Voted 1973's "Most Trusted Man in America," newscaster Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) was born on this day in St. Joseph, Missouri.

"I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got," he once said.

Known for integrity and fairness, Cronkite covered World War II for the United Press before joining CBS News in 1950. For three decades, he was there and helped give birth to the early days of broadcast journalism. Throughout his career, he championed journalism values and became the conscience of America.

"We must be given the facts so we can make our own judgments, and these facts should not be colored by people's personal opinions," he said.

The Nation cried with him as he covered President Kennedy's assassination and funeral. Our hearts soared with enthusiasm as he reported the miraculous NASA Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.

We paid attention and believed him.

When Cronkite called for an end to the Vietnam War in 1968, President Johnson told Bill Moyers, his press secretary at the time, that if he had lost the support of Cronkite, then he had lost America.

Cronkite relinquished the CBS anchor post to Dan Rather in 1981. The memory of his stately voice and grandfatherly presence remained. In 2004, he was given the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Distinguished Peace Leadership Award for his "uncompromising integrity" and "courageous leadership in the cause of peace."

"I'd like to be remembered as a person who tried to give the news as impartially, as factually, as possible, and succeeded most of the time," he said.

And that's the way it is...