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 Emmy Awards, 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.

The Times obituary reported that Bill “retired in 2015 at the age of 80.” That’s incorrect. His online site, “Moyers on Democracy,” continued for years after that. Other outlets, including Common Dreams and Alternet, republished its articles and interviews regularly. Much of it remains available at BillMoyers.com.

In late 2016, Bill invited me to become a regular contributor to his site. It was the beginning of a collaboration that developed into a friendship I will always cherish. Amplifying my voice to his millions of readers, he put his remarkable reputation on the line for me. In one of our conversations, he explained why.

He often asked me, “Can democracy die from too many lies?” We agreed that the answer is yes, and the problem is eternal.

While meeting in the Oval Office with President Lyndon Johnson, Bill mentioned Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous line, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

President Johnson became animated.

“That’s bullsh*t,” he said to Moyers. “You have to keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing… and then hope to bend it just a little.”

“Johnson was right,” Bill told me 50 years later. “And you’re pushing.”

Later he flattered me with the ultimate compliment that now moves me to write this tribute:

“I think we are kindred spirits,” he said. “A kindred spirit about what? Our country, our professions, the truth... as close to it as we could get.”

“My only regret is that our paths didn’t cross 30 years ago,” I said.

I would never presume to know Bill as well as others who enjoyed longer and deeper personal and professional relationships with him. But his private messages about my articles for BillMoyers.com encouraged me to keep pushing:

“This is a keeper. Your work is making all of us proud!”

“This is brilliant!”

To that private encouragement, he added public support. Preferring the depth of coverage that today’s cable news seldom provides, he told me that he didn’t want to be a “pundit.” But he made an exception for me. To amplify my voice and our work, we appeared together on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”

After Bill broke that ice, I made several more solo television appearances.

“I’ll be watching,” he always said.

Bill also interviewed me several times and posted our extended conversations on his site. His probing questions had the same insight that had characterized his award-winning interviews with far more illustrious individuals—including Elie Wiesel, Jimmy Carter, Maya Angelou, Pete Seeger, Desmond Tutu, George Lucas, and Joseph Campbell. His interviews with Campbell on “The Power of Myth” attracted 30 million viewers and led to another best-selling book.

Even after Bill finally retired and archived BillMoyers.com in 2021, he continued to follow and encourage my work. Here are just a few of his messages to me:

“Your mastery of the story is so impressive, but the story is so equally frightening I can’t get it out of my mind. I am circulating it.”

“Please know I miss our collaboration.”

“Very strong, as usual. You are effectively decoding the news for people who can’t follow it, including, alas, much of the press.”

“Very powerful piece. And brave.”

“Powerful! Go for it!”

“Your piece is stirring… It is so good to see how you continue to serve the truth.”

“Terrific!”

A Troubling Possibility

In our conversations, Bill told me that America was unlikely to lose its democracy in the dramatic fashion that autocrats sometimes conquered nations. U.S. elections and the three branches of government won’t merge into dictatorship, he suggested. Instead, another scenario was more insidious—a slide into a false democracy, like Viktor Orbán’s Hungary or Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey where voters still cast ballots, but the outcomes are predetermined and the strongman chief executive is above the law.

He often asked me, “Can democracy die from too many lies?”

We agreed that the answer is yes, and the problem is eternal: “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it,” wrote Jonathan Swift in 1710. But that’s no excuse for abandoning the fight for the truth or, as Bill would say, as close to it as we can get.

I would never claim to be an heir to Bill Moyers’ legacy. Many people are far ahead of me in that special line. But I am among the millions of ordinary Americans for whom he was a powerful source of inspiration. Two of his private messages remind me that he still is:

“A strong piece, Steve. Keep it up.”

“I am so very grateful to you for continuing the fight. You see connections between the twinkling where others see only UFO’s.”

The fight—and the pushing—continues.