d Cronkite
Spring Commencement exercises will long be
remembered by the graduates, their families, and the
many friends who quietly listened as veteran
newsman Walter Cronkite challenged them to take
the world by its tail and make a difference.
Sunshine and champagne flowed generously in
Michigan Stadium last Saturday while the Class of
1984 held a collective celebration before leaving
cloistered halls for an uncertain "real" world.
Not since President Lyndon Johnson gave his
"Great Society" speech 20 years ago has the stadium
been brought out of mothballs for a graduation
ceremony. Cronkite, who had cancelled several
recent engagements due to illness, rose to the oc-
casion by succumbing to the ecstatic electricity that
filled the stands ... and that's the way it was.