Legion of Honor president Guy Wildenstein said Cronkite's involvement in reporting World War II and his position as anchorman on the CBS Evening News during the following decades made him "the voice of America."

Born Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. in St Joseph, Missouri in 1916, he left home aged 16 for the University of Texas and a career in journalism.

By 1940 he was married and working for a news agency. When war broke out he was sent to cover it. He covered the Battle of the Bulge and went on to report the Nuremberg trials

Later he went to Moscow to cover the Cold War from the inside.

In 1950 he joined CBS and during his time with the network he covered events such as the assassination of John F Kennedy, the moon landing, Watergate, Nixon's resignation and the fall of Saigon.

It is a measure of the bond between Cronkite and the American public that after he denounced the Vietnam war in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson became convinced that the country had turned against the conflict and decided not to seek re-election.

Cronkite retired from CBS in 1981.

The 82-year-old is already a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour - the highest such honour in France.