Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190016
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY RICHMOND
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``Uncle Walter'' or ``Old Iron Bottom'' (as he was sometimes affectionately called) rose to prominence at CBS News as anchor/host of the documentary program ``You Are There'' (1953-57) and narrator of ``The 20th Century'' (1957-70).
But the way most people remember Cronkite is as anchor of ``The CBS Evening News,'' a position he held from 1962 to 1981.
Cronkite became the top-rated network anchor and a grandfatherly presence who helped soothe America's wounds after such tumultuous events as the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
But few events better illustrated Cronkite's uncanny ability to sum up the moment without hogging the spotlight than the touchdown of Apollo XI on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, and Neil Armstrong's subsequent momentous first steps.
More than 2 billion people were said to have watched the first moon landing worldwide. Here in the United States, it was Cronkite, more than any other newscaster, who was able to lend the event the immense sense of history it deserved.
Now 77, Cronkite busies himself giving lectures and traveling around compiling material for ``The Cronkite Report,'' his monthly documentary series that airs on The Discovery Channel.
In an interview, Cronkite shared his thoughts on the 25th anniversary of the moon walk, which he calls ``the most significant event of the 20th century.''
RAY RICHMOND: How do you remember the experience of covering men landing on the moon in 1969?
WALTER CRONKITE: Well, the word ``exciting'' is certainly overused these days. But it was such an exciting experience to be a part of that.
It excited every one of those emotions. And it was tempered with this enormous feeling of relief that we had succeeded in this difficult and dangerous mission.
There was also the exultation of knowing we had beaten the Soviets and gotten there first.
Q: What sort of preparation as a journalist did you do to cover the landing?
A: I probably had as long and arduous a preparation as did NASA.
I'd covered the space program from the very beginning. My first trip to Cape Canaveral was in 1957. So it had been 12 years of intimately covering the program for CBS News.
Q: Yet when the actual landing happened, weren't you rendered speechless?
A: Absolutely. Totally.
It was the first time in my life I had found myself unable to put what I was watching into words. All I could say as the lunar module was touching down was, ``Wow.''
Q: What exactly was it that tied your tongue?
A: It was all just so unreal. This was science-fiction coming true.
To see (Neil) Armstrong and (Buzz) Aldrin bouncing around on the surface of the moon defied the most abundant imagination.
And the sheer technology of being able to watch and experience this back on Earth was an overwhelming notion.
Q: So it would be safe to say that you are not one of those revisionists who think the entire landing was a hoax staged in a New Mexico desert?
A: (Laughing) I imagine (a hoax) would have taken as much effort to stage and keep under wraps as it wound up taking getting to the actual moon.
But you would be surprised at how many people believe, to this day, that it didn't really happen. That just boggles the mind, but it also tells you something about the unbelievable nature of the event itself.
Q: Growing up as you did in the 1920s and 1930s, I imagine outer space was thought of throughout your young life as little more than a pipe dream.
A: To some degree. I read all the science-fiction books, and I devoured Amazing Stories magazine every month.
Going to the moon had always been a complete part of fiction.
By the '40s and '50s, we had begun to talk about the possibility of getting to the moon, of course. A high-capacity rocket had been invented and perfected.
After the war was over, the excitement clearly started to build.
Q: Then came the Kennedy administration and the vow to land a man on the moon before the 1960s were done.
A: That need to make John Kennedy's vow a reality was every bit as important as beating the Russians there.
I guess our priorities have changed a bit since then, haven't they?
Q: It seems as if much of the public excitement over the space program has dried up since Apollo XI. Why do you think that is?
A: Well, we got there. It had been conquered.
So with each landing after that, there was a little diminution of public interest, which I suppose is natural.
But NASA's mission hasn't really changed. There was talk about colonizing the moon and manning space stations 25 years ago, and there still is.
Yet when the space program began, the people involved always said it would be a success when people stopped paying attention to it, when it ceased to be an extraordinary deal. And I suppose by that criteria, it is a success.
Q: What is your feeling today about where the space program stands? What is its real value? And would you continue to commit billions of dollars to it?
A: To be honest, I have begun to question in my mind whether it is valid to keep pouring money into space exploration in light of so many more pressing demands on our budget at this time.
It's a very complex issue. I mean, the very nature of exploration requires human beings to be participants.
So I'm torn. I agree that the shuttle program should exist, even in light of the Challenger disaster in 1986. The question is, to what degree?
Q: Where do you see the first moon walk qualifying in the context of historical events?
A: It is the most significant event of the 20th century, without a doubt.
This is the century of incredible scientific breakthroughs.
For this to compete with the discovery of the nucleus of the atom and the victory over polio, the disasters of the atomic bomb and of World Wars I and II, with political revolutions all over the globe, it has to be unbelievably momentous.
And it was that.
I mean, think back to the 15th century. A lot of things of great importance happened then.
But what is the one thing every schoolboy knows? Columbus discovering America.
So this escape from our earthly environment has to be the biggest story of this century - that is, unless the Koreans blow us all to hell before the year 2000.
Q: Does it give you a particular sense of pride to have been part of such a historical moment?
A: I'd take it even further. It humbles me with satisfaction as a human being and as a reporter that I could have been in the position to help bring such a moment to the world.
It will always be special to me.
New York Times Special Features
Ray Richmond, who is based in Los Angeles, is the Hollywood correspondent for Satellite Direct.
by CNB