[This article first appeared at Common Dreams on June 30, 2025.]
A Personal Tribute to Bill Moyers, Who Never Stopped Pushing
On June 26, America lost an iconic force for good. I lost a great friend.
A Life of Public Service
A partial summary of Bill Moyers’ impressive life fills entire pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post – treatment reserved for royalty and rock stars. Bill was both.
In those pages you’ll read about his illustrious political career as President Lyndon Johnson’s special assistant, press secretary, and key architect of the “Great Society” – a collection of programs that are now in danger, including the War on Poverty that produced Medicare, Medicaid, the Food Stamp Act and the Economic Opportunity Act; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, and more.
You’ll marvel at his unparalleled journalism that resulted in landmark documentaries, best-selling books, dozens of EmmyAwards, two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards, nine Peabody Awards, three George Polk Awards, and the first-ever Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute.
A Source of Private Inspiration
I’m going to cover different ground that you won’t find anywhere else. During the final years of Bill’s life, I had the honor of working directly with him on one of his most important missions: preserving democracy.
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The Belly of the Beast 