News

CBS names Bob Schieffer’s replacement

by Jesse Byrnes - 04/12/15 11:07 AM ET

Bob Schieffer, the longtime host of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” announced Sunday his replacement would be CBS political director John Dickerson.

Schieffer, who announced his retirement plans last week, said that Dickerson had served on the broadcast 83 times and noted that his mother was an associate producer on the show.

{mosads}”I’m honored and I’m really excited,” Dickerson said on the program.

Dickerson, who the network initially tweeted would take over in June, is expected to take over sometime in the summer, Schieffer said.

Dickerson, who has reported in Washington, D.C., for nearly 20 years, joined CBS News in 2009 as an analyst and contributor. He also serves as the chief political correspondent for Slate.

He also wrote a book that focuses on his mother, Nancy Dickerson, who in 1960 became CBS News’s first female correspondent before working on “Face the Nation.”

“This just underlines what I’ve been saying for years – I find myself these days working with the children of my friends,” said Schieffer, 78, who has moderated the Sunday political talk show since 1991.

Schieffer has been with CBS News since 1969.

Secretary of State John Kerry, a regular guest, praised Schieffer’s “46 extraordinary years” at the network, while Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan described Schieffer as an “old-school gentleman and cool guy.”

” ‘Face the Nation’ is going to be in good hands,” Schieffer said.

Updated at 11:39 a.m.

Tags Bob Schieffer Face the Nation John Dickerson Sunday shows