Jim Lehrer
Jim Lehrer was a prominent American journalist and author, born in 1934 in Wichita, Kansas. He graduated from Victoria College in Texas and the University of Missouri before serving three years in the United States Marine Corps. Lehrer's journalism career began in Dallas, Texas, where he worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming the anchor of a local news show. In 1972, he joined the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and gained national recognition with the creation of *The MacNeil/Lehrer Report* in 1975, which later evolved into *The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer*. Over his career, Lehrer moderated twelve presidential candidate debates and was known for his calm and thoughtful reporting style, earning him accolades such as the National Humanities Medal and multiple Peabody Awards. In addition to journalism, he authored twenty novels and various memoirs, plays, and nonfiction works. Jim Lehrer was also passionate about buses, supporting several bus museums. He passed away on January 23, 2020, at the age of eighty-five, leaving behind a legacy in both journalism and literature.
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Jim Lehrer
Journalist
- Born: May 19, 1934
- Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas
- Died: January 23, 2020
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Biography
Jim Lehrer was born 1934 in Wichita, Kansas. He graduated from Victoria College in Texas as well as the University of Missouri. After that, he spent three years in the United States Marine Corps. Afterward, Lehrer began his career in journalism. He took his first job as a newspaper reporter in Dallas, Texas. Ten years later, he finally moved up to the position of anchor of a local news show.
In 1972, Lehrer began working with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). He and Robert McNeil covered the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973. In 1975, he started The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with former BBC correspondent Robert MacNeil, which became the first sixty-minute evening news program on television. The show was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in 1983. The program was renamed again when MacNeil retired in 1995 to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Lehrer rebranded the show once more in 2009, this time calling it The PBS NewsHour, and resigned from his post as news anchor in 2011. Over the years, the pair continued their collaboration through their television production company, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.
Lehrer's style of reporting has been likened to that of famed newsman Walter Cronkite. For his journalism, Lehrer was awarded the presidential National Humanities Medal in 1999. He was a Television Academy Hall of Fame inductee, an American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellow, and a recipient of numerous Peabody Awards.
Lehrer also moderated for twelve of the nationally televised US presidential candidate debates over the course of six elections. The final debate Lehrer moderated took place in October 2012 between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Using an experimental format that allowed candidates longer periods of response than in traditional debates, that debate generated much public discussion as to how involved or hands off a moderator should be.
In addition to his journalistic prowess, Lehrer was an acclaimed author. He wrote twenty novels influenced by his life, history, and politics, as well as memoirs, plays, and works of nonfiction. His novel Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination was published in 2013, the same year in which his one-man show, Bell, opened in Washington, DC. Interestingly, Lehrer was an avid bus enthusiast. He was a major supporter for the Pacific Bus Museum in California and the Museum of Bus Transportation in Pennsylvania.
Lehrer and his wife, Kate, had three children and several grandchildren. He died in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2020, at the age of eighty-five.
Bibliography
Farhi, Paul. "Jim Lehrer to Step Down from Daily Broadcast at 'NewsHour.'" Washington Post. Washington Post, 12 May 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
"Jim Lehrer." PBS NewsHour. WGBH, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Lehrer, Jim. "Jim Lehrer: News Changed Forever on Nov. 22, 1963." Dallas Morning News. Dallas Morning News, 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
McCloskey, Bill. "Jim Lehrer: There's Always Got to Be a Program Like NewsHour on Television." National Press Club. Natl. Press Club, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
McCollum, Marlis C. "Awards & Honors: 1990 National Humanities Medalist—Jim Lehrer." National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH.gov, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
McFadden, Robert D. "Jim Lehrer, Longtime PBS News Anchor, Is Dead at 85." The New York Times, 23 Jan. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/business/media/jim-lehrer-dead.html. Accessed 14 Feb. 2020.
Stelter, Brian. "After a New-Look Debate, a Harsh Light Falls on the Moderator." New York Times. New York Times, 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.