The State Department celebrated the legacy the late CBS correspondent Morley Safer left behind following his death Thursday.
Secretary of State John Kerry praised Safer’s six-decade career in journalism for how it “reminded us of the power of courageous storytelling” and shaped Americans views of foreign affairs.
“I got to know him not long after his years as the gutsy bureau chief in Saigon, bringing the war home to America. He just thought his job was to show the facts and let the viewers draw their own conclusions, even if it put him in the middle of controversy,” Kerry said in a statement late Thursday.
Safer had retired in March after 50 years with CBS. He was 84 years old at the time of his death.
The top U.S. diplomat said through Safer’s decades of reporting — all of it “with a smile” on his face — he helped the public “wrestle with tough questions” about war, poverty and other realities viewers were only able to discover through his reports.
“I will miss that gravelly voice at the other end of the phone — or a microphone,” Kerry concluded.
