Broadcast Pioneers

Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. Cronkite received numerous honors including two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, an Emmy Award, and in 1981 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter. He was the only non-NASA recipient of an Ambassador of Exploration award. Cronkite is vividly remembered for breaking the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and reporting into the wee hours on the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Cronkite reported many events in his career, including bombings in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr., and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also known for his extensive coverage of the U.S. space program. Considered universally the dean of broadcast news, he is known for his departing catchphrase, "and that's the way it is", followed by the date of the broadcast. The phrase was often used in parody.

Perhaps due to his low register voice, his mustache, and his comforting tone, in certain circles, he was affectionately referred to as "Uncle Walter." Cronkite served in an era when politically biased reporting was kept under wraps. His political leanings became a bit more forthcoming after leaving his anchor post.

The Abstract Dutch Master

 

On this date in 1940, Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), moved permanently to New York City. The Dutch painter and art theoretician is regarded as a pioneering artist of abstract art in the 20th century, influencing many others to follow. Though his early paintings reflected an impressionistic style, he changed direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, ultimately reaching a point where his artistic signature was reduced to the simplest geometric elements during the 1920s as shown above. Outside the artist community, his work was not entirely comprehended though his trademark of colorful, geometric paintings did become popular fashion design elements or for consumer products twenty years after his death. Works from his later period are visually complicated with more lines placed in an overlapping arrangement that is nearly cartographical in appearance. He obsessed over these paintings to the point where his own hands blistered or he made himself sick. Perhaps the mark of another misunderstood artistic genius.