CBS Newsers packed Oyamel in Washington, D.C. last night to celebrate Bill Plante‘s 52 years at the network. With his wife Robin by his side, Plante was toasted by Washington bureau chief Chris Isham, CBS News president David Rhodes and CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley.
“You’ve overlapped with a lot of people who are here tonight,” said Rhodes, “Major Garrett, Margaret Brennan, Marc Knoller, Nancy Cordes, Norah O’Donnell, Chip Reid, John Roberts, Jim Axelrod, Susan Spencer, Rita Braver, and of course Scott Pelley. Thank you for that, and thank you for outlasting all of them.”
“Bill, you are integrity, wrapped in talent, wrapped in grace,” Pelley said. “And for all of those reasons we are so grateful to you and for everything that you’ve done for CBS News.” Pelley called Plante “the archetype of the foreign correspondent, the archetype of the war correspondent, the archetype of the White House correspondent.”
“I’m fortunate enough and very proud to have spent 52 plus years in the best news organization in television,” Plante said in his remarks. “CBS News is now and has always been the class act of broadcasting. I’ve had a wonderful window, a close up, of the human condition. Telling the stories of civil rights, of the wastes of war, of the politics of power. Through it all, I’ve come to see how human nature is universal. People continue to behave in both altruistic and destructive ways. So that’s why what we do continues to be so important. We continue shining a light in the darkness.
So here’s to the past, but more importantly, here’s to the future. Keep up the good fight. I’ll be cheering you on, and maybe chiming in from time to time.”
Bill Plante, center, and several of his producers from over the years, including Susan Zirinsky, now ep of 48 Hours.