Walter Cronkite Sunday War Analysis

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Introduction
In Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt, the Hoodhood family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Hoodhood, Heather, and Holling. Every night at five-o'clock the Hoodhood family watches the news and anchoring the news is Walter Cronkite. Mr. Hoodhood does not speak to anyone about the topic of the events on the news. He does not speak to his wife about it nor even his own son. Cronkite has to announce devastating events on the air. Another thing that Walter Cronkite announces about the Vietnam War is that one of the lieutenants is missing. The lieutenant happens to be Mrs. Baker’s husband, Lieutenant Baker. I will be exploring the topics of Walter Cronkite on the news, the greatest and hardest things Walter had to announce on the air, and his legacy.
News Anchoring Walter Cronkite was a news anchor …show more content…

He announced about the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and many more. One of the hardest news he had to tell was John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Walter Cronkite was the first newsman to announce that John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. This announcement took place on November 22, 1963. Cronkite said that he “blinked in disbelief at what he had read.” He said that this day was “a slow day that burst into action when the first dispatches from Dallas went out.” They say that when Cronkite announced the death of Kennedy, he cried on the air. He tried to hold it back by swallowing his feelings, but then a single tear ran down his face. Another assassination that Cronkite announced was Martin Luther King Jr’s. This segment aired on April 4, 1968. Mr. Cronkite was almost finished announcing the news when CBS told him that they got information saying that King had been shot. The news station did not have enough information to fill the people in on, so Cronkite made it brief. While Walter did not express his emotions on the air, he was still