REMEMBERING 'UNCLE WALTER' CRONKITE

With Thanksgiving approaching I thought I was through blogging this week, but Dan Rather's sudden resignation as CBS news anchor brought out the worst in me: A sentimental memory of my news story about the resignation of his predecessor, Walter Cronkite, nearly a quarter century ago. It appeared on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times on March 7, 1981 -- a Saturday -- which would account for the major play except for the fact that Cronkite's exit, unlike Rather's, was regarded as the departure of everybody's favorite uncle.

Cronkite said what was expected of him ("This is but a transition, a passing of the baton," etc.). He mentioned the "great broadcaster and gentleman" who preceded him, Doug Edwards, and the one who would follow him, Dan Rather. He noted that Rather "will be sitting in here for the next few years." Given the $23 million CBS had agreed to pay Rather for the next 10 years, it was probable, I wrote, that Cronkite did not intend the remark to forecast a premature departure for his successor.

But perhaps he did unconsciously hope that Rather might be a flop. Because, as I see from my story, Cronkite, who had never displayed a sense of humor in the anchor's chair (at least none that I can recall), during a break "looked at the script he had written for his closing -- which had been kept secret -- and began kidding: 'I'm not gonna read this!' Then he turned and shouted into the 'fishbowl,' the glass-enclosed area where his producers sit: 'I've changed my mind! Tell Rather I've changed my mind!'"