Major Garrett, the network's chief White House correspondent, and Norah O'Donnell, the co-anchor of CBS This Morning, are two likely candidates. | AP Photo 
 
 Now that Bob Schieffer has announced his retirement, CBS News is hard at work determining who will become the next host of "Face the Nation." 
 
 Network President David Rhodes is a long way from settling on a successor. He declined to comment on the matter during an interview with the On Media blog on Wednesday night, and sources close to the network said no final decision has been made. 
 
 But there is a shortlist, those sources said: Internally, Rhodes and his fellow executives are looking at Major Garrett, the network's chief White House correspondent, and Norah O'Donnell, the co-anchor of "CBS This Morning" and substitute host for Schieffer on "Face." One source also said that John Dickerson, the network's political director, is on the list of potential replacements. 
 
 But CBS brass are considering outside talent as well: Jake Tapper, the CNN host who previously substituted for George Stephanopoulos on ABC's Sunday show "This Week," is a top consideration. ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl is also under consideration. However, both men are believed to be under contract with their respective employers. 
 
 A key factor in CBS' decision-making process is the 2016 presidential campaign season, which is prime time for Sunday public affairs programs. While Schieffer intended to retire soon, a source close to him said that the host felt increased pressure to make the decision because CBS wanted to be well-positioned for 2016. Schieffer, while widely respected, is not as wired-in as other Sunday show hosts to the machinations of the campaign process. 
 
 Of course, CBS isn't the only Sunday morning public affairs program looking for new talent. CNN "State of the Union" host Candy Crowley left the program months ago. Since her departure, CNN has filled in with a rotating cast of hosts and has yet to announce a formal replacement. 
 
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 Read more about: Major Garrett, Jake Tapper, Face The Nation, Bob Schieffer, Norah O'Donnell, Jonathan Karl, John Dickerson ||||| Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas 
 
 April 8, 2015 
 
 58 years ago when I was a student, it was the end of my sophomore year here at TCU, I got my first paid job in journalism. A full time job. I was hired by a little radio station here in Fort Worth. And because that is where it all started for me, I wanted this to be the place, and I wanted you all to be the first to know: This summer I am going to retire. 
 
 It's been a great adventure. You know, I'm one of the luckiest people in the world. Because as a little boy, as a young reporter, I always wanted to be a journalist. And I got to do that! And not many people get to do that. I couldn't have asked for a better life or something that was more fun and more fulfilling. 
 
 That little job at KXOL - which by the way paid $1 an hour. They had the strangest overtime system I've ever heard of. I've never heard of anything since like it. The first hour of overtime was 90 cents. The second hour was 80 cents. The third hour. We always used to say that if you worked 11 hours, you had to pay them a dime! But this is true! I'm sitting here. This is true. 
 
 But that job led to other jobs. When I went into the Air Force, there years I was there, I was always the editor of military publications. I came back to Fort Worth after the Air Force and because Phil Record, the police reporter at the Star-Telegram knew me because we had covered so many wrecks together on the police beat. He was promoted to night city editor and there was an opening the police reporter. So he promised me -- he recommended me for the job and I became the police reporter at the Star-Telegram. That of course led to a job at channel 5 television and that of course led to my eventual hiring at CBS in New York. 
 
 I've never believed much in the self-made man theory. I think we all need a little help. And I had a lot of help along the way. 
 
 I am especially indebted to the Star-Telegram. Because when I got there, Phil Record taught me to be a reporter, editor Jack Butler then sent me to Vietnam, which was the turning point in my career. The publisher Amon Carter Jr.'s wife found me a wife. It was one-stop shopping for me at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Georgianna Carter is here tonight. 
 
 And once I got to CBS, I had this series of wonderful bosses. Bill Small, who was the Washington bureau chief, who hired me when I walked in off the street literally without an appointment. I later found out that I walked in on someone else's appointment and for the beginning, I was the other guy. I was the only guy that was ever hired by CBS, well they knew by then. But it turned out that the bureau chief knew James A. Byron, who was the news director at channel 5. He called him and gave him a recommendation. Then I had this job at CBS. 
 
 Then I had this wonderful boss, Richard S. Salant, who was the epitome of the values that CBS News has always stood for. Then down the years, Les Moonves, who was the CEO of CBS, who put me in the anchor chair after Dan Rather left. He was my great good friend and we worked together during that very difficult time at CBS News. Then Jeff Fager, the executive producer of "60 Minutes." Then, one of the most remarkable people I know, my current boss David Rhodes. He's right over here. David, stand up, I want people to see you. Truth is, I'm twice as old as David Rhodes. And people have said why are you deciding to retire -- that kind of might be a hint that somebody's telling me! But he is very precocious. His brother told me that when he was in the second grade, he was the only second grader who carried a briefcase around. It's true. But he's done a remarkable job at CBS News. 
 
 One of the reasons that I have decided this is the time for me retire is that I am so proud of where CBS News is now. Like any large organization, we've had our ups and down. We're on a high right now. And with shows like CBS This Morning, with a real of emphasis on hard news. A lot more emphasis on foreign reporting than others are doing, with people like Holly Williams. 
 
 Face The Nation I think is better than it has ever been. And what I want to say is this was total team effort. My equal partner in all of this - someone I have worked with for 25 years - she was there when we decided to go to an hour, and when we finally moved to number 1. She was right there with me and we've been together all the way. There is nobody on the professional side of my life that I feel more indebted to, or that I owe more to, than my great friend Mary Hager. 
 
 Mary was about the age of these other kids when she started with me. We were covering Capitol Hill together and we had some great times. it was the time of the Contract for America and all that was going on. Mary and I worked 50 straight days without a day off. We were off a couple days then worked another 39 straight days without a day off. And I'll tell you something else: You couldn't have made me not show up. There were always so many exciting things going on. And Mary was always there. It was a great experience for both of us. And now, to be working with her when Face The Nation is in the place that it is, is a wonderful thing for me. 
 
 I have received many forms of recognition over the years, but no honor that I have received over the years is more important to me, or means more to me, is having my name first on the journalism school here and then last year on the College of Communications. Thank you. I think some of my professors would probably have a heart seizure if they realized my name was on those schools now after some of the grades I turned in. Kindly old Dr. [IN AUD] gave me a C in Spanish that final semester, which I needed to get out of here. But he believed in mercy over justice. I got that C and I took my diploma and left before they took it away from me. 
 
 I am so proud also of where the journalism school and the college have come in the last 11 years. When they asked me about putting my name on the journalism school, I said I would be greatly honored to do that, but I only want to do it if you want to take it to another level. I said we must strive to be the best in the country. We might not get there. But we're certainly not going to get there unless we aim high, unless we try to do it. And they said they would. It took us about three years to do it, but we raised the money. We're not the best school yet but we have a chance to, because we now have a facility that is good as any communications college in the country. We still have a ways to go, but I think with the right attitude and the right vision, I think we can get there. I believe we can do it. It's going to take a lot of people working together to get that done. But I think it is doable. 
 
 And finally, I just want to say one thing. Of all the people that have been with me all along, there is the one who counts the most, the one who has done the most. In fact, every once in a while she's the one who comes up with these commentaries that I write on Sunday. She is truly a great muse. She is that young woman that Georgianna Carter found for me 48 years come Wednesday, we will have been married. My dear wife Pat. Turn around! She is just simply the best. 
 
 I want to thank all of you all for coming. To those of you students who are thinking of going especially into journalism or any of these communications jobs, all I can tell you is that I can't think of anything I could have done that I could have gotten more satisfaction from and more downright fun. And when you come right to it, that is why you should choose what you want to do. Don't worry about the success. Pick something you like to do, and if you're good at it, the success part takes care of itself. 
 
 For me, it was a great life. I've often said that if my life ended tomorrow, I would have gotten my money's worth. I never imagined I would have the kind of experiences I had in journalism and I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world. To all of you at the Journalism College and at the College of Communication - I'd just say to you, let's still try to be the very best we can. Always aim high. Because if you don't aim high, there's no way you're going to move very far. Thank you for what you've done and thank you all for coming tonight. I love you all. Thank you all! ||||| Bob Schieffer, the anchor of CBS News' "Face the Nation," announced Wednesday that he will retire this summer after more than 50 years of working in journalism. 
 
 Bob Schieffer announces retirement 
 
 Schieffer, who is 78, has been with CBS News for 46 years. 2015 marked his 24th year anchoring "Face the Nation," which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year. 
 
 "Because that was where it all started for me, I wanted this to be the place, and I wanted you all to be the first to know that this summer I'm going to retire," he said at the annual Schieffer Symposium at Texas Christian University, his alma mater. 
 
 "It's been a great adventure," Schieffer said. "You know, I'm one of the luckiest people in the world because as a little boy, as a young reporter, I always wanted to be a journalist, and I got to do that. And not many people get to do that, and I couldn't have asked for a better life or something that was more fun and more fulfilling." 
 
 President Obama talks ISIS, immigration, and midterm elections 
 
 He has interviewed every president since Richard Nixon as well as most of those who sought the office. Schieffer most recently interviewed President Obama last November, his third interview with the president on "Face the Nation." 
 
 Schieffer also moderated three debates for the Presidential Commission on Debates in 2004, 2008 and 2012. 
 
 "He's been an inspiration and a mentor to so many colleagues-- and frankly, to me. You could see at TCU tonight how that inspiration extends to a wider community of reporters and editors and academics," said CBS News President David Rhodes. 
 
 Prior to joining CBS in 1969, Schieffer was a reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram where he was the first reporter from a Texas newspaper to report from Vietnam. 
 
 Bob Schieffer: Why I love moderating “Face the Nation” 
 
 Schieffer has won virtually every award in broadcast journalism, including eight Emmys, the overseas Press Club Award, the Paul White Award presented by the TV News Directors Association, the Edward R. Murrow Award given by Murrow's alma mater Washington State University. 
 
 In 2008, Schieffer was named a living legend by the Library of Congress. In 2013, he was inducted into the National Academy of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame along with CBS Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves, actor Ron Howard, sportscaster Al Michaels and writer/producer Dick Wolf. 
 
 Schieffer also received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence from the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Writing from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) in the Network Radio and Television category for a CBS Radio News commentary about "the ghost of Congress future." 
 
 "Face the Nation" was the highest rated Sunday talk show in 2014 for the third consecutive year and the broadcast won an Emmy for its show covering the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination in 2013. 
 
 In his announcement Wednesday, Schieffer thanked several people who helped advance his career: Phil Record, an editor at the Star-Telegram; the paper's editor, Jack Butler; and CBS colleagues Bill Small, Richard Salant, Sean McManus, Jeff Fager, Moonves and Rhodes. He called "Face the Nation" Executive Producer Mary Hager his "equal partner" in his career and the person to whom he feels the most indebted. 
 
 "I've never believed much in the self-made man theory; I think we all need a little help and I had a lot of help along the way," he said. 
 
 Schieffer said that one of the factors behind his decision to retire now is his pride in CBS News' current footing. 
 
 Bob Schieffer explains what keeps him going 
 
 "We, like any large organization, we have had our ups and downs; we're on a high right now," he said, praising the commitment to hard news and foreign reporting across the network. "Face the Nation, I think, is better than it has ever been." 
 
 In 2005, TCU named its journalism school in his honor and in 2013 named the college in which the journalism school is located the Bob Schieffer College of Communication. In his speech, he said it was the honor that has meant the most to him. 
 
 Schieffer is one of the few reporters in Washington to have covered all four of the major beats: the Pentagon, the White House, Congress and the State Department. He became the network's chief Washington correspondent in 1982 and was named the anchor and moderator of "Face the Nation", CBS News' Sunday public affairs broadcast, in 1991. 
 
 Schieffer anchored the Saturday edition of the "CBS Evening News" for 23 years. In March 2005, with the departure of Dan Rather, Schieffer served as interim anchor of "The CBS Evening News," until August 2006 - a period that saw a substantial increase in ratings. 
 
 Schieffer has written four books: The New York Times bestsellers "This Just in" and "Bob Schieffer's America" as well as "Face The Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-winning News Broadcast" and "The Acting President." 
 
 He was born in Austin, Texas and grew up in Fort Worth where he graduated from North Side High School and Texas Christian University. He served three years in the U.S. Air Force.
– Most people don't keep the same spouse or home for nearly half a century, much less the same job, but veteran newsman Bob Schieffer has stuck it out with CBS News for 46 years. That's a run that will end this year, he announced at alma mater Texas Christian University yesterday. "And because that is where it all started for me, I wanted this to be the place, and I wanted you all to be the first to know: This summer I am going to retire." Acknowledging the network's "ups and downs," Schieffer said one of the factors driving his decision "is that I am so proud of where CBS News is now." The 78-year-old has held the moderator job at Face the Nation since 1991; Politico has a short list of who might replace him.