Bill Moyers

Billy Don “Bill” Moyers was a journalist who served in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. He was well known in media for his political observations. Moyers was born June 5, 1934 in Hugo, Choctaw County, in southeastern Oklahoma to John Henry Moyers and Ruby Jewell Johnson Moyers. The couple had two sons, Jim and Bill. By the time the 1940 census was recorded, the family had moved to Marshall, Texas. Both Jim and Bill graduated from high school in Marshall. Jim earned a B. A. degree from University of North Texas (then known as North Texas State College). Bill attended North Texas for two years before transferring to University of Texas at Austin.

Bill grew up attending Central Baptist Church in Marshall with his family. He became an ordained Baptist minister and in 1959, Bill earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Bill had served as a summer intern with Senator Lyndon Johnson while he was in college. By 1961, Bill was noted as serving as executive assistant to then Vice President Lyndon Johnson. When he was 27 years old, the March 16, 1961 issue of the Tulia Herald of Tulia, Texas reported that President John Kennedy appointed him to serve as associate director of the newly organized Peace Corps under Sargent Shriver. Two years later, the November 25, 1963 issue of the Mexia Daily News of Mexia, Texas noted that Bill was then serving as deputy director of the Peace Corps and that Johnson had personally praised him while at the White House. Moyers was called a “devoted aide” along with along with Walter Jenkins, John Connally, Herman Brown, Robert Baker, the late Sam Rayburn and George Brown.

Both Moyers brothers served in the Johnson administration. Bill was White House press secretary and Jim was special assistant to the President. While serving in that role, Jim was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 39 in 1966 at his home in Virginia.

Moyers and LBJ: An extensive newspaper interview by Flora Rheta Schreiber posted in the Galveston News in its issue of September 19, 1965 spoke of the relationship between Johnson and Moyers. It said that as both men were growing up, their families had in common modest incomes but hard working parents. While living in Marshall, at age 14, Bill had worked for the local newspaper, the Marshall News Messenger. As previously mentioned, Bill got the job as a summer intern while he was in college in Denton. The article related that Bill had remarked to his old publisher that he did not think Senator Johnson had “come through” for the young people of Texas. His publisher encouraged him to write to Johnson and express his thoughts. Bill followed through and Johnson replied, inviting Moyers to serve on his staff as a summer intern. In Washington, Bill became better acquainted with Johnson who encouraged him to transfer to University of Texas at Austin where he could finish his schooling and work at Lady Bird’s television station. Moyers’ story added that he knew nothing of television before this. He had also been reluctant to leave his fiancé Judith, but Johnson encouraged him to get married and bring her with him to Austin. The story unfolded that they soon were married and then moved to Austin. There Moyers completed his undergraduate degree in journalism while working at the television station, first as a copy writer and eventually as an assistant news editor. He then spent a year studying theology at New College of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Moyers stayed in touch with Johnson throughout his time doing graduate studies. Bill had planned to teach Christian ethics at Baylor University after graduation from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, but on New Year’s Eve in 1959, Johnson called to invite Moyers to take a job on his staff.

Once back in Washington, Moyers’ role continued to increase in Johnson’s organization. After the election of the Kennedy-Johnson ticket, it was assumed that he would continue assisting Vice President Johnson, but Bill became keenly interested in the administration’s concept of the Peace Corps, feeling that this might be an area where his political and religious convictions could coincide. His first job there was as congressional liaison and associate director for public affairs, at that time being the youngest man to receive a Presidential appointment. Had it not been for the assassination of President Kennedy, Bill had planned to remain with the Peace Corps. The article noted that Bill immediately secured a flight to Dallas and was on the aircraft when Johnson was sworn in as President. When he returned, he initially had planned to go back to his Peace Corps duties, but instead became active in the Johnson administration, serving as Press Secretary and other duties including staff coordinator, acting as liaison for governmental agencies and more. His wife Judith assisted Lady Bird in her responsibilities. Moyers is considered to have been influential in the development of the legislation that created the public broadcasting system which dates back to an act in 1967.

Moyers left political service around 1967, reportedly due to dissatisfaction with the way the Johnson administration was handling the Vietnam conflict. As far as we are aware, Moyers and Johnson never reconciled prior to Johnson’s death in 1973. After leaving the Johnson administration, he was publisher of Newsday (a daily newspaper) for about three years before working for CBS for around ten years. He also briefly worked for NBC. While at Newsday, Bill began to host a program called “Bill Moyers Journal.” A program with this name aired at several different times for years on public television. At one point, he and his wife Judith formed their own company called Public Affairs Television, which allowed them to have more control of Moyers’ commentaries and interviews. Over the years, Moyers produced and hosted scores of documentaries and other programs on public television.

Moyers was the author or co-author of numerous books including the following:

• The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis : With Excerpts from an Essay on Watergate (1988), coauthor Henry Steele Commager
• A World of Ideas : Conversations With Thoughtful Men and Women About American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future (1989)
• Moyers: Report from Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787 (1989)
• A World of Ideas II: Public Opinions from Private Citizens (1990)
• Healing and the Mind (1993)
• The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets (1995)
• Genesis: A Living Conversation (1996)
• Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft (1999)
• Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times (2004)
• Moyers on Democracy (2008)
• Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues (2011)

Moyers was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Lifetime Emmy Award in 2006. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences along with numerous honorary degrees.

He was married to Judith Suzanne Davidson on December 18, 1954. The couple had three children: two sons and a daughter. Bill died at the age of 91 on June 26, 2025 from complications of prostate cancer and is buried in Marshall, Texas as is his brother Jim.

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