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A mathematician by training, he acquired a devoted following with songs that set sardonic lyrics to music that was often maddeningly cheerful. Tom Lehrer, the Harvard-trained mathematician whose wickedly iconoclastic songs made him a favorite satirist in the 1950s and ’60s on college campuses and in all the Greenwich Villages of the country, died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97. Lehrer’s lyrics were nimble, sometimes salacious and almost always sardonic, sung to music that tended to be maddeningly cheerful. Accompanying himself on piano, he performed in nightclubs, in concert and on records that his admirers...

Tom Lehrer, the popular and erudite song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97. Lehrer had remained on the math faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In 2020, he even turned away from his own copyright, granting the public permission to use his lyrics in any format without any fee in return. A Harvard prodigy (he had earned a math degree from the institution at age 18), Lehrer...

Tom Lehrer, the Harvard-trained mathematician whose wickedly iconoclastic songs made him a favorite satirist in the 1950s and ’60s on college campuses and in all the Greenwich Villages of the country, died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97. His death was confirmed by David Herder, a friend. Mr. Lehrer’s lyrics were nimble, sometimes salacious and almost always sardonic, sung to music that tended to be maddeningly cheerful. Accompanying himself on piano, he performed in nightclubs, in concert and on records that his admirers purchased, originally by mail order only, in the hundreds of thousands. But...

PBS announces Jim Lehrer died this morning at age 85.

NEW YORK — Jim Lehrer may be regretting his decision to come out of semi-retirement and moderate his 12th presidential debate. The veteran PBS anchor drew caustic social media reviews for his performance on Wednesday, with critics saying he failed to keep control of the campaign's first direct exchange between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. The candidates talked over Lehrer's attempts to keep them to time limitations, and his open-ended questions frequently lacked sharpness. The tough assessments crossed party lines: Republican commentator Laura Ingraham wrote on Twitter that Lehrer seemed "a bit overwhelmed." Comic and Democratic activist Bill...

Jim Lehrer moderating.

Presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer is being lobbied hard to ask questions about gun control and violent crime during Wednesday’s debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and that just might be a splendid idea with unintended consequences for the president and his anti-rights supporters. That may not play well in Seattle, where the Seattle Times has offered one of the most tepid endorsements ever to grace its editorial page, recommending that voters re-elect the president. The Brady Campaign is trying to add momentum to the effort by publishing a letter from families of Batman massacre victims in Aurora, Colo....

"Violent," "racist," "disruptive," "astroturf," "extremist." Those are some of the adjectives the Obama Lapdog Media and Democrats have used in the past two years against the Tea Party movement, although there is very little they can actually point to to make that case. Compare that to the media coverage of the union protests in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker's budget proposals. Images of signs depicting the Governor as Hitler, Mussolini, or Mubarak were common, but not widely reported by the media. But the Democrat allied unions sunk to a lower level this past week. Let's just say it all started...

Tuesday, a brick was thrown though a window at the Republican Party's headquarters in Marion, Ohio, 50 miles north of Columbus. It would appear fans of Gateway Pundit would be about the only ones outside the local area who would know this. Virtually no other establishment media outlet has been involved in reporting on this incident. Meanwhile, the fact that a window was broken at Hamilton County, Ohio's Democratic headquarters was reported nationwide. Here are portions of the coverage at the Marion Star: 'Stop right wing' is message to local GOP Delivered via brick through HQ window Two Republican party...

One week of every year is designated National Brotherhood Week. This is just one of many such weeks honoring various worthy causes. One of my favorites is National Make-fun-of-the-handicapped Week which Frank Fontaine and Jerry Lewis are in charge of as you know. During National Brotherhood Week various special events are arranged to drive home the message of brotherhood. This year, for example, on the first day of the week Malcolm X was killed which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is. I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I...

Saturday, September 27, 2008 The winner of the first Presidential debate was moderator and PBS television personality Jim Lehrer. After earlier polls showing that most voters expect the moderators to be biased, 76% say Lehrer was neutral. Seven percent (7%) thought he tried to help Obama, 3% thought he tried to help McCain and 14% were not sure. Among those who watched the entire debate, 85% thought Lehrer maintained his neutrality. As for the candidates, 36% thought Obama won, 33% gave the advantage to McCain, and 31% were not sure. Partisans in the electorate lined up behind their candidate in...

The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced the moderators for the four presidential/vice presidential debates -- one of whom is NBC's own Tom Brokaw. First presidential debate Friday, September 26 The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. Jim Lehrer Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS Vice presidential debate Thursday, October 2 Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. Gwen Ifill Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor, Washington Week, PBS Second presidential debate (town meeting) Tuesday, October 7 Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn. Tom Brokaw Special Correspondent, NBC News Third presidential debate Wednesday, October 15 Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y. Bob...

The moderators for the 2008 presidential and vice presidential debates have been announced and once again they all have one thing in common: they are all liberal hacks from the main stream media. This year's questioners are NBC's Tom Brokaw, CBS' Bob Schieffer and PBS' Jim Lehrer and Gwen Iffl. Pathetic choices, again.

Recently, I reviewed a new American history anthology. I was amused to find included in the book a generous selection of 1960s protest songs. Apparently, lyrics by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Country Joe MacDonald are making their way into the academic canon, and at least some professors seem to think these are “must-read” documents for our students. Well, maybe so. But if one really wants song lyrics that reflect the 1960s, I'd point my students instead to some of the songs from math professor and musical satirist Tom Lehrer. In terms of insight into America, Lehrer's “National...

It has been a rough few weeks for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on PBS. In late April, Mr. Lehrer, who turns 74 on Monday, had aortic valve replacement surgery. He said he was recovering nicely and expects to be back on the air toward the end of June. But the nightly newscast’s funding situation could take longer to heal. In its 25 years on the air, “NewsHour” has had fallow budget periods, but none that equal the current one, Mr. Lehrer acknowledged. The financial squeeze was precipitated last summer when Archer Daniels Midland ended its 14-year sponsorship of the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2005 – Enemies of a free Iraq recognize they can't win against the United States and the coalition on the battlefield, and the only way they can hope to win is in Washington, D.C., and through American public opinion, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Dec. 8. "They can't win over there," Rumsfeld said on PBS' "News Hour With Jim Lehrer." "The only place they can win it is in Washington, D.C., and they know that. They are working on it, and they are working it skillfully." In addition, the secretary said, "they lie" and use the...

NEWSMAKER: DONALD RUMSFELD December 8, 2005 JIM LEHRER: And now to our Newsmaker interview with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. Secretary, welcome. DONALD RUMSFELD: Thank you very much. JIM LEHRER: First, on some of the news items of today, there was a claim today that kidnappers had killed an American contractor in Iraq. Can you confirm that? DONALD RUMSFELD: I can't. We have claims by kidnappers and terrorists and beheaders, three or four a day, and it takes - anyone can say anything they want, and it gets carried across the globe in about five minutes. But till you...

Donald Rumsfeld was asked by Jim Lehrer on the News Hour on PBS just now if his low poll numbers bothered him. This was after one tiresome question after another about how the polls prove Americans hate Bush, the war in Iraq and everything else Republican-related. Rumsfeld came up with the best, in-your-face reply: "If you look where the news media is, it's down very low in the polls. If you want to get into public opinion polls, people in that business are right down near the bottom. You know that. Does it bother you?" Lehrer looked embarrassed and could...

Heads up. Rumsfeld in a great interactive interview with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Almost done now, hoping for a repeat later or on online video.

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES Some of TV's major news anchors gathered on Sunday (July 25) at the Kennedy School of Government to discuss 'The Press and the Election.' Among the high-profile panelists were Judy Woodruff (CNN) (from left), Dan Rather (CBS), Jim Lehrer (PBS), Peter Jennings (ABC), and Tom Brokaw (NBC). (Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office) On eve of Democratic National Convention, news anchors gather at KSG to discuss media and politics Shorenstein Center panel convenes Brokaw, Jennings, Lehrer, Rather, Woodruff By Beth Potier Harvard News Office A politically polarized nation and corporate concerns have applied increasing pressure on...