Person of the Week: Don Hewitt

May 21, 2004 -- Don Hewitt, the creator of CBS News 60 Minutes, on Sunday will take his hand off the helm of that program after 36 years.

Hewitt was born in New York City in 1922, but he was born again in television.

"For reasons I can never explain, when other kids were playing cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, I was playing reporter. And I don't know why. It mushroomed and all of a sudden, it was my life, " Hewitt said.

Hewitt has accomplished many "firsts" in television. Among others, he produced and directed the first televised presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.

"That's the night that the politicians looked at us and said, 'Hey those guys are the only way to run for office.' And we looked at them and said, 'Those guys are a bottomless pit of advertising dollars.' And from that day to this, you cannot even think about running for office, in the greatest democracy on earth, unless you've got money to buy television time," Hewitt said.

Hewitt pioneered the half-hour network newscast, but he didn't really think it would last.

And after that, he created the legendary 60 Minutes.

"There was a Life magazine on every coffee table in America," said Hewitt. "And I figured there's got to be a way to put a television show on every coffee table in America. I had the faces and names that turned what was bloodless, boring, television into interesting storytelling."

There has never been another news program so identified with its producer. Hewitt is brash, and he is competitive.

"The secret of 60 Minutes is to find people that can tell the story better than you can," he said. "And your job is to help them tell it. "

That is, provided they have a good story.