walter cronkite's No. 1 fan
Doug James, a schoolteacher from Mobile, Alabama, spent 15 years researching his 1991 biography, Walter Cronkite: His Life & Times. He knows pretty much all there is to know about the former CBS newsman.

You spent some time with Walter's mother, Helen Fritsche Cronkite. How did you two meet?
I knew Helen was living in Washington, D.C., so I phoned her and she was very receptive. We wrote until her eyesight got bad, and now we phone. Walter is still her little boy.

Did Walter do anything as a kid that would drive her crazy?
No, she never would say that.

You claim in the book that Walter likes striptease acts. Can you elaborate?
It's never been a sleaze thing. He and wife Betsy have a wholesome interest in this form of entertainment. He does a parody striptease at parties, where he takes off his jacket. It's a joke with his friends. It's healthy, I think. I don't know. I've never been to one. It's not that I'm not interested — I don't have the nerve a lot of folks do.

Has anyone ever told you that you look a bit like Walter?
I look more like John Chancellor.

At one point you write, "If the book reads like a homage to a nearly perfect man, I believe I have not exaggerated." Do you think that's stretching it?
I don't. When you think about the people who produce the news, how many are there? And who comes to mind as the best?

There are no glaring faults Walter might have to work on?
Not a single one. Isn't that incredible?

Have you ever had dreams about him?
No.

You mention in the book that Walter had suggested you visit his ophthalmologist for an eye problem you had. It sounds like you were close.
You should have seen my eye. It was blood red. He has eye troubles too.

What did Walter usually have for lunch?
He had what his assistants called a "Cronkite Special" — a leaf of lettuce with cottage cheese and a slice of pineapple. And sometimes Metrocal.

Besides boating, does he have any other hobbies?
He's a daredevil. He's dived in a submarine under the Arctic ice cap, he flew in a plane they were testing for zero gravity, and he did the hot air ballooning thing in France with Malcolm Forbes. The balloon came down too fast and dragged him across a pasture.

What would be the perfect gift for Walter?
I was looking at the Tiffany's catalog and I thought if I ever make any money there's a pair of cuff links that are gold and porcelain of anchors or ship wheels.

What's his favorite color?
Probably blue, with water and the sky and sailing.

Tell me about his disastrous experience on the CBS morning show in 1954.
There are pictures of him with a huge ostrich and other puppets, Humphrey the Hound Dog and Charlemagne the Lion. He was expected to read the news. It was too ambitious.

Why is it people trust Walter?
It's that comfortable look. He's not skinny, he's not fat, he's just pleasantly plump.

No chance that deep down he's a scoundrel?
Knowing his mother, I just couldn't believe that.