Schieffer began moderating CBS's Face the Nation
in 1991. In the 50 years since the Sunday series' November 7, 1954, debut, 4,862 key newsmakers have appeared on 2,450 broadcasts. For this work, Schieffer interviewed broadcasting notables (Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, etc.) and drew on the resources of the CBS News Library, sifting through press releases, newspaper clippings and show transcripts. He opens by recounting how CBS chief Frank Stanton and CBS founder William S. Paley teamed up to make the "Tiffany network" a broadcasting giant. Stanton, now 96, told Schieffer how he created Face the Nation
to match NBC's Meet the Press
: "We needed a broadcast where newsmakers could be questioned in a live setting. NBC had one and we didn't.... [W]e had the responsibility to provide one." Writing with warmth, wit and insight, Schieffer looks back at significant events and personalities—from the civil rights movement and Vietnam to anthrax and Iraq, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Bill Clinton's "Oval Office trysts," from the Pentagon Papers to the Pentagon on 9/11. His perspective expands beyond the confines of the TV studio to become a memoir of milestones in 20th-century history. Photos. Agent, Esther Newberg. (Oct. 13)
Forecast:
Promotions on CBS could drive viewers to bookstores, where many will seek the special DVD created to accompany this book.
