Moyers, Bill D.

Bill Moyers was born in Hugo, Oklahoma in 1934. He began his career in journalism at age sixteen as a cub reporter at the Marshall News Messenger in Marshall, Texas. He went on to enroll at North Texas State College and study journalism, later transferring to continue his studies at the University of Texas at Austin. While there, Moyers wrote for the Daily Texan, UT’s student newspaper. He also married Judith Suzanne Davidson, with whom he eventually had three children. In 1956, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. From 1956 to 1957, Moyers studied issues of church and state at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland as a Rotary International Fellow. Upon his return to Texas, he trained in the Baptist Ministry. In 1959, he received his Masters of Divinity at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Moyers began a career in government serving as the Personal Assistant to Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson from 1960 to 1961. In 1961, he was appointed the Associate Director of Public Affairs for the Peace Corps. He served as the Deputy Director of the Peace Corps from 1963-1964. Afterwards, he joined Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential staff as a special assistant. His duties included organizing Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign and organizing and supervising the 1964 Great Society task force. He served as chief of staff on the campaign from 1964 to 1967 and press secretary from 1963 to 1967.

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