I’ll state the obvious. There are sixty minutes in an hour. And given that notion, CBS created a news show of the same title.
On September 24, 1968 — today’s date — “60 Minutes” premiered on television.
It bumped around a lot at first. Perhaps people didn’t know what to make of such a hard-hitting, fact-finding show.
So, when they first rolled out 60 Minutes, it appeared in eight timeslots over its first seven seasons. Bumpity. Bump. Finally, it settled into its Sunday 7:00 pm permanent home.
I, for one, am glad they found a home. I love the show and, 99% of the time, find the reporting to be absolutely captivating. Their stories are bold and always compelling. Yes, a big fan here.
The show has had its moments, and here are a few.
In 1973. White House Counsel John Ehrlichman was convicted of Watergate-related crimes just a few short months after he flat-out denied a cover-up by the Nixon administration. The interview was with Mike Wallace. (It seems as if we see a lot of guys like this these days.)
In 1979. Again, Mike Wallace. Wallace looked straight at Ayatollah Khomeini and told Khomeini that Egyptian president Anwar Sadat had called him a lunatic. The Ayatollah then looked back at Wallace and predicted that Sadat would be assassinated. He was right.
1988. Diane Sawyer did a story about a man on a crusade to ban Lawn Darts. One of those steel-tipped darts had killed the man’s daughter. It wasn’t long before Congress passed legislation prohibiting the sale of those darts.
I’m sad for the man, but boy did I ever used to love a game of Jarts.
In 2000. Another interview with Mike Wallace. Louis Farrakhan made headlines because of what he said to Wallace. Farrakhan admitted, for the first time, that his critical words “may have made me complicit” in Malcolm X’s murder. Yikes.
2005. Bob Simon reported on the nomadic Moken people living off the coast of Thailand. They were so completely untethered from time. As such, their language had no words for “today,” “tomorrow,” “when,” “hello,” or “goodbye.” Personally, I found this astounding. It is inconceivable to me. But I am a highly scheduled person.
1998, After Dr. Jack Kevorkian appeared on the show in a video he took of himself. It showed himself giving fatal drugs to an ALS patient. Because of this, Dr. Kevorkian was arrested and convicted of second-degree murder. Sadly, I think.
And finally.
2000. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh gave his only television interview to Ed Bradley on 60 MINUTES. He was executed the next year. I take umbrage with this. I think certain people shouldn’t be given interviews after the horrible things they have done. I don’t believe they should have a voice in matters anymore, especially once they have been proven guilty in a court of law.
Okay. Once I wrote that last sentence, I thought of all the people who are on death row right now who have been wrongly convicted. And they should definitely have a voice. So once again, I’ve realized that there are exceptions to every rule.
And maybe that is how we learn that lesson. By watching honest programs such as this and educating ourselves to the uncovered truths in our world.
We should always be watching. And learning. I think.
So here is to those sixty minutes in one hour, which also turns out to be 216,000 seconds. We should live each one.
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Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.
— George Washington
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No legacy is so rich as honesty.
— William Shakespeare
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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
— Galileo Galilei
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The minutes ticking by. We watch, and learn.
