary stories. you've also been in the anchor chair. tell me the difference of anchor -- reporters who become anchors, sometimes they love it. sometimes they don't like parts of it and sometimes they want to get out from behind the desk and go cover a story. what was walter like in that regard? >> walter loved to get out and cover stories. and, of course, after he became such a well-known person. he was the most well-known journalist in america, he couldn't really get out and cover a story himself. because he created such a

commotion when he showed up. i remember once during the '76 campaign and gerald ford was campaigning on a whistle stop tour through michigan, walter came out to join the campaign for a day. well, the train would pull into a town. it would stop. president ford would come out on the back platform of the train, but then walter would step out of the car where all the press people were, and every eye in the crowd would turn to walter. and, you know, people wanted -- wanted to see walter and talk to walter. so, when walter got to go on overseas trips with the president, where was not quite so well known, he loved that. and the other part, john, he loved the other reporters. he loved the news, and he loved people who covered the news. nobody enjoyed sitting around in the bar after the end of a long day on the campaign trail or when you're covering a big event and just sort of kicking it around and telling war stories with the other -- the other reporters. walter -- walter loved them, and, of course, they loved him, too. >> you mentioned -- you used the

word "mentor," bob, as you know, this is a competitive business. there are a lot of egos in the reporting business and some would say especially in the tv reporting business. how was walter cronkite a mentor? i say it in the context of everyone we've spoken to tonight, from everything they say about walter, he's a great reporter and a great communicator. everybody also describes him as a gentleman and a good man. >> well, he was. and it was this -- it was this love of the news, john, that it just transcended all the other stuff. was walter competitive? yes, he was competitive. and he was competitive with people within the organization. he loved to get a scoop himself. nobody liked it better than walter. but i'll tell you, when you were out there on the beat -- and i covered my first beat in washington was the pentagon, and then i became the white house correspondent, and then went on to cover the state department, all while walter was in the anchor chair, and later i covered capitol hill. but most of that was when dan rather was there. when you did a good job, walter would call you, and he'd say, i

thought you did a good job on that one, my friend. and, you know, he always leapt you know. and i'll tell you, when you got a compliment from walter cronkite, for me, it didn't get much better than that. but he would call the reporters on the beat. what's going on over there? why are they doing this? why are they doing that? and, you know, he could come up with the question that you never thought to ask or something. and that's what made him such a good editor. i mean, he -- he just had a great curiosity about things. and i just loved to work for him. and i mean, you know, when he told me to do something, i found a way to do it. yeah. >> bob schieffer, we want to thank you for your thoughts and reflections on this sad night in america. sad night for our business. thank you for taking -- >> well, we won't see his like again, john. >> very well put. i'm with you 1,000% on that one. take care, my friend. >> thank you, john. >> you're seeing pictures of walter cronkite with presidents with prime ministers, with world leaders.

that's who he was. a legendary anchor of cbs news. walter cronkite has left us tonight at the age of 92. we'll be back with "larry king live" in just a moment. >> from dallas, texas, the flash apparently official, the president kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time, 2:00 eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago. vice president lyndon johnson has left the hospital in dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. >> larry: is that your toughest moment? >> emotionally, certainly, yeah. it was the only time i really was caught up and thought i was going to lose it, and i did for a brief second. managed to come back. you know, we -- i'm not ashamed of that in any way.

what single quality to you think will be the most important that you take to the white house? if the communist intention was to take and seize the cities, they came closer here at quay than anywhere else. >> for 65 years, betsy cronkite was at walter's side. they were married in 1940. she died in march of 2005 at the age of 89. and tonight at the age of 92, walter cronkite, the legendary anchor of the cbs "evening news," has left us. again, walter cronkite was 92.

with us now on the phone is one of the men who comes to work every day. i would believe, and i hate to put words in his mouth, hoping that the american people trust him at least somewhere close to where they trusted the great legendary, walter cronkite, brian williams is, of course, the nbc "nightly news" anchor and the 2009 winner of the walter cronkite journalism award. brian, thanks for being with us. and simply, your thoughts and reflections on this sad evening. >> well, john, thank you. you're very kind. i'm with you and bob schieffer. we'll never see his kind again. i'm sitting here thinking that this is a man who broke tradition once as an impartial journalist, and he came back from vietnam and determined with all he could muster that we couldn't win the war. that's when lbj unwittingly wrote walter's epitaph, if i'm lost walter, i've lost middle america, because walter was us. he was a part of us, and he got

us, speaking for so-called middle americans. these days you can wake up and there's already a cable network that agrees with you and you can watch it all day in total agreement with its -- its political bent, and it's hard to conjure up the past where there were just three choices on television. and at his height, he addressed the nation. he didn't just anchor the "evening news," he addressed the nation. he had a tear in his eye, twice in his career. and, again, fast-forward to today, we've got some hosts on television who cry twice a day easily. and it's just times have changed so, so much. and we -- we loved him as a country, the model was quite different, anchorman talks, americans listen. we turn off the set. that was the end of the conversation. today in e-mail and the internet, the conversation goes on 24/7. he in these later pictures, you know, he's wearing suits that he had handmade in london, and we

kind of knew that about him as viewers, and he was broadcasting to a decidedly off-the-rack nation. but that was okay. he deserved it, because he was uncle walter. >> to watch the pictures, brian, is to go through so many remarkable moments in history, you see him with kissinger and with president kennedy and with senator edward kennedy in a previous photo. right there you see him with brian williams. tell us about your personal relationship with this man. >> i'm talking to you from a house where walter one night walked through the door and -- and came in and had dinner with us. and my daughter at that point was very young, and i said, honey, try to remember this -- this great man was in your home, because he means the world to your dad. walter always said he was 12 years old reading "boys life" when he read about a foreign correspondent and set his mind to becoming one. i was 8 watching him on

black-and-white television every night in elmira, new york, and my home, my mother refused to serve dinner until the cbs evening news was over. and i announced my intention to my family, apparently, at the age of 8, that he was the man i wanted to be. and this was the profession i wanted. and i have lived such a charmed life that i got the chance to explain that to walter and tell him that and make it clear. and just was able to breathe the air he exhaled and know him a little bit, as friends. i went on a pilgrimage as a young man. i wanted to see that newsroom and that studio in new york where the cbs "evening news" originated. and you get close to some of your icons, they can tarnish. walter never did. but i did discover the globe behind him was just kind of a lime green and a wood model of the -- of the earth, and he sat at a mundane white formicah

wraparound desk. but to me as a little kid, as a viewer who watched him narrate the cold war, the space program, the vietnam war, it was the center of the universe from smalltown america. >> well, as the little kid who admired him to the big kid who is now an esteemed anchor in his own right, what does it mean to brian williams to be the recipient of the walter cronkite award? >> well, i can't believe it. just as i can't believe earlier tonight i gave an interview to a friend who's writing a college textbook on journalism. i must have talked about walter for 30 minutes. and i hung up that phone and got the call that walter was gone. i'm so fortunate to be the recipient of the last walter cronkite award to which he contributed as a member of the board of arizona state. it's a huge honor. it will be an emotional night this fall when it happens. again, just to have known him, to occupy this same space just means the world.

and, of course, for the rest of us now it means upholding what he meant. he hated seeing the pressure against the ramparts. he hated the encroachment of entertainment on journalism values. and he hated to see opinion seep its way into modern-day journalism, as katie noted. and so his -- his retirement years, he didn't always like what he saw, but he was as curious as a terrier. he read everything he could get his hands on, every day of his life. watched television news constantly. he was quite a guy. >> quite a guy. a plainspoken way to say the remarkable -- say quite the remarkable. that's who see is. brian williams of nbc "nightly news," thank you very much for your insights tonight. you're watching "larry king live," we'll take a quick break, as we thank you brian williams. we'll be back. america has lost a great man tonight. a legend in our business, a legend in the country, walter

cronkite dead at the age of 92. more on his life and legacy when we continue. >> larry: when you did a broadcast, were you able, can you honestly say all those years, that you were able to leave you out of it? >> i think so, yes. yes. i really do. i believe that in -- in reporting the news, the personal opinion -- this is something that journeymen reporters, i'm talking about people who have had some time at it, who have been to journalism school, studied the ethics of journalism, so forth, live with. they understand that. they understand that you -- we all have prejudices. but we also understand how to set them aside when we do the job. this would be the same as a doctor who perhaps didn't like a particular patient's attitude and perhaps his looks or his religion or whatnot, but when he opens him up, he does precisely

what the profession requires him to do. i ask them flat out. is there anything that the bank can do for you? customers are stressed. so that's why, you know we've adjusted a lot of the different processes we have in place such as rolling out more innovative products to really meet the needs of the customers. we actually move with the economic times. customers who maybe have lost their jobs, we're looking at waiving fees for them. we've introduced add it up. our risk free cd. it's one stop shopping for all the answers they're looking for. you just kind of have to learn to, just you know, just be there. that's how we keep moving.

and keep the economy going? it's the local pizza guy that needs to pay his supplier for the dough. during these times when you think most people would roll over, small business owners figure out a way to fight, and i just love being part of that kind of a team. we are able to provide customers with ways that they can keep their business running and profitable. and to really help them... help them get through this tough time.

committing small business specialists like myself to the community, i think that speaks loudly to what bank of america thinks the heart of the community is - the small business. began the firing still goes on. >> the man you see there on your screen, the legendary walter cronkite, left us tonight at the age of 92. president barack obama has just issued a statement on the passing of walter cronkite. the president says this -- for decades walter cronkite was the most trusted voice in america. his rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night. in an industry of icons, walter set the standard by which all others have been judged. he was there through wars and riots, through marches and milestones, calmly telling us what we needed to know. growing up in the heartland. but 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. he invited us to believe in him and he never let us down. the country has lost an icon and

a dear friend. and he will be truly missed. that's the statement of the president of the united states, ck obama. it a stementeingefcted by mwhrkthe news bu with nke. joining us now is my friend,he arabc longtihite uscorresent, s donan. sam, just reflect for us on what we have lost tonight. >> well, you know, john, i think walter cronkite's greatest strength was he was a reporter who had the background, d-day coverage, all the war, the second world war, and -- but he was unpretentious. he led the country as he was the anchor with the largest television news audience we've ever had in our history. but he didn't act as if he was leading the country. he didn't sit there and say, i am the anchorman, i will tell you how to do it. please follow me. he did it by just being himself and bringing that authenticity of which you've spoken and your other guests have spoken. and i think that was his greatest, greatest achievement.

>> and when you were a young man in the business, sam, is walter cronkite somebody you modeled after? is he someone who even though he was at a competing newswork was friendly? >> well, there were two people, there was walter cronkite and david brinkley. and there were others, of course, i don't want to minimize the other people. but when i got into the business in the early '60s, 1961, walter cronkite, i worked for a cbs station, the cbs anchor who took over for douglas edwards, began to build the broadcast. huntley/brinkley was still the number one broadcast through, oh, most of the '60s, but cronkite with his great team of reporters, roger mudd at the capitol, later dan rather at the white house, marvin kalb at the state department, daniel shore who covered watergate, they were the horsemen he led in the sense that you watched that broadcast because of walter cronkite and because of the people that he was surrounded with. and into the '70s, of course, no one could touch him.

>> and, sam, stay with me. we just read president barack obama's statement. i want to read you a statement now from senator john mccain who, of course, was president obama's opponent in the last election, but a man who has a personal history with walter cronkite. here's senator mccain's statement. i'm saddened to learn of the passing of walter cronkite, one of the most influential newsmen of our time. i will never forget our memorable visit together to hanoi on the tenth anniversary of the fall of saigon. sam donaldson, help us understand how important the voice of walter cronkite was at the turning point of american public opinion in that war? >> well, i know that you've already talked about the fact that he went to vietnam, came back, and did a memorable broadcast in which he concluded that he didn't see how we could win. and the great quote from lyndon johnson, if i've lost walter cronkite, i've lost middle america. he was -- however impartial in the sense of having made that conclusion, he continued to report on the cbs "evening news" on a daily basis about the war, reflecting the johnson policy

and then the nixon policy. but he came to hate those kinds of wars. i talked to him in 2004, in the fall, shortly before that election, he was for john kerry, no question about it. he made no hiding of that. and he was so against the war in iraq. he thought it was a foolish war. he thought it was something we shouldn't fight. now in, the days when he was anchor, you would not have known that except for that exception on vietnam. after her left the anchor chair, and by the way, john, we at abc were quite pleased in the sense competitively, the rule at cbs was established at 65 you had to go. that was bill pailly's rule. he created cbs. frank statin, great president, he made let go at 65. walter cronkite had to leave. he was at the height of his power. he had stayed and not had the rule which he would have done,

he wanted to stay, for another ten years he would have been number one clearly. >> i want you to help a generation of americans who might not understand what we're talking about tonight. walter cronkite left the anchor chair in 1981. anchor from 1962 to 1981. there are a generation of americans who might not understand what he did to the business and how important he was in the country. i had the good luck and high on honor to meet him. someone my age or quite younger may not understand. help them? >> the business has changed. in the days when walter cronkite came to prominence, journalism was about bringing information we belief to be factual to the people who were watching and hoping they would act on it but not telling them how to act on it. of course, there were columnists and editorialists. that's very fine. but most people in the business were not in the business of giving their opinion. walter cronkite and his team of reporters would try to present

factual information and people would act on it. today, of course, it's all different. there are still reporters and anchors who try to present factual information. i think you're one of them. i watch you on sunday, john. but the point is, now, the whole business has trended toward a pinion. i indulge in that myself sometimes in our "this week," program. the point is, without the facts, without information that's based on checking it, checking your sources, going to the scene, trying to find out what's actually correct and what's not, how can you have an opinion? how could you voice what you think about the health care plan if you don't know what's in the various proposals of the health care plan? but, today, that's what you hear. people just shooting off their mouths. walter cronkite never shot off his mouth. >> you see the pictures here. bernie shaw, peter jennings, tom brokaw, walter cronkite.

will we live in an age where people trust people on television? nobody works harder than sam donaldson. will people ever trust us as in the days of cronkite. you mentioned your former colleague, peter as well. >> i hope they will. all we have to sell is our credibility. certainly my case you may be -- i think you're an exception. we don't sell our handsomeness. we don't sell anything else. when we say something, we want people to understand that we think we're telling you what is actually there. we may be wrong. we'll have to correct it tomorrow when we find out we didn't have enough information or we didn't know how to process the information, but that is so important in the business. the fear is that -- i believe in all of flowers blooming. the internet, the bloggers, let everyone have a say, but the

theory is that if you watch or listen to people who don't care about the facts, they simply care about their opinions and political agenda, and you take that as factual, then we come on with something that sounds di t dimpbts, how will you make the distinction? in the end, people will figure it out. look at the websites that have facts, not just opinion. listen to people who have it, it's based on factual material and not just o pin whereon. i think in the end it will be all right. at the moment, john, we're going through a transition period. >> we thank you for your thoughts and reflections tonight. sam is a great friend. walter con cite, a great man we lost.

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a few minutes left on our conversation on larry king, remarking on the life of legendary walter cronkite who died at the aim of 92. morleen adler. we heard so in tributes from greats in the business to walter cronkite, the newsman. tell me about walter cronkite, the man. >> walter cronkite the man was probably the greatest man that ever lived. i can say that with total impunity. he was everything that you could ever hope he would be. upon meeting him. but he was more. because what people didn't know about him was his enormous, his great and joyful sense of humor. he was enormously witty and funny and i often called him walter mitty because of his love of life, his curiosity about

everything, and his interest in people and in things that he didn't know. >> joining us as well is john klein, my boss, the president of cnn. he also is someone who cut his teeth at the cbs news of walter cronkite. john, your reflections this evening? >> my favorite memory of walter happened actually after i left cbs and i was starting my own internet company. i bumped into him at a cocktail party. he said, what are you up to? at that time it was 199, the internet was a brand new idea. i explained we're going to do video newscasts on the internet. he lit up. he said, oh, that's wonderful. means that a fellow in ghana could get the latest news and talk to someone half a world away. it's such an exciting time. and i thought, my god, this man just lives and breathes news, communication and connecting people. >> marlene, we saw the pictures, man on the