Cronkite Remembers

Released to coincide with the popularity of Walter Cronkite's bestselling memoir, A Reporter's Life, this warm and often funny trip down memory lane with the easygoing Cronkite is at once nostalgic and revealing. The octogenarian recalls seeing nude fan dancer Sally Rand at the 1938 World's Fair, working the burlesque club beat as a cub reporter in Kansas City (where one restaurant sported nude waitresses), and finally focusing his wandering eyes on the "most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen in my life," his future wife Betsy. Some of the more interesting bits include Cronkite's remembrance of the Nuremberg Trials ("Hess was obviously mad as a hatter"), Reagan ("I don't think he brought much to the Presidency"), and his on-air critique of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. While not everyone will agree with Cronkite's assessments, there's no gainsaying the fact that the man has seen a great deal of this century close-up and is undoubtedly the most well-known and beloved reporter of the television age. And that's the way it is... Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)