Cronkite to Accept Honorary Degree

CBS newscaster Walter Cronkite will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at Commencement on June 5, his secretary said yesterday.

Robert Shenton, secretary to the Corporation, yesterday refused to confirm that Cronkite will receive the degree because "the names of recipients are kept confidential until Commencement."

Cronkite will speak at Class Day on June 4. Although he must cover the California presidential primary on June 3, the Senior Class Day Committee agreed to arrange a late-night flight to Boston for him.

After accepting the degree, Cronkite will attend a luncheon here with his wife before returning to New York to anchor the CBS evening news. He will miss his June 4 broadcast.

Soviet dissident and writer Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, conductor Sir Georg Solti, novelist Gunter Grass and undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau are among past recipients of honorary degrees. Cronkite follows Rodney Dangerfield and Theodore H. White '38 as Class Day speaker.

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Born in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1916, Cronkite never received an undergraduate degree. However, he earned an L.L.D. at Rollins College and an L.H.D. at Ohio State. Cronkite joined CBS in 1950.

While attending the University of Texas, Cronkite worked for the Houston Post. He joined United Press in 1937 and covered the invasion of Normandy and the North African Campaign during World War II. After he joined CBS he became a well-known figure in July 1969 when he stayed on the air for 24 consecutive hours to cover the Apollo XI moon landing.

Cronkite's degree will include a tribute to his contributions. Solzhenitsyn's citation read: "The clear contemporary voice of a great literary tradition, like his predecessors a courageous exponent of the unfettered human spirit."