# 60 Minutes

60 Minutes is an American television newsmagazine program that is broadcast on the CBS television network in the United States and on Global Television Network in Canada. Launched in 1968, Don Hewitt created the program and set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. In 2002, 60 Minutes was ranked #6 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

## Quotes
### Opening Roll Call

    Dan Rather: I'm Dan Rather!
    Bob Simon: I'm Bob Simon!
    Charlie Rose: I'm Charlie Rose!
    Vicki Mabrey: I'm Vicki Mabrey!
    Scott Pelley: I'm Scott Pelley! Those stories, And Steve Hartman, Tonight on 60 Minutes II.
    [Clock Ticking Sound]

### "Werner Erhard" (March 3, 1991)

    Alphabetized by author
* Who was the role model, the living example of what the est Training could do? Who else but Werner Erhard, a man some of his employees say, thought of himself, as god.
** Ed Bradley (March 3, 1991). "Werner Erhard". 60 Minutes (CBS News; Producer: David Gelber).
* I would never have believed that I, could be a person who would wind up in a cult...And yet, certainly mind control was involved. And if that's what cults do, and they set up a leader to be bigger than anybody else, a god-like figure, I would say yes, that was true in the organization.
** Wendy Drucker, high-level manager who was employed by Werner Erhard for 9 years
* There is only one appropriate response to these allegations, to heal and restore my family. And that is what I will do. To respond to the accusations at this time, would only further publicly exploit my family, and there has already been enough of that.
** Werner Erhard (March 3, 1991). "Werner Erhard". 60 Minutes (CBS News; Producer: David Gelber).

### Bill Clinton interview (1995)

    Note: Quotes from this interview are public domain, from the work Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents as published by the United States Government Printing Office.
    Alphabetized by author
* Mr. President, this is Ed Bradley in New York. There are many people who would question our system of criminal justice today in the United States--in fact, many people who have lost faith in our criminal justice system. With so many people languishing on death row today for so many years, how can you say with such assurance that justice will be certain, swift, and severe?
** Ed Bradley (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* We still will have freedom of speech. We'll have freedom of association. We'll have freedom of movement. But we may have to have some discipline in doing it so we can go after people who want to destroy our very way of life.
** Bill Clinton (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* You know, we accepted a minor infringement on our freedom, I guess, when the airport metal detectors were put up, but they went a long way to stop airplane hijackings and the explosion of planes and the murdering of innocent people. We're going to have to be very, very tough and firm in dealing with this. We cannot allow our country to be subject to the kinds of things these poor people in Oklahoma City have been through in the last few days.
** Bill Clinton (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* This is a freedom-loving democracy because the rule of law has reigned for over 200 years now, not because vigilantes took the law into their own hands.
** Bill Clinton (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* I don't want to interfere with anybody's constitutional rights. But people do not have a right to violate the law and do not have a right to encourage people to kill law enforcement officials and do not have a right to take the position that if a law enforcement officer simply tries to see them about whether they've violated the law or not, they can blow him to kingdom come. That is wrong.
** Bill Clinton (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* We do have free speech in this country, and we have very broad free speech, and I support that.
** Bill Clinton (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* People should examine the consequences of what they say and the kind of emotions they are trying to inflame.
** Bill Clinton (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.
* Mr. President, Mike Wallace. Are we Americans going to have to give up some of our liberties in order better to combat terrorism, both from overseas and here?
** Mike Wallace (April 23, 1995). "Interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 689-694.

### Bill Clinton interview (1999)

    Note: Quotes from this interview are public domain, from the work Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents as published by the United States Government Printing Office.
    Alphabetized by author
* I think what I'll miss the most is the work, the job, the contact with all kinds of people and all kinds of issues, the ability to make a difference, to solve problems, to open up opportunities for other people. There's almost no--not almost, I suppose there is no job like it in the world. It's been an unbelievable thrill and a profound honor, and I will miss it very much.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* The thing I love most is being President, doing the job every day. It just--to me, it's an almost indescribable honor. I would never grow tired of it, and I feel graced every day.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* On balance, I think the two-term tradition has served us well. I'm glad President Roosevelt served the third term, because of the war. But on balance, I think it's served us well. Now, you know, I'm young, and I'm strong, and I'm, as far I know, in good health. I love the job. And so if I could serve again, I probably would. But I think that's the reason we have this limit, so that people like me don't get to make that decision.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* I believed when I got here that there was a chance that we could have a very long period of economic growth. Now I couldn't have known, when we started and we started slashing the deficit and investing more in technology, that we would have the longest economic expansion in history that would even outstrip wartime when we had been fully mobilized.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* I would remind you that in the United States we had an increasing gap between the rich and the poor for about 20 years, as we moved into this new economic phase. The same thing happened when we changed from being an agricultural economy to an industrial economy. In the last 2 or 3 years, we started to see the gap close again. And the answer is not to run away from globalization. The answer is to make change our friend. The answer is to have broad access to information and information technology, to have broad-based systems of education and health care and family supports in every country, and to continue to try to shape the global economy.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* All over the world people are embracing democracy and market economics. But if you enjoy the level of military and economic strength we have and the level of political influence, people are going to resent you.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* I have done everything I could as President to try to organize the permanent Government, the people who will be here when I am gone, and the Congress to deal with the long-term threat of biological, chemical, and small scale nuclear war, as well as the increasing sophistication of traditional weapons.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* But yes, there will be problems. Yes, there could be terrible incidences. But I would say to the American people, they should, on balance, be hopeful.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* We've got plenty of talented people. We just need to be imagining the future, thinking about all the problems as well as all the opportunities, and then prepare. Society always has problems; there are always misfortunes. But basically, I believe the future is quite promising and far more exciting than any period in history. I wish I were going to live to be 150; I'd love to see what happens.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* I think the most important thing is for me to be a useful citizen of this country and of this world, because I've had opportunities here only my other living predecessors have had. And I think that for me to be able to continue the work I've done in racial and religious and ethnic reconciliation and trying to convince people that we can grow the global economy and still preserve the environment and trying to empower the poor and the dispossessed, in trying to spread the universal impact of education and use technology to benefit ordinary people, these kinds of things--I think I should continue to do this work and trying--I want to get young people into public service. I want them to believe this is noble and important work.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* So I think, in a word, I have to be a good citizen now. That's the most important thing I can do when I leave office is to use the maximum--to the maximum extent I can, the knowledge that I have, the experience that I've gained to be a really good citizen.
** Bill Clinton (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* I look around this office, and I see a desk over there that President Kennedy sat at. And I remember the story he said about the Presidency, and one of the great things about the Presidency was he could walk to work.
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* Prosperity. Economic prosperity and growth has been a hallmark of this Presidency. How long can it last, and will it be a part of our future, our near future?
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* Some worry--and Seattle might be an indication that we're looking at the possibility of a great gap between a two-tier system, between the haves and the have-nots of the world, those who get it with technology and those that don't.
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* Do you hear around the world now, as I'm sure you've heard from heads of state and others, this kind of unilateralist--America in the future is too strong, too dominant, and the fear of a backlash against us.
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* The potential of science to do harm is alarming.
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* What's interesting about a conversation about the future with you is that because of this office and your curiosity, you see and know more than almost anyone. I mean, you are aware because you talk to the scientists; you talk to people responsible.
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.
* It's the old notion about if the tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did the tree fall? Can you--are there things that we don't know about that alarm you? This sense of science and where it's at and what's coming down the pike that gives you great pause?
** Charlie Rose (December 22, 1999). "Interview with Charlie Rose of CBS' '60 Minutes II'". Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 52 (United States Government Printing Office): pp. 2670-2677.

### Ken Burns interview (2021)

* One would think that making a film is an additive process; you're building this—it's not, it's subtractive. The best metaphor I know of is we make maple syrup in [Walpole, New Hampshire] and it takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. And that's what the process is.
** Season 53, Episode 42, "SolarWinds, Ken Burns, Best Band in the Land" (2021)

### Presidential candidates interview (2024)

* It’s been a tradition for more than half a century that the major party candidates for president sit down with 60 Minutes in October. In 1968, it was Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. This year, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump accepted invitations.
    Then, a week ago, Trump backed out. The campaign offered shifting explanations. First, it complained that 60 Minutes would fact check the interview… 60 Minutes fact checks every story it broadcasts….
    "Where's my apology? They should apologize," Trump said on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference. "They were wrong on everything. So I'd like to get an apology. So I've asked them for an apology.”
** How 60 Minutes found out Donald Trump would not participate in an election special (October 7, 2024)

## About

    Alphabetized by author
* The 60 Minutes program looked like a news story, but it was effectively a drug ad
** Neal Barnard, George Washington University School of Medicine Drug maker paid for “news” story on CBS’s 60 Minutes, doctors’ group alleges (BETH MOLE - 1/25/2023, 2:33 PM)
* Words, rather than pictures, are what 60 Minutes is all about.
** Michael J. Berland, ‎Douglas E. Schoen (2009). What Makes You Tick?. HarperBusiness. p. 74. ISBN 0061940410.
* The story of 60 Minutes is also any self-respecting capitalist's vision of the American Dream.
** Richard Campbell (1991). 60 Minutes and the News: A Mythology for Middle America. University of Illinois Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0252017773.
* Started in 1968 by CBS, 60 Minutes is probably television's most well-known news magazine—or even one of its most successful shows in general.
** Brian Cogan, ‎Tony Kelso (2009). Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture. Greenwood. p. 326. ISBN 0313343799.
* Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with you and our colleagues and to commend the CBS 60 Minutes program that was aired last week on Sunday, January 17 of this year. As it was narrated by CBS reporter Scott Pelley, the television program was called, American Samoa--Football Island.
** Eni Faleomavaega (January 21, 2010). "Commending CBS 60 Minutes Special Feature, 'American Samoa -- Football Island'". Congressional Record (United States Government Printing Office): pp. H314-H315.
* 60 Minutes is a popular CBS television news and commentary show coming out of the 1960s. It was among the first to use a narrative approach to news (stories) and a confrontational style.
** Joshua Frye, Michael Brune (2012). The Rhetoric of Food: Discourse, Materiality, and Power. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 978-0415500715.
* There is no disputing the fact that the CBS 60 Minutes program is the finest news magazine show in the history of television broadcasting.
** Phil G. Giriodi (2010). Breakfast in Paris, Lunch in Rome, Dinner in London. Tate Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 1616634731.
* Don Hewitt, the creator and executive producer of 60 Minutes, loves to tell the story about how, when the show first went on the air, Bill Paley, the founder of CBS,told him, 'Make us proud!' 'Now,' Hewitt says, 'they tell us: Make us money!'
** Bernard Goldberg (2003). Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Harper Perennial. p. 98. ISBN 0060520841.
* Wikileaks has published the video and transcript of an investigative report into 'est' (Erhard Seminars Training) guru and Landmark Education Forum godfather Werner Erhard by CBS News, originally broadcast on the program 60 Minutes on March 3, 1991.
** Xeni Jardin (August 31, 2009). "Wikileaks re-publishes 60 Minutes piece on est/Landmark cult leader Werner Erhard". Boing Boing.
* 60 Minutes is the most successful television series of all time, measured by almost any standard, not the least being cash flow. One year, in fact, the profit generated by 60 Minutes was said to have been all the money made in prime time by the CBS Television Network. It has been honored for dozens of awards for outstanding television journalism.
** In the Storm of the Eye: A Lifetime at CBS. Putnam Adult. 1987. p. 142. ISBN 978-0399132551.
* 60 Minutes is famous for their extremely tight close-up shots, particularly those which come in tight while someone else is speaking.
** Mary Matalin (1995). All's Fair: "Love, War and Running for President". Simon & Schuster. p. 206. ISBN 0684801337.
* In the newsmagazine field, CBS's venerable 60 Minutes is the most-watched news broadcast. For twenty consecutive seasons ... it has been in the top ten rankings.
** Leonard Mogel (1998). Creating Your Career in Communications and Entertainment. Routledge. p. 122. ISBN 978-0883622087.
* Whatever the formula, 60 Minutes is a relatively low-cost, spectacularly revenue-producing success. In in 1991-1992 season, the one-hour show was listed as the one that was the least expensive to produce.
** Michael D. Murray (1998). Encyclopedia of Television News. Greenwood. p. 238. ISBN 1573561088.
* 60 Minutes has been one of the premier programs produced by CBS, which counts the profits from this show to be significantly in excess of $1 billion.
** Horace Newcomb (2005). Encyclopedia of Television, Volume 1. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishing. p. 1083. ISBN 978-1579584115.
* In 1991, 60 Minutes ran a damning profile of charismatic EST founder Werner Erhard (born Jack Rosenberg). A onetime student of Scientology, Erhard was accused of sexual and physical abuse by his family, though some of those claims were later recanted. That same year, Erhard sold out to Landmark Education, which continues to attract millions of followers from all over the world. Landmark is now run by Erhard's brother and sister.
** Stephen Ornes (July 1, 2007). "Whatever happened to ... EST?". Discover.
* One of the best things about being at 60 Minutes is the amount of time devoted to a single story.
** Byron Pitts (2009). Step Out on Nothing. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 1429958138.
* All across America, thousands of est graduates, Forum participants, Erhard employees, and other faithful acolytes — not to mention countless others who may have remembered only vaguely the man with the strange-sounding name of Werner Erhard - — watched as '60 Minutes' correspondent Ed Bradley related a dark story of Erhard's past.
** Steven Pressman (1993). Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 253-258. OCLC 27897209. ISBN 0-312-09296-2.
* By the time of the '60 Minutes' broadcast, Werner Erhard had already decided that the United States no longer provided a very hospitable place in which to live.
** Steven Pressman (1993). Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 253-258. OCLC 27897209. ISBN 0-312-09296-2.
* When Les and I spoke, he looked me in the eye and convinced me that he was sincere in what he was saying about wanting me to stay with CBS for many years on 60 Minutes. I trusted him as a man of his word.
** Dan Rather (2012). Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News. Grand Central Publishing. p. 220; Chapter 10: Rather v. CBS. ISBN 1455502421.
* After an hour of 60 Minutes, Erhard was as dead as Audi. One might have thought that Werner Erhard, the company, was beyond saving. Not true. The name was destroyed, but not the company.
** Al Ries (2007). Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It. HarperBusiness. p. 164. ISBN 978-0060799908.
* 60 Minutes is still the most successful news program in television history, continuing to earn high ratings, journalistic awards, and an enormous fortune for CBS.
** Brian Geoffrey Rose (1999). Directing for Television. Scarecrow Press. p. 145. ISBN 0810835916.
* The media today are controlled by the big corporations. It's all about ratings and money. Believe it or not, I think the downfall of our press today was the show 60 Minutes. Up until it came along, news was expected to lose money, in order to bring the people fair reporting and the truth. But when 60 Minutes became the top-rated program on television, the light went on. The corporate honchos said, "Wait a minute, you mean if we entertain with the news, we can make money?" It was the realization that, if packaged the correct way, the news could make you big bucks. No longer was it a matter of scooping somebody else on a story, but whether 20/20's ratings this week were better than Dateline's. I'm not knocking 60 Minutes. It was tremendously well done and hugely successful, but in the long run it could end up being a detriment to society.
** Jesse Ventura, Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! (2008), Ch. 3, p. 48
* I mean to work for 60 Minutes, and be able to go any place in the world, do any story, have enough time on the air, et cetera, there is simply no job in journalism like it. At the beginning, it was a dream. Even now, at the age of 84, I work with people who are half my age or less, and it is the draw of the story. If there is a good story going, why not be there?
** Mike Wallace, interview in Staff (June 8, 2002). "Mike Wallace Interview: CBS News Correspondent, 60 Minutes of Truth". Academy of Achievement. Retrieved on 2009-02-20.

## See also

* Freedom of speech
* Journalism
* News
* To Catch a Predator
* Werner Erhard (60 Minutes)

## External links

* 60 Minutes at CBSNews.com
* 60 Minutes quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* 60 Minutes at TV.com