H.R. No. 1528
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer spent his formative years
in the Lone Star State, and we, as Texans, may take great pride in
his notable achievements as a journalist and writer; and
WHEREAS, Born in Wichita, Kansas, Mr. Lehrer attended middle
school in Beaumont and high school in San Antonio, where he was a
sports editor at Thomas Jefferson High's school newspaper, the
Jefferson Declaration; after graduating from Victoria College and
the University of Missouri and spending three years in the U.S.
Marine Corps as an infantry officer, he began his news career in
Dallas, working for 10 years as a newspaper reporter, columnist,
and editor and later as the host of a local television news program;
and
WHEREAS, In 1972, Mr. Lehrer moved to Washington, D.C., where
he worked as public affairs coordinator for PBS and as a
correspondent for the National Public Affairs Center for
Television; joining forces with Robert MacNeil in 1973 to cover the
Senate Watergate hearings, he began one of the most enduring and
respected journalistic partnerships in television history; in
1975, they launched what would become the MacNeil/Lehrer Report,
which garnered more than 30 major awards for its co-anchors; and
WHEREAS, The partners took an extraordinary risk in 1983 by
transforming the program into The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, the
first and only 60-minute nightly broadcast of national news,
proving there existed both a need and a substantial audience for
serious, long-form journalism; broadcast by more than 300 PBS
stations, The NewsHour draws an estimated three million viewers
each weeknight and is carried via satellite in Asia, Europe, Latin
America, Africa, and the Middle East; and
WHEREAS, Since Mr. MacNeil's retirement in 1995, Mr. Lehrer
has continued as sole anchor and executive editor of the renamed The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; under his direction, the program has
extended its reach by launching an Internet site and opening a West
Coast studio in San Francisco; and
WHEREAS, The NewsHour has received numerous Emmy and Peabody
Awards through the years, and Mr. Lehrer has been further honored
with a presidential National Humanities Medal; in the last five
presidential elections, he moderated 10 nationally televised
candidate debates, handling all three debates in 1996 and 2000 and
moderating the first debate between President George W. Bush and
Senator John Kerry in 2004; and
WHEREAS, In addition to his outstanding professional career
in news, Mr. Lehrer has written 15 novels, and his latest, The
Franklin Affair, was published in April 2005; he has also written
two memoirs and three plays and is married to the novelist Kate
Lehrer, with whom he shares not only a love of fiction but a
cherished family of three daughters, Jamie, Lucy, and Amanda, and
six grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, For 30 years, Jim Lehrer has been at the helm of what
is recognized as the most credible, objective, and influential news
program on television; he has set a high standard for broadcast
journalism, and we have come to rely on him not only for information
about current events, but for integrity and an all-inclusive
perspective on the world in which we live; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas
Legislature hereby commend Jim Lehrer on his distinguished career
and extend to him sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for Mr. Lehrer as an expression of high regard by the Texas
House of Representatives.
Goolsby
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 1528 was adopted by the House on May
20, 2005, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House