Jim Lehrer, who grew up in Wichita, Kan., and was educated at the University of Missouri, is a cerebral broadcaster with class. He has been doing the news on PBS for 25 years, initially with Robert MacNeil, then on his own for the past five years as host of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
Although a noted journalist and a skilled moderator of American presidential debates, Lehrer is also an established novelist. His first, "Viva Max!" about an eccentric Mexican general who marches his troops into Texas to seize the Alamo, was written in 1966 while he was a reporter for the Dallas Times-Herald. In 1969, the book was made into a lighthearted movie starring Peter Ustinov, Pamela Tiffin, Jonathan Winters, John Astin and Harry Morgan.In a Deseret News interview from his Washington, D.C., office, Lehrer recalled that he made $45,000 from the movie, prompting him to quit his job and spend more time doing his own writing. "My wife and I figured we could live for four years on that." Shortly afterward, he was offered a part-time job for a Dallas PBS station, which led to his long, distinguished career in broadcasting.
The author of 12 novels, two memoirs and three plays, his novels include six about a fictional lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, as well as "The Last Debate," about journalism. He also wrote
"White Widow," about a Trailways bus driver in the 1950s, and two, including the recent "Purple Dots," about retired CIA agents.
Lehrer visits Salt Lake City on Friday, May 12, to promote his newest novel, "The Special Prisoner," just published by Random House.
The book's focus is on a retired Methodist bishop who had been a B-29 pilot flying bombing missions over Japan when his plane was shot down and he was captured and thrown into a prison camp. Fifty years later, when he is sure he has put his wartime miseries behind him, he is shocked when he comes across the now-elderly Japanese officer who brutalized him those many years ago.
As is the case with all of Lehrer's novels, this book was thoroughly researched, as Lehrer became an expert on modern American history, the Japanese culture and the B-29.
"I did so much research on B-29s that I think I could fly one. It's the most exciting thing in the world to create a situation and characters and mix them around, following the instincts of your characters. I never try to deliver a message. I just want to tell a good story. As John Gardner used to say, 'Tell a story, then see if you've said anything.' "
Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck were Lehrer's hero-novelists. "That class of American writers of the '40s and '50s were my people. Hemingway said, 'If you want to write fiction, go write for a newspaper. It keeps bread on the table and gives you something to write about.' I made the decision early on to do both kinds of writing at the same time. I wanted to be a writer, and the way to do that was to go on a newspaper."
Television was an accident that fell into his lap after the success of his first novel.
"MacNeil," said Lehrer, "is a class act, a man who thinks with words, a man of great grace with his fellow human beings. He asked me to join him. But he set the tone, philosophy and soul of this operation. His philosophy was the same as mine. Our souls turned out to be very similar as well. I'm very much a print-news person, and I always will be. I think with my fingers. I'm a word person. I write it first, then speak it. I'm the tale end of that generation. As MacNeil used to say, 'TV isn't enough if you're not writing.' "
An important reason for Lehrer's continued high viewership is his ability to interview with finesse. "Interviewing people on TV is a separate skill," said Lehrer. "It takes a lot of practice to get it right. There are no natural-born interviewers on television. You get all the stuff in your head so you can be relaxed enough to listen, without being hung up on pre-written questions."
Lehrer never approaches an interview "thinking it's about me. My job is to help that person get his or her message or opinion out in a way that the audience can understand. I'm not supposed to prosecute that person or prove how smart I am. I want to be a gentleman. You don't invite someone into your home, then beat up on him."
His TV role models, besides MacNeil -- whom he considers "the best" -- have been other equally sophisticated correspondents, such as Roger Mudd and the late Harry Reasoner and Charles Kuralt. Although Lehrer began as a courthouse reporter, he soon focused on politics, which he loves and sees as drama.
No wonder Lehrer has gained respect for his frequent role in moderating presidential debates, which he said is "as high on the wire as I've been. If I screw that up, I can't say, 'Sorry, see you tomorrow night, and we'll try to do better.' "
In 1996, Lehrer moderated all three debates between Clinton and Dole, as well as the three vice-presidential debates between Gore and Kemp.
"I've never been more exhilarated than I was at the end of those debates. It is live television to the 10th power. Whatever your best is, you'd better damn well be at it when you're doing that kind of high-level interview. All the adrenaline I have flows in those situations."
Although 66, Lehrer plans to continue broadcasting on PBS. "I will do it as long as I still get a kick out of it."
A long time ago, Lehrer decided to quit doing things he didn't want to do, so he rises very early to work on his novels. "When I'm writing one, it's with me constantly. It's like having a low-grade fever."
It slightly annoys him that most people see him as a broadcast journalist who dabbles in novels, however. "I would rather be seen as a novelist who writes for television.
"Maybe I'll never be thought of that way, but I'd like to be, because I'll retire from broadcasting one day, but I'm never going to stop writing novels."
Jim Lehrer will speak and sign copies of "The Special Prisoner," Friday, May 12, 1:30 p.m. at the South Branch Library, 725 S. Main, Bountiful. Seating is limited to 250, but advance tickets are available free of charge at all branches of the Davis County Library and at the King's English Bookstore, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City. Copies of the book may be purchased at the program.