Includes bibliographical references and index.

For decades, Walter Cronkite was known as "the most trusted man in America." Millions across the nation welcomed him into their homes, first as a print reporter for the United Press on the front lines of World War II, and later, in the emerging medium of television, as a host of numerous documentary programs and as anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 until his retirement in 1981. Yet this very public figure was a remarkably private man. Few know the full story of his life. Drawing on unprecedented access to Cronkite's private papers as well as interviews with his family and friends, fellow journalist David Brinkley now brings this American icon into focus as never before. He traces Cronkite's story from his roots in Missouri and Texas, through the Great Depression and World War II, to his coverage of presidential elections, the space program, Vietnam, and the first televised broadcasts of the Olympic Games. Cronkite was also the nation's voice for many of the most profound moments in modern American history, including the Kennedy assassination, Apollos 11 and 13, Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the Iran hostage crisis. This book is the biography of an extraordinary American life.