I’m writing today about a great man and the freedoms he spent a lifetime defending — the freedoms set forth in the Declaration of Independence, freedoms that the Fourth of July is intended to celebrate.

Throughout his award winning, groundbreaking lifetime of work as a courageous journalist, author, and advocate for our democracy, Bill Moyers inspired us to be steadfast in defending the freedoms specifically guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence, while also recognizing that our democracy and its founding documents and principles created a far from perfect union.

Sadly, Bill Moyers passed away last week at 91, leaving the world at a time when his intellect, compassion, curiosity, integrity, and fearless commitment to speak truth to power is needed more than ever.

I am fortunate to have counted him as a much valued friend and colleague and my ‘North Star’ for the media's role in a democracy. When I was president and CEO of PBS, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, I encouraged Bill to come out of retirement and return to PBS with a nightly program called “Now with Bill Moyers.” Each night, Bill directly addressed the threats to our Democracy as well as the rising concerns about the so-called “War on Terrorism” that then President George Bush had initiated in response to the attacks that claimed so many lives. (Personal note: I watched one of the planes piloted by the Al Qaeda terrorist crash into the Pentagon which was within view from the window of my PBS office at the time.)

Bill’s passionately and intelligently articulated opinion pieces drew the ire of many conservative leaders in Congress as well as the White House, and I was first threatened by the then chair of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that if I didn’t take Bill Moyers off PBS, he would make sure I got fired! Then I was subpoenaed by the Senate appropriations committee and threatened with a cut-off of federal funds unless I canceled the nightly broadcast.

Bill offered to resign to avoid any such action, but we both knew that to cave to such censorship of public media, to respond to threats to funding based on one political perspective was to betray the very freedoms of expression and information that public service broadcasting was established to protect, so he stayed on the air and I stayed on a few more years as PBS president to fight more challenges to PBS funding, a situation that is even more of a threat today. (The full story of this experience is recounted in my memoir, “Becoming a Dangerous Woman.”)

Notably, for many people, Bill and public broadcasting were synonymous. In fact, he was a critical player in the creation of a public service media in the US. As press secretary, counselor, and strategist for President Lyndon B. Johnson, Moyers helped produce the groundbreaking report, “Public Television: A Plan for Action,” which led to the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 and the creation of PBS, an institution to which he remained devoted for the rest of his life.

Bill and I remained close after I left PBS. When I was leading The Paley Center of Media, I interviewed him about his career, which as he pointed out, would not have been possible without the partnership, in life and work, of his wife of 72 years, Judith Davidson Moyers, who was also his executive producer and constant collaborator.

The body of work that Bill and Judith created was often described by Bill as "listening to America,” but he did so much more than listen; he inspired us and urged us to be diligent and steadfast in protecting the freedoms on which our Democracy is founded. The legacy of Bill and Judith’s documenting and defending those freedoms remains a source of inspiration for generations to come for all who will discover his work.

In addition to the many public affairs programs Bill anchored at PBS, Bill Moyers Journal, NOW, and Moyers & Company, there were so many important series and documentaries.

Among my favorites: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (1988), as well as Healing and the Mind (1993), The Language of Life (1995), Genesis: A Living Conversation (1996), On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying (2000), America’s First River (2002), and Moyers on America (2006).

You can view all of these (and more!) at the Library of Congress American Archive of Public Broadcasting in the Bill Moyers collection — over 1,000 programs produced from 1970 through 2021 that reflect the compassion, curiosity, and clarity of vision for what television could and should be: content that informs and inspires.

Considering the rapid rollback of rights and freedoms we've seen in the past few months, many are timely viewing for this moment. As Bill once observed in one of the many inspiring speeches he made over the years, “It is important from time to time to remember that some things are worth getting mad about.”

Several July Fourths ago, in one of his astute essays that sometimes concluded an episode of his PBS series, Moyers & Company, he talked about the Declaration of Independence and reflected on the contradictions between the words that Thomas Jefferson wrote and the life Jefferson led in this moving essay:

Given the 4th of July celebrations this week in the US, it’s a good time to take some time to read the Declaration of Independence, as Bill encouraged, “alone, to yourself, or aloud, with others.” He observed about this seminal document: “Tell me the words aren't still capable of setting the mind ablaze.The founders surely knew that when they let these ideas loose in the world, they could never again be caged.”

True about the words, but in this essay and many of the Moyer’s programs and specials, he also observed the hypocrisy of the men who wrote the Declaration in declaring freedoms for some while denying those same freedoms to others — the foundation of the systemic inequities of racism and sexism that Americans are still working to rectify today.

In his perceptive, poetic, and passionate voice, Moyers further reminds us that…

“from the beginning, these sentiments were also a thorn in our side, a reminder of the new nation’s divided soul. The ideal of equality Jefferson proclaimed, he also betrayed.

He got it right when he wrote about ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’ as the core of our human aspirations. But he lived it wrong, denying to others the rights he claimed for himself.

And that’s how Jefferson came to embody the oldest and longest war of all — the war between the self and the truth, between what we know and how we live.”

Bill Moyers lived and created work that aligned with his truth, and I am so deeply grateful for having known him, for having worked with him and stood with him, observing his strength and courage and his unwavering commitment to the aspirations of our Democracy, aspirations that are still not yet fully realized.

One final observation from Bill Moyers about July 4th and its meaning…

“So enjoy the fireworks and flags, the barbecues and bargain sales. But hold this thought as well — that behind this Fourth of July holiday are human beings who were as flawed and conflicted as they were inspired. If they were to look upon us today they most likely would think as they did then, how much remains to be done.”

That work is ours to take up as we consider how much more remains to be done before the promise of a true democracy is a reality for all.

Onward!

- Pat