Bill Moyers, who died June 26, 2025, was a special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson before becoming an award-winning journalist and PBS host. The SCETV Tape Vault offers us an opportunity to share an historic SCETV Classic and shine a light on a special moment with the journalist Bill Moyers. WATCH: War in the Gulf - Town Meeting (1991)
On that Wednesday evening on the Public Broadcasting Service national schedule, there was a live town meeting scheduled from Longstreet Theatre on the campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. For days leading up to the Town Meeting, crews from South Carolina Educational Television had been setting up for the program that would be hosted by noted journalist Bill Moyers. The presentation on the topic of education and at-risk youth had been in the works for over a year, but by 7:00pm, it was evident that fate would intervene, and the topic of the town meeting quickly turned to the crisis in the Gulf. This town meeting would be the first and only national forum of citizenry responding to the unfolding events in the Persian Gulf. What follows is what the entire nation saw in Columbia, South Carolina the evening of January 16, 1991.
As he opened the forum, Bill Moyers observed that he was with 250 citizens from South Carolina. He noted that South Carolina was one of nine Southeastern states and forty percent of all the personnel in the Persian Gulf were from those nine Southeastern states. Moyers quizzed the audience as to how many had loved ones in the Gulf, and their hands went up all around the room. We invite you to watch this unique moment in history as we remember Bill Moyers.
Side Notes
- Remembering acclaimed public TV journalist Bill Moyers - PBS News Hour.
- Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary turned acclaimed TV journalist, dead at 91. AP News.
- Bill Moyers, Eminence of Broadcast Journalism Dies At 91. Washington Post.
- Bill Moyer's journalism strengthened democracy by connecting Americans to ideas and each other, in a long and extraordinary career.
- Britannica - Bill Moyers born June 5, 1934—died June 26, 2025 was an American journalist who was especially known for his television programs that aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Moyers originally trained for the Baptist ministry; he was ordained in 1954 and received a Master of Divinity degree from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959. During that time, he also studied journalism (B.A., 1956) at the University of Texas.
- Gulf War - The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991 and came to a close with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February 1991.
- University of Texas - Remembering Bill Moyers, a UT Legend and National Treasure.
