Bob Schieffer

Bob Schieffer was interviewed for nearly two hours in Washington, D.C. Schieffer spoke about his early years growing up during World War II. He talked about his decision in junior high school to pursue a career in journalism after seeing his byline in the school newspaper. He outlined his earliest jobs as a reporter, including his work at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald's mother after Kennedy's assassination and where he became the first reporter from a Texas newspaper to cover the Vietnam War (in 1965). He talked about how his views of the war changed completely after seeing it firsthand, from being a "hawk" to realizing that the war could not be won. He described his coverage of the war as the turning point in his career: he became a local celebrity as a result and became the news anchor at the local station WBAP, where he began his television career.  He talked about his transition to Washington, at first at a local station, and then at CBS. He recalled how he appeared, unannounced, to see CBS bureau chief Bill Small for a job and was hired as a general assignment reporter and then a correspondent. He described covering demonstrations during the Vietnam War and later covering the Pentagon (including reporting on the follow-up to the landmark CBS Reports program "The Selling of the Pentagon "). He talked about serving as anchor for the CBS Saturday Evening News (regularly commuting to New York) while still performing his duties as a White House correspondent. He spoke about the U.S. Presidents from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush and gave his impressions of each and for some, their relationship to the press. He spoke in great detail about the news program for which he is most associated, Face the Nation. He gave a brief history of the series that was launched in 1954 and described how the show is currently produced. He spoke about covering 9/11 and its effect on him. Lastly, he discussed being the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 2005-06. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on May 14, 2007.