Bill Moyers, eminence of public affairs broadcasting, dies at 91 [View all]
Source: Washington Post
41 minutes ago
Bill Moyers, who served as chief White House spokesman for President Lyndon B. Johnson and then, for more than 40 years, as a broadcast journalist known for bringing ideas — both timely and timeless — to television, died June 26 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 91. The cause was complications from prostate cancer, said his son, William Cope Moyers.
Long before he became a grandee of public television, the Texas-raised Mr. Moyers was a top aide and, by many accounts, a surrogate son to Johnson. The powerful Texas Democrat had given Mr. Moyers a summer job in his U.S. Senate office in 1954 when Mr. Moyers was in college.
Mr. Moyers arrived on Capitol Hill and, without even unpacking his bags, worked through the night addressing 275,000 envelopes using a foot-operated “addressograph” machine. By the end of the summer, he was handling Johnson’s personal correspondence.
Over the next 12 years, when he wasn’t studying or preaching — Mr. Moyers became an ordained Baptist minister in 1954 — he found his way to the highest levels of government. When Johnson was tapped in 1960 as the running mate of Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), Mr. Moyers became the liaison between the Johnson and Kennedy camps. “I could interpret Boston to Austin,” he later told journalist Don Shelby.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/06/26/bill-moyers-lbj-pbs-broadcasting-dead/
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Original article -
Bill Moyers, who served as press secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson and then, for more than 40 years, as a broadcast journalist known for bringing ideas -- both timely and timeless -- to television, died June 26 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 91.
The cause was complications from prostate cancer, said his son, William Cope Moyers. Long before he became a grandee of public television, the Texas-born Mr. Moyers was a top aide and, by many accounts, a surrogate son to Johnson. The powerful Texas Democrat had given Mr. Moyers a summer job in his U.S. Senate office in 1954 when Mr. Moyers was in college.
Mr. Moyers arrived on Capitol Hill and, without even unpacking his bags, worked through the night addressing 275,000 envelopes using a foot-operated "addressograph" machine. By the end of the summer, he was handling Johnson's personal correspondence.
Over the next 12 years, when he wasn't studying or preaching -- Mr. Moyers became an ordained Baptist minister in 1954 -- he found his way to the highest levels of government. When Johnson was tapped in 1960 as Sen. John F. Kennedy's (D-Massachusetts) running mate, Mr. Moyers became the liaison between the Johnson and Kennedy camps. "I could interpret Boston to Austin," he later told journalist Don Shelby.
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