Jim Lehrer
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James Charles Lehrer (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the executive editor and a news anchor for the PBS News Hour on PBS and was known for his role as a debate moderator during U.S. presidential election campaigns, moderating 12 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012. Lehrer also wrote numerous fiction and non-fiction books that drew upon his experience as a newsman, along with his interests in history and politics.<ref name="PBSbio" />
Early life and education
Lehrer was born on May 19, 1934, in Wichita, Kansas.<ref name=":0" /> His mother, Lois Catherine Lehrer (Template:Nee), was a teacher and bank clerk, and his father, Harry Frederick Lehrer, was a bus station manager.<ref name="NYT2020-01-23">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1" /> Lehrer's paternal grandparents were German immigrants. His maternal grandfather was J. B. Chapman, a prominent Church of the Nazarene figure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lehrer had an older brother, Fred, who was a Baptist minister.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He attended school in Wichita,<ref name="NYT2020-01-23"/> middle school in Beaumont, Texas, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, where he was a sports editor for the Jefferson Declaration. Lehrer graduated with an associate degree from Victoria College, and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in 1956.<ref name = NYT2020-01-23 />
After graduating from college, Lehrer followed in his father and older brother's footsteps by joining the United States Marine Corps, serving for three years as an infantry officer in the late 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Lehrer attributed his service and travels with helping him to look beyond himself and feel a connection to the world that he would not have otherwise experienced.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
Career
In 1959, Lehrer began his career in journalism at The Dallas Morning News in Texas. Later, Lehrer worked as a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, where he covered the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Lehrer was a political columnist there for several years, and he became the city editor in 1968.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lehrer began his television career at KERA-TV in Dallas, Texas, as the executive director of Public Affairs, an on-air host, and editor of a nightly news program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1972, Lehrer moved to PBS in Washington, D.C., to become the Public Affairs Coordinator, a member of Journalism Advisory Board, and a Fellow at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> He worked as a correspondent for the National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT), where he met Robert MacNeil. In 1973, they covered the Senate Watergate hearings and the revelation of the Watergate Tapes broadcast, live on PBS (This coverage of the hearings would later help lead to and be the inspiration for what would eventually become The MacNeil/Lehrer Report).<ref name=maclehrergate>Template:Cite web</ref> Lehrer covered the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry of President Richard Nixon.<ref name=maclehrergate />
In October 1975, Lehrer became the Washington correspondent for The Robert MacNeil Report on Thirteen/WNET New York. Two months later on December 1, 1975, he was promoted to co-anchor, and the program was accordingly renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. In September 1983, Lehrer and MacNeil relaunched their show as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, which was renamed The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, following MacNeil's departure in 1995. The program was renamed the PBS NewsHour in 2009.<ref name=PBSbio>Template:Cite web</ref>
In order to maintain objectivity, Lehrer chose not to vote.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lehrer underwent a heart valve surgery in April 2008, allowing Ray Suarez, Gwen Ifill, and Judy Woodruff to anchor in his stead until Lehrer's return on June 26, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He had recovered from a minor heart attack in 1983 at age 49.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lehrer stepped down as anchor of the PBS NewsHour on June 6, 2011, but continued to moderate the Friday news analysis segments and be involved with the show's production company, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lehrer received several awards and honors during his career in journalism, including several Emmys; the George Foster Peabody Broadcast Award; a William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit; and the University of Missouri School of Journalism's Medal of Honor. In 2004, Lehrer was awarded an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree by McDaniel College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>The Baltimore Sun – "McDaniel's Commencement is Saturday; Jim and Kate Lehrer to Get Honorary Degrees", May 16, 2004.</ref>
Presidential debate moderator
Lehrer was involved in several projects related to U.S. presidential debates, including the Debating Our Destiny documentaries in 2000 and 2008, which feature excerpts of exclusive interviews with many of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates since 1976.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nicknamed "The Dean of Moderators" by journalist Bernard Shaw, Lehrer moderated 12 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2016, Lehrer served on the board of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The last debate that Lehrer moderated was the first general election debate of the 2012 election. He had originally sworn off moderating any debates after 2008, but the CPD persisted, and Lehrer accepted, as he was interested in the new format.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The debate was held at the University of Denver and covered domestic policy issues. Lehrer's performance as a moderator, in which he frequently allowed the candidates to exceed the given time limits, received mixed reviews; while Lehrer received criticism for his lenient enforcement of time rules and open-ended questions, Lehrer's approach also received praise for letting the candidates have some control in the debate on their own terms.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
| Debates Moderated by Jim Lehrer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Debate
Type |
Democratic
Candidate |
Republican
Candidate |
Independent
Candidate |
| Sunday, September 25, 1988 | Presidential | Michael Dukakis | George H. W. Bush | — |
| Sunday, October 11, 1992 | Bill Clinton | Ross Perot | ||
| Monday, October 19, 1992 | ||||
| Sunday, October 6, 1996 | Bob Dole | — | ||
| Wednesday, October 16, 1996 | ||||
| Wednesday, October 9, 1996 | Vice Presidential | Al Gore | Jack Kemp | |
| Tuesday, October 3, 2000 | Presidential | George W. Bush | ||
| Wednesday, October 11, 2000 | ||||
| Tuesday, October 17, 2000 | ||||
| Thursday, September 30, 2004 | John Kerry | |||
| Friday, September 26, 2008 | Barack Obama | John McCain | ||
| Wednesday October 3, 2012 | Mitt Romney | |||
Personal life
For six decades until his death, Lehrer was married to Kate Lehrer, who is also a novelist. They had three daughters and six grandchildren.<ref name="PBSbio" /> Lehrer was an avid bus enthusiast, a hobbyist, and a collector of bus memorabilia, including depot signs, driver caps, and antique toy buses.<ref>Lehrer, Jim – "A Bus of My Own", New York: Putnam – 1992. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Hari Sreenivasan – "Jim Lehrer's 'Super' Office Tour", On the Road, PBS, April 16, 2010.[1]</ref> As a college student in the 1950s, he worked as a Trailways ticket agent in Victoria, Texas. Lehrer also was a supporter of the Pacific Bus Museum in Fremont, California, and the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania.<ref name="PBSbio" />
Lehrer was a prolific writer and authored numerous novels, as well as several plays, screenplays, and three personal memoirs. His book, Top Down, is a novel based on the events surrounding the Kennedy assassination.<ref>Lehrer, Jim – "Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination", New York: Random House, 2013. Template:ISBN.</ref> Lehrer's last play, Bell, was produced by the National Geographic Society as part of their 125th anniversary celebration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Death
On January 23, 2020, Lehrer died from a heart attack at his home in Washington, D.C., at age 85. Lehrer's remains were cremated.<ref name="NYT2020-01-23" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Honors and awards
- Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (1990)
- Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1990)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences member (elected in 1991)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- University of Missouri School of Journalism's Medal of Honor<ref name=":0" />
- William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit<ref name=":0" />
- Peabody Award<ref>Peabody Awards won by Jim Lehrer Template:Webarchive , accessed September 2014.</ref>
- Fred Friendly First Amendment Award<ref name=":0" />
- Two Emmy Awards<ref name=":0" />
- Silver Circle of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences<ref name=":0" /> (1999)
- Television Hall of Fame<ref name=":0" /> (1999)
- National Humanities Medal (1999)<ref name=":0" />
- Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (2008)
Bibliography
Novels
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Memoirs
Screenplays
- An adaptation of White Widow has been written by Luke Wilson<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Viva Max! (1969) writing credit with Elliott Baker<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- The Last Debate (2000) writing credit with Jon Maas<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Plays
- The Will and Bart Show<ref name=playbill>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Church Key Charlie Blue<ref name=playbill />
- Chili Queen<ref name=playbill />
- Bell<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
References
Further reading
- Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists featuring Jim Lehrer. Edited by Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson (Trinity University Press, 2008).
External links
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- Remembering Jim Lehrer - PBS
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- Jim Lehrer on InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse
Template:S-start Template:S-media Template:Succession box Template:S-end
- 1934 births
- 2020 deaths
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American male journalists
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American journalists
- 21st-century American male writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American novelists
- American male non-fiction writers
- American male novelists
- American people of German descent
- American television news anchors
- Emmy Award winners
- Jefferson High School (San Antonio, Texas) alumni
- Journalists from Texas
- Military personnel from Texas
- Missouri School of Journalism alumni
- National Humanities Medal recipients
- Novelists from Texas
- PBS editors
- People from Beaumont, Texas
- The Dallas Morning News people
- United States Marine Corps officers
- United States presidential debates
- Victoria College (Texas) alumni
- Writers from Dallas
- Writers from San Antonio
- Writers from Wichita, Kansas
- PBS hosts
- 21st-century American male journalists