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Jim Lehrer Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

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Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer Biography

Jim Lehrer was executive editor and former news anchor for PBS NewsHour.

Lehrer was born May 19, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas. He attended middle school in Beaumont, Texas, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was one of the three sports editors at the Jefferson Declaration. He graduated from Victoria College in Texas and the University of Missouri.

After three years in the US Marine Corps, he began his news career in Dallas, first as a newspaperman, and then later as the anchor on a local news show. Lehrer started work with PBS in 1972, and in 1975 started The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with Robert MacNeil. The show was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, later, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and finally, as PBS NewsHour. In 1999 Lehrer was awarded the presidential National Humanities Medal.

Nicknamed the "Dean of Moderators" by CNN's Bernard Shaw, Lehrer moderated eleven presidential candidate debates.

Lehrer was also an acclaimed author, writing both non-fiction and fiction which drew on his life experiences and his interests in history and politics.

He died peacefully in his sleep in January 2020, at the age of 85.



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Books by Jim Lehrer at BookBrowse
The Phony Marine jacket The Special Prisoner jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Jim Lehrer but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Laura Hillenbrand

    Laura Hillenbrand

    Laura Hillenbrand is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Seabiscuit: An American Legend, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, won the Book Sense Nonfiction Book of the Year award and... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Special Prisoner

    Try:
    Unbroken
    by Laura Hillenbrand

  • John McCain

    John McCain

    After a career in the U.S. Navy and two terms as a U.S. representative (1982-86), John McCain was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and re-elected in 1992 and 1998. He ran for President in 2008 against Barack Obama... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Special Prisoner

    Try:
    Faith of My Fathers
    by John McCain

We recommend 7 similar authors

View all 7 Read-Alikes

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