City Room
He dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1935 as a junior, because of what he called “awful grades,” to pursue a career in the news business, and what a career Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. had. But the broadcasting legend never abandoned his Longhorn roots, as evident in his last will and testament now on file at Manhattan Surrogates Court.
The will, posted here, bequeaths Mr. Cronkite’s personal papers to the university, a process that actually started before his death on July 17 but will now end with the release of materials he had held onto at his office and homes in Manhattan and on Martha’s Vineyard.
After becoming a television anchor, Mr. Cronkite returned often to campus as a lecturer and lent his rich and trusted baritone to the university as the narrator of ads that are still used at athletic events and to promote Longhorn accomplishments.
In college, Mr. Cronkite cut his journalistic teeth at The Daily Texan, the student paper, chasing interviews with the likes of Gertrude Stein while developing a fondness for pipe-smoking. More…