On June 26, America lost an iconic force for good. I lost a great friend.

A partial summary of Bill Moyers’ impressive life fills entire pages of The New York Timesand The Washington Post—treatment reserved for royalty and rock stars. Bill was both.

In those pages you’ll read about his illustrious political career as President Lyndon Johnson’s special assistant, press secretary, and key architect of the “Great Society”—a collection of programs that are now in danger, including the War on Poverty that produced Medicare, Medicaid, the Food Stamp Act, and the Economic Opportunity Act; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965; and more.

You’ll marvel at his unparalleled journalism that resulted in landmark documentaries, best-selling books, dozens of Emmy Awards, two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards, nine Peabody Awards, three George Polk Awards, and the first-ever Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute.

I’m going to cover different ground that you won’t find anywhere else. During the final years of Bill’s life, I had the honor of working directly with him on one of his most important missions: preserving democracy.

The Times obituary reported that Bill “retired in 2015 at the age of 80.” That’s incorrect. His online site, “Moyers on Democracy,” continued for years after that. Other outlets, including Common Dreams and Alternet, republished its articles and interviews regularly. Much of it remains available at BillMoyers.com.

In late 2016, Bill invited me to become a regular contributor to his site. It was the beginning of a collaboration that developed into a friendship I will always cherish. Amplifying my voice to his millions of readers, he put his remarkable reputation on the line for me. In one of our conversations, he explained why.

He often asked me, “Can democracy die from too many lies?” We agreed that the answer is yes, and the problem is eternal.

While meeting in the Oval Office with President Lyndon Johnson, Bill mentioned Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous line, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

President Johnson became animated.

“That’s bullsh*t,” he said to Moyers. “You have to keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing… and then hope to bend it just a little.”

“Johnson was right,” Bill told me 50 years later. “And you’re pushing.”

Later he flattered me with the ultimate compliment that now moves me to write this tribute:

“I think we are kindred spirits,” he said. “A kindred spirit about what? Our country, our professions, the truth... as close to it as we could get.”

“My only regret is that our paths didn’t cross 30 years ago,” I said.

I would never presume to know Bill........

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