Walter Cronkite has died and there have been posted since Friday many remembrances of "the most trusted man in America."Here is a memory by the actor Eve Arden which she penned more than fifty years ago.
“We were given a welcome-back [from Europe] party by Dottie Leffler, a CBS publicist who had become a good friend while doing publicity for ‘Miss Brooks.’ That evening I was miserable with what I thought might be the flu....When I arrived, I still felt awful, so Dottie took me to the guest room to relax awhile. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself when suddenly Dottie appeared in the door saying, ‘Here's some company for you, and in walked Walter and Mrs. Cronkite and their daughter Kathy.”
“As we talked I began to feel better and better. He's always had that effect on me, whether on TV or the few times we happened to meet him on the street. He makes me believe in the difference that one man can make in this world.”
(New York, 1953)
Link: From "Three Phases of Eve," by Eve Arden (St. Martin's Press, 1985) and Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009: Remembrances of "the most trusted man in America", Compiled by Dana Cook, Salon, July 18, 2009
Dr Geoff Pound
Geoff can be contacted by email at geoffpound(at)gmail.com on Facebook and Twitter.
Image: Walter Cronkite.