RIP: CBS Newsman Don Hewitt Dies at 86

Meredith Jessup | August 19, 2009 4:07 PM

Don Hewitt joined CBS News in 1948 just as the television medium was taking off. In 1960, he produced the first-ever nationally televised presidential debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. In the late 1960s, Hewitt pitched an idea for a one-hour program that mixed news and special feature stories. "60 Minutes," Hewitt's remaining legacy, was born on Sept. 24, 1968, when the stopwatch began ticking.