Where did it come from . It is a magazine for television. What . I dont want to do 60 minutes. Get right over here. Stop the interview for a minute. I am scott pelley with 60 minutes. I want to ask you about the tweeting. You are not popular in the country. I dont care what they say. I should probably not say it on tv. Mr. President , they are not happy with the way you are doing your job. Why is it taking so long . Right here across the bridge you can see the black flag of isis. This is what you can expect . Yes. Im going to jail for that . Only the bad ones go to jail. Only the stupid ones go to jail. I trusted him. You must have known. Hamilton certainly changed my life. [laughter] oh. Want to talk about sex . It is not 60 swinging minutes. Whoa. How did you get around that . That is a good question. You have no problem asking that question. I am asking because i am seeking an answer. Come on. Come on. Come on. How do do that . That is an actually question. I know. What is the answer . 60 minutes. I am mike wallace. I am diane sawyer. I am steve kroft. I am leslie stahl. I am katie couric. I am charlie rose. I am anderson cooper. I am david martin. I am oprah winfrey. I am bill whitaker. Tonight, 50 years of 60 minutes. [clock ticking] charlie i am pleased to have jeff fager back at this table. Welcome. 50 years. It is a chronicle of our times. How did you go about writing the book . Jeff the most important was a list of the stories. You could give it to any loyal viewer and they would recognize stories. There are 5000 of them. I had amazing help from a fabulous producer, daughter of bob simon, knows the broadcast well, and work closely with me on a chronology. It was about memories, the thoughts that i hope this can be a book for journalism students. All the Different Things we do, all of the practices and values that we adhere to for all these years, i tried to get that in there, so it is a blueprint for part of our success. Charlie talk about the birth of 60 minutes. Jeff it was hard to get it off the ground. It took several years to sell it. Charlie the idea was . Jeff life magazine for television, a magazine that covered high and low. An interview in the same broadcast with the president as an interview with a movie star. Charlie the way Edward R Murrow would do Migrant Workers and movie stars. Jeff that incredible mix and variety that makes it so special. Everybody is a generalist. Charlie steve does it. Jeff you have to have the ability to do every kind of story. Everybody does it in a slightly different way with different strengths they bring to the table, but he could not sell it. He got into this position because he was fired. I dont think a lot of people realize that. He had been at cbs news for 15 years, the best job in the place, the executive producer of cbs evening news with walter cronkite. Youre talking about 17 Million Viewers a night. It was huge. Charlie that was where you wanted to become a correspondent for the cbs evening news. Jeff that was the highest place you could be. He was fired. Fred was president , one of the founders of our great organization. They were partners. They were the Founding Fathers really. Don watched them and learn from them, but he was a creature of this new thing, television and there were not that interested in it until they had to become. Charlie they came out of radio, rhodes scholars. Jeff Edward R Murrow had a had assembled all of these people during the war. That is how the organization was born. It was born and given these values. The practices, storytelling, how we will tell our stories, in narrow ways, all the things i write about in the book that don taught us. By the time fred friendly became president , the big job, walter cronkite, he said i dont want him there. He is too much of a showman. Charlie he admired him. Jeff he looked up to them like news gods. He really did. Charlie he was a broadway producer. Jeff he was, but he called them gentlemen correspondents. He looked up to them so much. It was a shock because he had been the director of the nixonkennedy debate. Charlie when he was 37 years old. Jeff he had been a pioneer of television. The idea that he rose to that level at cbs news and got fired, it was a shock. Charlie it is said that fred friendly called him and and said, we are going to promote you to your own documentary unit. He called his wife and said, i just got promoted. She said, you just got fired. Jeff he didnt like documentaries. He called them hourlong snoozers because he was bored by them. He had a short attention span. I think he was right. That is how he came up with this idea. He could do shorter stories, three documentaries, cut them down to 15 minutes and put them into one hour. After fred friendly left the organization, dick came in, great president for 17 years, and was reluctant. He had said no to it in a previous iteration as president before, but word has it that someone said to him, friendly did not like this idea. You might want to do it. He said, ok and gave it the goahead. Charlie Harry Reasoner was signed on. Harry reasoner, and all of them thought just one anchor, but a couple of people suggested mike wallace should join. I describe it in the book. I describe as linen meet mccartney. Meeting mccartney. Charlie how did they differ . Jeff in terms of their personalities as journalists, mike, it was all about the interview, as you know, charlie. He had been in a prominent place on a new york talk show where he perfected that. Charlie night beat. Jeff tough questions, the famous parody is someone sweating. I think sid caesar did it. That sort of direct approach. Don who had a vision for the broadcast and was a great editor and writer, people dont realize this about him. He would fix our copy and help us with lines. He had an amazing eye for a story. That mix of the two of them i think, it just had an imprint on that broadcast that lasted, and i think its a huge part of the success but it did not take off until seven years in. Charlie morley safer came in after Harry Reasoner. Jeff harry decided to go to abc. Don thought kuralt, charlie kuralt, would be the right person. He was a consummate storyteller. Don knew he needed stature from veteran from cbs news who could tell the story and be a counter, the white hat to mikes black hat. Charlie kuralt said no. He had it made. He could do was he can do whatever he wanted. Charlie he worked with walter cronkite. Jeff he had famously covered the war in vietnam brilliantly and got in trouble for it with the white house. The line Lyndon Johnston used because morley safer had captured soldiers lighting huts on fire. Charlie they burned the village to save it. Jeff the line that johnson used, what is he some kind of communist . Get him fired. They wanted to fire him. Charlie what makes Mike Wallaces interview so compelling. You dont trust the media. You dont trust whites. You dont trust jews. You have said so. Here i am. Jeff he said it best here on your program charlie i think i have it here somewhere. Jeff it is so instructional in terms of how do you get the truth out of people. Charlie with good research, you can embarrass anybody. You can do it. If you are really after illumination of an interviewees character, qualities, substance, if you are really after that, you can ask very pointed questions, sensible questions, to get them to talk. You can establish what you do so well, a chemistry of confidentiality. That is what comes across at the table which you, you dirty dog, have done with me in the past. Why . You get people who know a little bit about the same subject. If the interviewee has respect for the interviewer and feels the interviewer is wellprepared, you can ask anything and you will find the interviewee will be a coconspirator with you. Charlie and that is what wallace does. Jeff he said that that night. Charlie at this table. I treasure it. And because he was a hero of mine. When i came to 60 minutes, he wrote me a handwritten note. Jeff he was so happy when you joined. This is the mature mike wallace. This is the mike wallace out there doing it who was ambushing people in the 1970s and early 1980s and became ashamed of that. He really perfected it and became the best interviewer that broadcast journalism had known. He recognized that. I think he grew from all of those years of going in that direction as morley safer called it, mike jumping out of a closet. He teased everybody. He was a rascal fulltime, fulltime rascal. He was that way on our floor. Charlie how did he get along with morley safer . Jeff that was a tough relationship. What happened is he was shocked because mike wallace stole a couple of his stories right out from under him, and morley safer is coming from london. Well, that is not 60 minutes. Welcome to my program. In a way, that helped us because morley was driven to find his own path. He had such a great way with words. He was able to come up with these interviews, whimsical adventures. Arthur millers play death of a salesman, once in my life he said i would like to own something out right before it is broken. I am always in a race to the junkyard. I just finished paying for the car on its last leg. They time those things so that when you finally paid for them, they are used up. The trouble really is that nothing these days is built to last. A motor car best represents the fact that we have most of our lives in a junk society. Show me you have not got any money. No, it is against company rules. Do you like that one . Jeff he did that with his partner over many years, his producer. I think that is an important genre for us, and became that. That is part of the mix, a regular part of the mix. Charlie it took that long to do what, build an audience, find a home . Jeff to find a home. It was 7 00 on how can you sunday. Tell . Just on the technical grade factors. A judgment call . No, sir. You telling me any decent grade should be marked good instead of choice . There is no question in my mind. Jeff dan rather joined at that point which was important because you have an ensemble of reporters. That first broadcast in december 1975 at 7 00 on sunday, they had been off the air all fall. It was the beginning of the modern 60 minutes. Charlie part of the success is the mix . Jeff i think so. Charlie you dont want three investigative reports. Jeff no, but if there are three Important News stories ready to go and are perishable, we would put all three on. We feel strongly about that, that the mix is not the most important thing. Covering what is important is the most important thing, but if you have the chance and the ability to have a little of everything for everybody, i think it is the most viable. Valuable. It gives you a chance to lighten up a little bit. The world is not such a bad place. We are going to different story that is inspirational and help you better understand the world. Charlie scott had a terrific piece about a young conductor. Jeff a prodigy. It was brilliant. She was amazing. Wonderful. You just made that up before our eyes. It is not written down. Will it never be played again . I cant remember everything. I can never remember. Jeff talking about taking you away, a 12yearold girl that has that ability. Some extraordinary powers that nobody can explain. Charlie next in line was ed bradley. Most people in this country think you are the face. The face of evil. They do. I am just being me. What was your reaction when you saw the pictures . I think like everyone else i thought it was a tragic event. And the children . Jeff ed had so much. When i think of ed, we miss him so much. They each brought something unique. He was losing credibility. He was oozing credibility. I really think, i loved him when he would fill in for the evening news, because he worked at it, but he was like walter that way. He had that kind of godgiven credibility. He had amazing ability. He really could do an interview. One of the things he talked about that i think made so much of what he did special is that he would wait it out. He would just wait it out. I dont have to rush in and fill the void if there is silence in this interview. Charlie let silence speak. Jeff let that come out. He would sit and wait for that to come out. Bob dylan is a great example. He sat there with bob dylan and got yeah, maybe. Just like that . Yeah. Where did it come from . It just came. Charlie eventually the silence will work for you. The interviewee will feel compelled. Jeff eventually there is a relationship that builds, and it is between the two of you. Forget about all the other people watching. Ed did that brilliantly. It was a shock when we lost him. As it was with bob simon, just a shock, stunning development, and we i will never forget that weekend when we lost ed, and then lost bob, both of them in their 60s. Charlie cancer and leukemia. Jeff leukemia that rose up, and after he had been diagnosed 10 years and within three weeks he was gone. It absolutely attacked his system. Putting together everything, a tribute to him, over a fourday period was therapeutic because you hear his voice coming out of every edit room. All of the Great Stories of the people we interviewed. Charlie buffett loved him and came back. Jeff whats the line he is with lena horne . Charlie people always say what is your best interview. I would tell them the story of ed bradley, who told the story about going to heaven and being stopped, why do you deserve to be here . He said to god, have you seen my lena horne interview . [laughter] jeff a great interview. I am a rich, ready, ripe, juicy plum. When you say i am a rich, m, canright ripe plu you say that again . You cannot help your sexual nature. That is what that line means. Charlie he showed a side of her that the audience didnt know. Jeff part of that is what we hope to do. I did not know that. I learned something. I got something out of that. I gave him this time. Thank god they gave me something back. A lot of that is the time it goes into it, the amount of reporting. Almost everything we do is investigative because we spend so much time, even on a profile, digging into somebody and determining what is interesting. Charlie what makes them tick. Jeff yeah, and what the audience finds interesting. That surprises you. Charlie 60 minutes is more of a collaboration than anything i have ever seen. Jeff yes, it is. Charlie from the moment you focus in on the story, the process, producer and associate producer kick in and decide what elements are possible. Jeff that is a huge part of the success. As you see the people have been on the air it is a highquality , individual that gets to 60 minutes. We have been able to maintain that. When you get there, you realize you have made it to a place that is special, and you have to perform, you have to deliver, and people feel that pressure every time they go out on a story, but it is a collaborative effort. And we recognize that when there is a good collaboration, a producer workin a very well together, it shows. You can tell. You see it. There is a Higher Quality story. Charlie and when you come back and the editor understands the story. Jeff the videotape editor is a producer as well in many ways. They are looking for how to best tell the story. Yeah, there are several levels of collaboration before it gets on air, and sometimes that can be painstaking. [laughter] charlie there is the screening, which we have talked about before, the producer, correspondent, and editor have put together something and say, look, here is a beginning cut. Jeff yes. Charlie you and your colleagues and offer what is essentially a storytellers craft of being able to look at something and say, it works better this way. Jeff i think that process we go through, that ritual, which can be painful, but also fulfilling, is part of why a story that gets on 60 minutes looks like it belongs there, which i hope the viewer takes for granted. They come in and tune in every sunday night expecting something. Charlie expecting quality. Jeff and we have to deliver. Charlie yeah. Jeff that responsibility, diligence, and care helps to deliver stories that belong there. Charlie have you ever had anybody come up to you and say, i dont like this. This is not for me. I am out of here . Jeff there can be a burnout factor, the intensity can get to people. It is an intense place. At the same time it is an adult , shop. We are not supervising people. You arrived at 60 minutes. We know you will bring back a quality story. Our job, my job as executive producer is to help you be better at it from if i can, to do whatever i can to help you tell that story and report it. We will talk through the process, if they want to, if they need to, otherwise that is , one of the great beauties of being there. People love working there because they are adults. Charlie there are not a lot of meetings or memos. I dont like memos. Jeff i dont either. [laughter] it is a reporters place. Charlie bank the people part of the 50 year history, charlie , the people part of the 50 year history we had don, mike, harry , had gone to abc, came back to cbs, had morley come in, dan come in, was it diane next . Jeff when diane left is when steve came. Charlie he came in for a couple of years. Jeff she went to abc. That is when steve came in. That was a Huge Development as well. How long do think this will take . We will push and people hope to have their power in january, maybe february. Jeff talk about a pillar of the broadcast, 30 years. He and i joined together. Charlie you were his producer for a while. Jeff i produced his first story at 60 minutes. Season that was a good 21. Experience. We were really nervous about that. I was anyway. I think steve was confident. I was new at it. Mike Wallace Charlie another magazine show on cbs. Jeff mike wallace came to our screening. Charlie he has no reason to be there. Jeff it never happens. You do not find a correspondent to come to screenings, but he wanted make sure we are good enough. It scared the hell out of me. I knew that they gave us a round of applause. I think it was because they were relieved. Charlie that you did not screw it up . Jeff that we had a story you could put on air. I learned so much from him just watching him. A year later, i had a terrible expense where we brought in a story about the berlin wall falling and poland shifting towards capitalism and we finished showing the piece, lights came on, and don said, where do you want it, kid . Right between the eyes . Charlie what came out of that was a better piece . Jeff absolutely. And that is how you learn. He showed us how to make that a better piece, and we were happy. They got on the air. Charlie leslie stahl was next. I understand the fbi was running a sting on the bushquell campaign . About the wiretapping allegations . I dont know anything about that. Jeff another pillar of the broadcast. She was two years after steve. It is amazing. She came with more experience than anybody had. As a real reporter. One of the things she brought have, was an amazin