Broadcast Journalist Bill Monroe passes at 90

The NBC family lost a longtime friend on Thursday:  Bill Monroe, a former NBC Washington Bureau Chief and the producer and moderator of "Meet the Press" from 1975 to 1984, died Thursday. He was 90. NBC's Brian Williams reports.


January 20, 1980: With Soviet forces in Afghanistan, Bill Monroe asked President Carter if he supported U.S. participation in the Moscow Olympics. President Carter made news by announcing his plans to boycott the games, encouraging other countries to do the same.

November 16, 1975: On Bill Monroe's first day as permanent moderator of Meet the Press, he interviewed Governor George Wallace of Alabama. Watch Wallace, a then-Presidential candidate, take tough questions from Monroe about his stance on segregation.

Former NBC Newsman Bill Monroe — who moderated "Meet the Press" for nearly a decade (November 16, 1975 to September 9, 1984) — passed away February 17, 2011, at the age of 90.

In his nine years as moderator, Monroe interviewed such notable figures as PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and President Jimmy Carter. Before serving as the fourth moderator of the program, Monroe regularly appeared on Meet the Press as a weekly panelist questioning newsmaker guests. He also served as Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and frequently reported for The Today Show, conducting interviews and appearing in a segment he created that was devoted to airing viewers' letters. In 1972, he was awarded the prestigious Peabody Award - among television journalism's highest honors.