Show Notes
When “60 Minutes” premiered in 1968, there was nothing like it on television. Now more than 50 years later, we’re taking you on a journey back in time, sharing rare archival treasures, including never-before-heard audio from the likes of Taylor Swift and Lorne Michaels. You’ll hear from a Secret Service agent who witnessed the Kennedy assassination and the President’s daughter who became one of the biggest “influencers” of her time. From the battle over what’s taught in our schools to what the tech titans of the 1980s predicted about our anxieties of today, listen to how our world has–and hasn’t–changed.
More from 60 Minutes: A Second Look
President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29th at the age of 100, sat down with 60 Minutes three times during his long life: once while in office; once soon after losing his re-election bid; and once in his golden years. In all of the interviews, he was candid -- sometimes even a bit bitter -- about his political adversaries, his personal values, and his public perception. The conversations chronicle not just a man's life, but his legacy, as it was molded and remolded over the course of three decades.
When Donald Trump delivered a birthday toast to power lawyer Roy Cohn, back in 1986, 60 Minutes was there to record the future president's tribute to Cohn's loyalty. Much has been written about Cohn's influence on the young Trump and by listening through 60 Minutes' two interviews with Cohn, you can hear why the notorious lawyer is the subject of so much fascination. In never-before-broadcast conversations with Mike Wallace and Morley Safer, Cohn explains his fighter mentality and obsession with winning at all costs -- from his earliest days working alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy to his final months spent denying he was dying of AIDS.
When Morley Safer traveled to West Virginia in 1975 to report on a fight over books in schools, he couldn't have known how that conflict would help lay the blueprint for many contemporary challenges over what students are allowed to read. In our first "second look," we revisit a battle that informs our current day culture wars by talking to the people who bore witness fifty years ago. Plus, insights from a 60 Minutes producer on his latest reporting on book banning in 2024. This episode originally aired on September 17, 2024.
It's rare that 60 Minutes interviews someone once, practically unheard of to interview the same person three times, but that's what happened with Denzel Washington. As he prepares to star in one of the most anticipated films of the year, Gladiator II, we look back at his journey from stage actor to blockbuster star, director and producer.
In 2024, romance – a genre once relegated to the back corners of bookstores – might just be saving the publishing industry. But while more and more readers are looking for love between their covers, few are reaching for titles by one of the first giants of the genre, Dame Barbara Cartland, author of over 600 romances, colloquially known as the “Queen of Romance,” and a favorite writer of Princess Diana. While her work has fallen out of fashion, Cartland's legacy can tell us a lot about the romance genre's contemporary dominance. Best-selling author Casey McQuiston, along with Cartland’s granddaughter Tara Parker, join Seth Doane to discuss her impact on the world.