Cronkite used his elder leadership position as a news executive as well as a father to wield authority and sway for the benefit of his media company community and the communal representation of his family. He was a father of two teenage daughters and arranged to be backstage at The Beatles’ debut performance on the Ed Sullivan show. Cronkite appeared confident about his actions being in step with his masculinity identity, which appeared to be significant to him and his communal manhood.

“I don’t think up until that time they [his daughters] really cared very much what their father did, but suddenly I was a hero in their eyes.” By associating how important The Beatles were to his daughters, Cronkite justified his ability to recognize and join forces with another self-aligned team without a sense of rivalry.

In another, future effort to continue to align himself publicly as a Beatles ally, Cronkite’s evening broadcast on December 8, 1980, devoted its opening to report, “The death of a man who sang and played the guitar overshadows the news from Poland, Iran and Washington.” Cronkite was able to communicate a masculine communal understanding from his elder generation’s spokesman status to inform the audience that Lennon had been killed that day.