Bill Moyers was a towering figure in public television, known for his thoughtful journalism and commitment to exploring complex ideas through a lens of integrity and curiosity. Born June 5, 1934, in Hugo, Oklahoma, and raised in Marshall, Texas, Moyers began his career as a journalist at 16, working as a cub reporter for the Marshall News Messenger. His early career included studying journalism at the University of Texas at Austin (B.A., 1956) and briefly training as a Baptist minister, earning a master of divinity degree in 1959. His connection to Lyndon B. Johnson started in 1954 as a summer intern in Johnson’s Senate office, later working for Johnson’s 1960 presidential campaign and as a special assistant and press secretary during Johnson’s presidency (1963–1967). Moyers played a key role in shaping Johnson’s Great Society programs and was instrumental in the creation of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which established the framework for public media in the U.S.
Moyers transitioned to public television in 1971, joining PBS affiliate WNET in New York to host Bill Moyers Journal, a series that blended interviews with thinkers like economist Gunnar Myrdal and poet Maya Angelou, tackling issues from Watergate to the American bicentennial. Over four decades, he produced and hosted groundbreaking PBS programs, including NOW with Bill Moyers (2002–2005), Moyers & Company (2012–2015), and landmark series like Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (1988), which drew 30 million viewers, Healing and the Mind (1993), and The Language of Life (1995). His work often explored politics, culture, religion, and social issues, emphasizing voices underrepresented in commercial media.
Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television’s most honored journalists, died Thursday at age 91.
Moyer died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former CEO of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. He did not cite Moyers’ cause of death.
