April 16th, 1962 - March 6, 1981

On April 16th, 1962, Walter Cronkite made his debut as the anchor of the CBS Evening News replacing Douglas Edwards. He was not only the anchorman for the network newscast, but also served as its "managing editor." the dual position gave him considerable latitude in the selection, timing and arrangement of the day's news stories. It was during  Cronkite's early says at anchor that the nightly broadcasts expanded from fifteen to thirty minutes. The first half-hour show aired September 2, 1963, a week ahead of NBC's Huntley-Brinkley first expanded newscast and featured a special interview with President John F. Kennedy.

Color broadcasts of the evening news began early in 1966, about two months after NBC's. During this year most Network television transitioned from Black And White to Color.  

From the late 1960's until his retirement in 1977, Eric Sevareid commentated on The CBS Evening News. 

NOTE:
Moving images of Walter Cronkite reading the news in his studio every night for six years (1962–August 2, 1968) are mostly gone and not extant in any broadcast form. Exceptions are his coverage of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 and the November 1963 events in Dallas, Texas: the JFK assassination, the shootings of police officer J. D. Tippit and Lee Oswald and all three funerals, as well as his introduction of the Beatles and his criticism of the Vietnam War.
Douglas Edwards anchored the live five-minute segment The CBS Afternoon News five afternoons a week between 1962 and 1966. He started the segment immediately after the twenty-five minute broadcast of the Goodson-Todman game show To Tell The Truth. Not one second from four years' worth of The CBS Afternoon News was preserved in any way.
Archival Television Audio original off the air sound recordings of network and local television news broadcasts, pre-1968, are extremely rare and not preserved at The Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media or UCLA Film & TV Archive.


Communist push deepens into Laos, the Senate led by Senator Thomas Dodd investigates sex and violence in TV programs such as the CBS drama, "Route 66," stock market reversal for the sixth day in a row, future planetary vehicles discussed by space expert.


CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1962–1981)

ANCHOR:
Walter Cronkite	 1962-1981 

EMINENT CORRESPONDENTS INCLUDE:
Roger Mudd 1963-1980 

Eric Sevareid 1963-1977 

Bill Plant 1968-1980 

Robert Pierpoint 1963-1980

Charles Kuralt  1968-1975 

Bob Schieffer 1975-1980 

Dan Rather 1963-1980 

Richard Threlkeld  1968-1977 

Bruce Morton 1968-1980 

Lesley Stahl   1974-1980
 
Harold Dow 1974-1980 

Marvin Kalb 1963-1979
 
George Herman 1963-1975 

Nelson Benton 1963-1968 

Bob Gregory 1968 

Harry Reasoner 1963-1980 

Bernard Kalb 1963-1979 

Terry Drinkwater 1974-1975

Bob McNamara 1977-1980 

Ed Bradley 1978-1980  
                                                                              

Walter Cronkite, who began anchoring the CBS Evening News only three and a half months prior to this newscast, reports on the death of Marilyn Monroe. By closed circuit television, he also discusses the tragic death with Kim Novak and signs off the air with his familiar "And That's The Way It Is Aug. 6th 1962."    

Partial Transcript:

 Walter Cronkite: "Good Evening from the CBS News Headquarters in New York."  

Announcer: "This is the Evening News Edition of CBS News with Walter Cronkite. Brought to you by Dristan.

WC: " Capturing the world attention caused by her death. Even the Russians today sat in judgement calling her a victim of Hollywood. In Hollywood today a team of doctors and psychiatrists were still trying to determine exactly what she was a victim of. Her own hand or an accident? But the coroners inquest can only tell us how Marilyn Monroe died, and not why? Why with everything to live for with fame and fortune in their grasp are so many of our movie queens desperately unhappy. 

By closed circuit television  I asked that question  to Miss Kim Novak in Hollywood this afternoon.

Kim Novak responds and discusses her insight with Walter Cronkite in a four minute segment. 






    

British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan meets President Kennedy in the Bahamas to discuss Skybolt, the Congo, the European Common Market, James Donovan is in the last stages of negotiations to free 1200 invasion prisoners from Castro's Cuba, the US will pay $62 million dollars in ransom (in form of medicines and food), Attorney General Robert Kennedy returns from Brazilian trip. 

Anchor: Walter Cronkite.                                        

Alabama Governor George Wallace blocks three students in Birmingham, Alabama, Eric Sevareid speaks about Barry Goldwater.
           

Coup in Saigon, President Kennedy in Philadelphia, comment from President Kennedy, Barry Goldwater comments, JFK comments he would like Lyndon Johnson to be his vice-presidential running mate again in 1964, President Kennedy comments on the space race.

Includes commercials.            

Highlights: Pro Castro Commandos in Venezuela, Philip Scheffler reports, Vietnam: bomb a day in South Vietnam, Richard C. Hottelet reports, George Herman reports on the TFX controversy, new disasters in Haiti, bombings at the University of Alabama, 100 year commemoration of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address speech, New York Stock Exchange, Harry Reasoner reports.

Includes commercials 

Hosted by Walter Cronkite                           

This newscast is joined in progress.

Host: Walter Cronkite.              

The presidential political campaign warms up and gets dirtier, comments by President Johnson, services for former President Hoover, Charles Kuralt reports.   

Host: Walter Cronkite.            

The United States officially enters the Vietnam war.

Host: Walter Cronkite.    

Peace in Santo Domingo.

Includes commercials.

Host: Walter Cronkite.            

Eric Sevareid subbing for Walter Cronkite.           

Charles Collingwood reports on the European reaction to the Watts rioting.            

Congress looking into Ku Klux Klan activities, Klan interviews, Vietnam report: Moley Safer reports from Vietnam  regarding 48 civilians killed by friendly fire of United States Air Force 1 sky raiders, editorial by Eric Sevareid on China and current  view of country and policy.    

Host: Walter Cronkite. Includes commercials.             

Eighty-six US troops killed in Vietnam fighting, Morley Safer reports on an amphibian assault by US Marines against the Viet Cong, continuous Vietnam fighting.               

The latest news with Walter Cronkite. Includes commercials.             

Host: Walter Cronkite reports news events of the day.             

Stories include reports from Vietnam, Gemini 8 mission, Cassius Clay appeal to his draft board to change his 1A status on grounds of his religious belief as a Black Muslim, Eric Sevareid commentary on Baseball LA Dodger pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale holding out on contract negotiations, and their belief in their indispensability, detection of lost Hydrogen Bomb. Morley Safer from London reports on the crime of the century(the assassination of President John F. Kennedy) which was presented as a 90 minute play, titled LEE OSWALD: ASSASSIN on British television (BBC PLAY OF THE WEEK). Tony Bill who plays Oswald is interviewed by Safer. He plays the assassin which probes the mind of his motivations for his act. Bill states that Lee Harvey Oswald was a complex, fascinating and intelligent human being. 

                                                

Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in a contract dispute with the Dodgers, a report on Muhammad Ali, Morley Safer with a report on Lee Harvey Oswald, an interview with actor Tony Bill.

Host: Walter Cronkite.                          

Coverage of the mass murder shooting in Austin, Texas. Charles Whitman shoots and kills fifteen people.            

Vietnam report. Eric Sevareid reports from Washington, DC.

Roger Mudd subbing for Walter Cronkite.            

Roger Mudd subbing for Walter Cronkite.             

Joined in progress. Harry Reasoner substitutes for Walter Cronkite.             

The Vietcong terrorize South Vietnamese villages, communists in London falsify US actions in Vietnam, Stokely Carmichael urges negroes not to go into Army, calls defense secretary Robert McNamara, a "racist honky." Morley Safer reports from London on the Vietnam war.                                                    

The Vietcong terrorize South Vietnamese villages, communists in London falsify US actions in Vietnam, Stokely Carmichael urges negroes not to go into Army, calls defense secretary Robert McNamara, a "racist honky." Morley Safer reports from London on the Vietnam war.                                       

President Johnson appoints a negro (Thurgood Marshall) to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of retiring justice Tom C. Clark. In a 69-11 vote, Marshall is approved by the Senate and becomes the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.
Eric Sevareid reports on the Middle East war.                                        

Fourteen die in Detroit racial riots, much damage, and looting, National Guard called, comment by Senator Everett Dirksen, Vietnam report. 

Harry Reasoner subbing for Cronkite.                        

Fourteen die in Detroit racial riots, much damage, and looting, National Guard called, comment by Senator Everett Dirksen, Vietnam report. 

Harry Reasoner subbing for Cronkite.                                     

Folk singer Joan Baez protests the Vietnam war and is arrested.                            

Vietnam military deaths from 1961 to the present now stand at 13,000, comedian Martha Raye visits Vietnam once again, astronaut Alan Shepard remembers the Russian Sputnik 1 launched in 1957, the profile of BBC Rock 'N' Roll radio station. 
Also heard is an excerpt of the NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report.         

CBS newsman Walter Cronkite reports on the launch of the huge Saturn moon rocket. Cronkite reports from the launch site, three thousand ton rocket will be used for the 1969 trip to the moon, rekindling the viability of the space program. 

A commercial is included with baseball's Roger Maris.   

Harry Reasoner subbing for Walter Cronkite.                         

A tribute to former President John F. Kennedy on the fourth anniversary of his assassination, Roger Mudd reports from Kennedy's gravesite, Mike Wallace reporting on the presidential bid of Richard Nixon in 1968, Eric Sevareid with a report on President Johnson.            

Walter Cronkite with the CBS Evening News. Mike Wallace reports on President Johnson and his 11% jump in popularity.
Also heard is an excerpt of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC.
A report on the death of actor Bert Lahr and the wedding of Lyndon Johnson's daughter.

Joined in progress. 
                                      

Walter Cronkite reports the news. Vietnam commentary by Eric Sevareid. Includes commercials.

Joined in progress.                          

The latest world and national news with Walter Cronkite.                          

The revolt in Athens, Greece, Ike Pappas reports. an editorial by Michael Keating on the Greek crisis, a report on Social Security reforms, a brief excerpt of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC-TV is also heard.             

Stories on Cambodia and Vietnam-refugees, the Jim Garrison JFK investigation.

Walter Cronkite is the host.           

Dr, Christian Bernard performs his second heart transplant, the ninth anniversary of Fidel Castro as the Cuban leader, Eric Sevareid reports on the American economy.

Walter Cronkite hosts.              

Eric Sevareid's report on the Vietnam war. Also included an excerpt from the NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report.                      

This program is joined in progress. Walter Cronkite reporting.                        

Democratic National Convention coming up in Chicago, Robert F. Kennedy is interviewed, a third heart transplant is performed in the US, Terry Drinkwater reports from Los Angeles.

Host: Walter Cronkite.           

An interview with Dr. Christian Bernard. Heart transplant recipient Louis Block has died.          

The North Vietnamese in a possible major offensive near Kaeson with 40,000 troops, comment by the US Marines about expecting an attack.  

Walter Cronkite reports.          

CBS News with Walter Cronkite.            

Eric Sevareid reports on Vietnam, Richard Nixon to run for president, a movie promo for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." Also reports from Dan Rather and Mike Wallace.              

Harry Reasoner subbing for Walter Cronkite. Eric Sevareid with commentary on travel taxes. More mopping up operations in Saigon, comment by GI's.                                                    

Harry Reasoner subbing for Cronkite.            

Walter Cronkite and others report from Vietnam on fighting in Wue
Race Relations with Eric Sevareid.
Anti-American protests in France
On The Road with Charles Kuralt (Arkansas, America's only diamond field).

Harry Reasoner subbing for Walter Cronkite.                           

Mike Wallace reports on the new draft requirements, graduate students object. 

Harry Reasoner subbing for Cronkite.          

Eric Sevareid commentary, 543 GI's killed in Vietnam last week, 18,200 since 1960. 
Marines stressed at Wue.
William Fulbright comments on war.
Gulf Of Tomkin incident.
Channel change-George Wallace
Mike Wallace report on the Nelson Rockefeller campaign
Includes commercials  

Harry Reasoner subbing for Walter Cronkite.                                      

The CIA's Vietnam policy vs. President Johnson's, Dan Rather reports, a profile on Carl Stokes and his first 100 days in office as Cleveland's first black mayor, a profile of H. Rap Brown, commentary by Eric Sevareid regarding the tax on American tourists.  

Harry Reasoner subbing for Walter Cronkite.