Jim Lehrer
American journalist and writer (1934–2020)
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Lehrer was born on May 19, 1934, in Wichita, Kansas. His mother, Lois Catherine Lehrer (née Chapman), was a teacher and bank clerk, and his father, Harry Frederick Lehrer, was a bus station manager. Lehrer's paternal grandparents were German immigrants. His maternal grandfather was J. B. Chapman, a prominent Church of the Nazarene figure. Lehrer had an older brother, Fred, who was a Baptist minister. He attended school in Wichita, 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.
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. 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.
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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.
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. 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). 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). Lehrer covered the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry of President Richard Nixon.
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.
In order to maintain objectivity, Lehrer chose not to vote.
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. He had recovered from a minor heart attack in 1983 at age 49.
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.
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.
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. Nicknamed "The Dean of Moderators" by journalist Bernard Shaw, Lehrer moderated 12 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012. In 2016, Lehrer served on the board of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
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. 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.
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. Lehrer was an avid bus enthusiast, a hobbyist, and a collector of bus memorabilia, including depot signs, driver caps, and antique toy buses. 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.
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. Lehrer's last play, Bell, was produced by the National Geographic Society as part of their 125th anniversary celebration.
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.
Honors and awards
- Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association (1990)
- Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1990)
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences member (elected in 1991)
- University of Missouri School of Journalism's Medal of Honor
- William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit
- Peabody Award
- Fred Friendly First Amendment Award
- Two Emmy Awards
- Silver Circle of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1999)
- Television Hall of Fame (1999)
- National Humanities Medal (1999)
- Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism (2008)