# Morley Safer-RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172 "2016-05-19T16:39:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/1 "2016-05-19T16:39:03Z")
> **[Google](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=morley+safer)** > > Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/2 "2016-05-19T16:41:28Z")
Ddamn. Another icon gone. 2016 is certainly taking it’s fair share of our pop culture personas, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/3 "2016-05-19T16:57:32Z")
His retirement was announced just last week! There was an hour-long retrospective about his career on _60 Minutes_ this past Sunday. At least he lived long enough to see it, but he didn’t get to enjoy much of a retirement… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/4 "2016-05-19T17:00:43Z")
> [@robby](#): > > His retirement was announced just last week! There was an hour-long retrospective about his career on _60 Minutes_ this past Sunday. At least he lived long enough to see it, but he didn’t get to enjoy much of a retirement… Since he was 84 and could have retired almost 20 years ago, he undoubtedly preferred working. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/5 "2016-05-19T17:05:47Z")
I just saw that. I’m so sad for all of us for our combined loss. ☹ Growing up, he and Dan Rather were the voices of investigative journalism on Sunday nights. They probed deeper behind the scenes and consistently delivered more than the _flash_ bumper-sticker versions of stories. They never disappointed me as a viewer. There were other news shows on other networks that tried, but all of them failed to match 60 Minutes. Most of those other shows devolved into slow plodding cold-case dissections of solved murders or lurid ‘gotchas’ of sex offenders. Hard-hitting comedy news shows today are fun, true… but they’re just not the same. There are no more journalists on TV like Morley Safer today although Meet The Press and PBS Newshour (the shadow of the great ‘The MacNeil/Lehrer Report’) are good. Thank you for the stories, Morley. You put a little bit of humanity, integrity, and intelligence into every one of them and I’m truly lucky… and grateful… for being able to watch. Until the next place, that’s was Morley Safer… signing off… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/6 "2016-05-19T17:09:54Z")
Jeez, when we were watching 60 Minutes last week I said to my wife “I hope he doesn’t pull an Andy Rooney!” Holy crap… ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/7 "2016-05-19T17:14:12Z")
From Wikipedia: Safer’s report on this event was broadcast on CBS News on August 5, 1965, and was among the first reports to paint a bleak picture of the Vietnam War. President Lyndon Baines Johnson reacted to this report angrily, calling CBS’s president and accusing Safer and his colleagues of having “shat on the American flag.” Certain that Safer was a communist, Johnson also ordered a security check; upon being told that Safer “wasn’t a communist, just a Canadian”, he responded: “Well, I knew he wasn’t an American.” ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/8 "2016-05-19T17:33:01Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > There are no more journalists on TV like Morley Safer today although Meet The Press and PBS Newshour (the shadow of the great ‘The MacNeil/Lehrer Report’) are good. Yes, PBS Newshour is the only nightly news show worth watching. I wish I could (or somebody would) figure out a way for that format to foster and include relevant local news reporting - as in they’d produce a local news segment or program for smaller geographic areas. > [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Thank you for the stories, Morley. You put a little bit of humanity, integrity, and intelligence into every one of them and I’m truly lucky… and grateful… for being able to watch. > > Until the next place, that’s was Morley Safer… signing off… ☹ Yep, if the man had a perfect talent, it was his ability to narrate his news. Cronkite was on his way out when I was becoming aware of why watching the news was important, so Safer’s and Rather’s voices are the ones I associate with thorough news. Happy trails, sir. You will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/9 "2016-05-19T18:30:25Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Jeez, when we were watching 60 Minutes last week I said to my wife “I hope he doesn’t pull an Andy Rooney!” Holy crap… Andy lasted almost 5 weeks after his last appearance on the show. It’s going to hard to break Morley’s record for shortest _60 Minutes_ retirement. (Tho Morley’s last report was in March, he had just announced his retirement on a special earlier in the week.) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/10 "2016-05-19T19:30:20Z")
I hate it when things like this happen, because my first thought is that he knew something was wrong with him, and he wanted to close a couple books before he left. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/11 "2016-05-19T20:31:34Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Andy lasted almost 5 weeks after his last appearance on the show. It’s going to hard to break Morley’s record for shortest _60 Minutes_ retirement. (Tho Morley’s last report was in March, he had just announced his retirement on a special earlier in the week.) I didn’t think Rooney lasted that long, I thought it was about two weeks, tops. But you’re right. Wiki says his last 60 Minutes appearance was on 10/2/2011 and he died 11/4. Still… yeesh! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/12 "2016-05-19T21:56:36Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > I just saw that. I’m so sad for all of us for our combined loss. ☹ > > Growing up, he and Dan Rather were the voices of investigative journalism on Sunday nights. They probed deeper behind the scenes and consistently delivered more than the _flash_ bumper-sticker versions of stories. They never disappointed me as a viewer. > There were other news shows on other networks that tried, but all of them failed to match 60 Minutes. Most of those other shows devolved into slow plodding cold-case dissections of solved murders or lurid ‘gotchas’ of sex offenders. > Hard-hitting comedy news shows today are fun, true… but they’re just not the same. > > There are no more journalists on TV like Morley Safer today although Meet The Press and PBS Newshour (the shadow of the great ‘The MacNeil/Lehrer Report’) are good. > > Thank you for the stories, Morley. You put a little bit of humanity, integrity, and intelligence into every one of them and I’m truly lucky… and grateful… for being able to watch. > > Until the next place, that’s was Morley Safer… signing off… ☹ One thing that distinguished “60 Minutes” from other similar magazine news shows was that they were the only one that regularly did foreign stories. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/13 "2016-05-20T00:50:45Z")
> [@robby](#): > > His retirement was announced just last week! There was an hour-long retrospective about his career on _60 Minutes_ this past Sunday. At least he lived long enough to see it, but he didn’t get to enjoy much of a retirement… I read an article earlier today that said they did the retirement announcement and the special because of his quickly failing health. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/14 "2016-05-20T04:44:13Z")
I’m imagining St. Peter having to go in and tell The Boss that Morley Safer is in the waiting room, with a list of questions. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/15 "2016-05-20T18:48:54Z")
So, that’s it, the whole original cast of _60M_ hosts is now gone. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morley-safer-rip/755172/16 "2016-05-20T19:20:14Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > I’m imagining St. Peter having to go in and tell The Boss that Morley Safer is in the waiting room, with a list of questions. I imagine that Safer would be a bit surprised to be greeted by a Christian saint. 😉