Cronkite: Recalling Khrushchev

By Walter Cronkite

Published April 21, 2004 at 12:00 AM EDT

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev once loomed large over the United States, the physical embodiment of what America feared. He threatened, menaced and provoked for the better part of 15 years during the Cold War between the West and the East. The tensions were both real and imagined, stoked by the uncertainties of a potential war whose only certainty was "mutually assured destruction." Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite recalls the Kremlin leader's rise -- and the shocking effect of his 1964 fall.

Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite has covered virtually every major news event during his more than 65 years in journalism - the last 54 affiliated with CBS News. He became a special correspondent for CBS News when he stepped down on March 6, 1981 after 19 years as anchorman and managing editor of the CBS Evening News. Affectionately nicknamed "Old Iron Pants" for his unflappability under pressure, Mr. Cronkite's accomplishments -- both on-air and off -- have won him acclaim and trust from journalism colleagues and the American public alike.

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