[DeltAlum]

Cronkite was pretty amazing. To have the intestinal fortitude to come out against the government and (Johnson) administration and report how it was deceiving the American Public on Vietnam was a remarkable thing -- the kind of thing that hadn't been done since Edward R. Murrow took on Joseph McCarthy.

Of course he was one of the last to remain on the air of the amazing cast of great newspaper writer/reporters Murrow recruited for CBS News during WWII. When on Fleet Street in London, I can't help think about those guys bar hopping after reporting from the roofs of buildings and the BBC studios during the blitz. Talk about drama. Alh, but I digress -- again.

He (Cronkite) was supposed to moderate an early, pre-convention, Democratic presidential debate (The Republicans had an encumbant and thus no competition that year) I directed years ago for the National Association of Television Program Executives, but there was some kind of contract problem, so Linda Elerby moderated and he just did a commentary -- off the cuff -- at the end. Absolutely remarkable ad-libs.

More to the point of the thread, I don't think Rather comes anywhere close to Cronkite in terms of journalism or on camera presence. Of the three majors, in fact, I think Brokaw is closest (he's damned impressive), then Jennings (whom I've never met or worked with) with Rather some distance behind.