Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
“Before it was history, it was news,” reflects Kansas-raised journalist, network news anchor, producer, and rancher Bill Kurtis.
Join legendary anchorman Bill Kurtis in conversation with Dole Institute Director Audrey Coleman for a lively discussion of his Kansas roots and the news that shaped the nation over the course of 7 decades in journalism.
Bill Kurtis began his journalism career at WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas. After his 24-hour coverage of a devastating tornado in 1966, Kurtis was hired by Chicago’s WBBM-TV, where he was a field reporter and later anchor of The Channel Two News.
In 1978, Kurtis’ investigative unit was one of the first to report on the dangerous effects of the Agent Orange chemical on American forces in Vietnam. While covering the story, he returned to Vietnam in 1980 to find the children of American servicemen living in the streets of Saigon with their mothers, who were unable to find work. Kurtis’ reporting became a cover story in the New York Times Magazine and resulted in legislation that allowed these children immediate access to the United States. Additionally, his reporting launched massive studies into the post-war lives of American servicemen to make exposure to Agent Orange treatable—establishing a new standard of care for veterans that continues to evolve in the modern day.
In 1982, Kurtis joined the CBS Morning News as a co-anchor alongside Diane Sawyer, later returning to WBBM-TV in 1985 as anchorman through 1996 and from 2010 to 2013 alongside Walter Jacobson.
After a 30-year run with CBS, he established Kurtis Productions, which produces non-fiction programs and documentaries. Additionally, he serves as the Official Judge and Scorekeeper on National Public Radio’s news quiz show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, and has narrated multiple motion pictures, including the Anchorman films starring Will Ferrell.
Kurtis was born in Florida and raised in Independence, Kansas, after his father retired from the U.S. Marine Corps. He graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism, and from Washburn University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. In addition to his work in journalism, Kurtis is an active conservationist in Kansas. Kurtis has placed land in the Red Buffalo Ranch, originally 8,000 acres of prairie in Chautauqua County, in conservation easements and has sold much of the land to cattlemen and the Delaware Indian Tribe. His daughter, Mary Kristin Kurtis, now owns the remainder of the ranch and the Red Buffalo Gift Shop in Sedan, Kansas.
Submit your questions to dolequestions@ku.edu for the question-and-answer portion of the program.
For more information, visit our website: doleinstitute.org
Find us on our other platforms:
Facebook facebook.com/DoleInstitute
Twitter twitter.com/DoleInstitute
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The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting political and civic participation as well as civil discourse in a bipartisan, philosophically balanced manner. It is located on KU’s West Campus and houses the Dole Archive and Special Collections. Through its robust public programming, congressional archive, and museum, the Dole Institute strives to celebrate public service and the legacies of US Senators Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole.
“Before it was history, it was news,” reflects Kansas-raised journalist, network news anchor, producer, and rancher Bill Kurtis.
Join legendary anchorman Bill Kurtis in conversation with Dole Institute Director Audrey Coleman for a lively discussion of his Kansas roots and the news that shaped the nation over the course of 7 decades in journalism.
Bill Kurtis began his journalism career at WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas. After his 24-hour coverage of a devastating tornado in 1966, Kurtis was hired by Chicago’s WBBM-TV, where he was a field reporter and later anchor of The Channel Two News.
In 1978, Kurtis’ investigative unit was one of the first to report on the dangerous effects of the Agent Orange chemical on American forces in Vietnam. While covering the story, he returned to Vietnam in 1980 to find the children of American servicemen living in the streets of Saigon with their mothers, who were unable to find work. Kurtis’ reporting became a cover story in the New York Times Magazine and resulted in legislation that allowed these children immediate access to the United States. Additionally, his reporting launched massive studies into the post-war lives of American servicemen to make exposure to Agent Orange treatable—establishing a new standard of care for veterans that continues to evolve in the modern day.
In 1982, Kurtis joined the CBS Morning News as a co-anchor alongside Diane Sawyer, later returning to WBBM-TV in 1985 as anchorman through 1996 and from 2010 to 2013 alongside Walter Jacobson.
After a 30-year run with CBS, he established Kurtis Productions, which produces non-fiction programs and documentaries. Additionally, he serves as the Official Judge and Scorekeeper on National Public Radio’s news quiz show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, and has narrated multiple motion pictures, including the Anchorman films starring Will Ferrell.
Kurtis was born in Florida and raised in Independence, Kansas, after his father retired from the U.S. Marine Corps. He graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism, and from Washburn University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. In addition to his work in journalism, Kurtis is an active conservationist in Kansas. Kurtis has placed land in the Red Buffalo Ranch, originally 8,000 acres of prairie in Chautauqua County, in conservation easements and has sold much of the land to cattlemen and the Delaware Indian Tribe. His daughter, Mary Kristin Kurtis, now owns the remainder of the ranch and the Red Buffalo Gift Shop in Sedan, Kansas.
Submit your questions to dolequestions@ku.edu for the question-and-answer portion of the program.
For more information, visit our website: doleinstitute.org
Find us on our other platforms:
Facebook facebook.com/DoleInstitute
Twitter twitter.com/DoleInstitute
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/doleinstitu...
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-...
The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting political and civic participation as well as civil discourse in a bipartisan, philosophically balanced manner. It is located on KU’s West Campus and houses the Dole Archive and Special Collections. Through its robust public programming, congressional archive, and museum, the Dole Institute strives to celebrate public service and the legacies of US Senators Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole.
