James Charles Lehrer was born in Wichita, Kan., on May 19, 1934, to Harry Lehrer, who ran a small bus line and Lois (Chapman) Lehrer, a teacher. He earned an associate degree from Victoria College in Texas in 1954 and a bachelor¿s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 1956. From 1959 to 1961, Mr. Lehrer was a reporter for The Dallas Morning News. He joined the rival Dallas Times Herald, where over nine years he was a reporter, columnist and city editor. He also began writing fiction. His first novel was Viva Max! (1966). In 1970, Mr. Lehrer joined KERA-TV, the Dallas public broadcasting station, where he delivered a nightly newscast. In 1972, he became PBS¿s coordinator of public affairs programming in Washington.
In 1973 he joined WETA-TV in Washington, became a PBS correspondent and met Mr. MacNeil, a Canadian who had reported for NBC-TV and the BBC. Mr. Lehrer won numerous Emmys, a George Foster Peabody Award and a National Humanities Medal. He and Mr. MacNeil were inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 1999. His memoirs were: We Were Dreamers(1975), A Bus of My Own(1992) and Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates (2011). His plays were Chili Queen (1986), a farce about a media circus at a hostage situation; Church Key Charlie Blue (1988), a dark comedy on a bar flare-up over a televised football game; The Will and Bart Show (1992), about two cabinet officials who loathe each other; and Bell (2013), a one-man show about Alexander Graham Bell.
James Lehrer passed away on Thursday 01/23/2020 at the age of 85.