Blogpost #25

Walter Cronkite began his career as a radio news reporter, just like I did. Unfortunately, the similarity ends there.

He covered World War II from start to finish as a correspondent for United Press, and joined CBS News in 1950 after being recruited by Edward R. Murrow. He anchored the first half-hour network TV newscast on September 2, 1963, where he presented an exclusive interview with President John Kennedy just a few short weeks before his assassination.

On August 31, 1959, Cronkite marked the 20th anniversary of the start of World War II with an hour-long CBS Radio documentary titled "Blitzkrieg". The program dramatically recounted the events that led up to World War II in Europe, including Adolph Hitler's unprovoked military invasion of Poland. The broadcast received such favorable comment that it was soon released as an LP on Columbia Masterworks. This week's show features that rare album in its entirety, fifty years after its original broadcast. A copy was available on eBay today, and here's a link to it.

Next week's show features a birthday tribute to the late Jesse Owens, gold-medal winning athlete who defeated Germany's best in Track and Field at the 1936 Olympics in Munich, Germany. It was a major embarrassment to Adolph Hitler, who attended the track meet but was so upset by Jesse's victory that he refused to congratulate him afterwards. You'll hear Jesse describing that event in his own words, along with rare clips from interviews and speeches from his later years. Here's a link to a page on About.com that examines the myth of the Hitler snub. Thanks for listening and thanks for listening.