John Dickerson - Finding Thomas Merton on the Campaign Trail

About this episode

John Dickerson discusses his experiences and insights from covering presidential campaigns and his career in journalism.

John Dickerson is a journalist, author, and longtime interviewer, most recently co-anchor of the CBS Evening News and chief political analyst for CBS News. He spent 16 years at CBS, where he also served as senior national correspondent, contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning, and previously co-host of CBS This Morning. From 2015 to 2018, he moderated Face the Nation and served as the network’s chief Washington correspondent. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he moderated two CBS presidential debates. From 2019 to 2021, he was a correspondent for 60 Minutes, where his story on the death of Elijah McClain was nominated for an Emmy. He resigned from CBS News in December 2025. In addition to his political reporting, Dickerson is known for his in-depth interviews with figures ranging from Apple CEO Tim Cook to actors Glenda Jackson and Christian Bale; authors Colson Whitehead, Michael Lewis, and Tara Westover; and musicians John Prine, Jon Batiste, Jason Isbell, and Dave Matthews. Dickerson is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and for 20 years has been a co-host of Slate’s Political Gabfest. He also hosts Whistlestop, a podcast on presidential history, and Navel Gazing, drawn…

People in this episode

Guest: John Dickerson

Topics covered

• journalism
• politics
• interviews
• presidential history
• media

Keywords

• John Dickerson
• CBS News
• political reporting
• presidential debates
• interviews

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CBS News, Slate, The Atlantic

Books & works: Whistlestop, Navel Gazing

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