Bob Schieffer Signs Off ‘Face The Nation’

Bob Schieffer hosted CBS News’ Face The Nation for the last time today.

In early April, Schieffer, 78, announced he would retire after 46 years at CBS News and his 24th anchoring CBS’ Sunday Beltway show, which just finished the May sweep with a first place finish in total viewers and in the news demo.Schieffer had made the announcement  at the annual Schieffer Symposium at Texas Christian University, his alma mater, explaining, “Because this is where my professional career began, this is where I wanted all of you to be the first to know, this summer I am going to retire.”

CBS noted back then that Schieffer has interviewed every president since Richard Nixon, and is one of few reporters in Washington to have covered all four of the major beats: the Pentagon, the White House, Congress and the State Department. He became the network’s chief Washington correspondent in 1982 and was named the anchor and moderator of Face The Nation in ’91.

Schieffer anchored the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News for 23 years. Maybe more important to the news division, when CBS Evening News and Dan Rather parties ways acrimoniously in March of  ’05, Schieffer stepped in and served as interim anchor until August 2006 — during which time the newscast’s ratings jumped.

Schieffer’s exit comes days after David Letterman stepped down as host of the network’s Late Show, ending more than two decades on that program and a 33 year late night broadcast hosting career.