Collectible "Walter Cronkite: Rare Voices of the 20th Century" boxed cassette tape ©1981 Museum of Broadcasting. The cassette has never been played. Given to me as a gift. It has been in storage for 40 years.

The tape includes rarerecordings, each with an introduction by Cronkite, including Fiorello LaGuardia painstakinglydescribing in 1941 what New Yorkers should do during an air raid, and WinstonChurchill’s Iron Curtain speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. There isturncoat Englishman William Joyce, aka Lord Haw-Haw, castigating Churchill, andMarian Anderson singing "Lead Kindly Light" during a memorial toMohandas Gandhi in Old Delhi, India. Cronkite is not the only voicethat stands out. He allows each moment to speak. Introducing remarks by EleanorRoosevelt, he says simply, "From 1932 until the day she died, 1962, shehad wise words for us." The most memorable— and perhaps,shortest—narration comes when Cronkite introduces a communication of Apolloastronauts. "These words are the most thrilling ever uttered," saysCronkite. What sets Cronkite apart is that he lived the incidents he reportedto his audience. No other journalist has had a front-row seat to so many of themoments that shaped this nation’s modern history. And with his gentle, learneddemeanor he invited every American to sit beside him. Unlike many of today'sarmchair pundits who never leave the office, Cronkite rarely felt the urge totell Americans what they should feel. He simply reported the event; the restwas up to us.