'60 Minutes' Creator Hewitt Steps Down

[CShine]

One Sunday afternoon in the late 1960s, Mike Wallace got a call from Don Hewitt, who wanted to come over to talk about his idea for a television newsmagazine that became "60 Minutes."

"We'd like you to wear the black hat," Wallace recalled Hewitt saying, a reference to Wallace's hard-charging style chasing wrongdoers. The late Harry Reasoner wore the white hat.

CBS feted the 81-year-old Hewitt on Tuesday night at a party in the new Mandarin Oriental hotel. He's just stepped down as executive producer of the newsmagazine he started. Hewitt received the traditional retirement gift — a gold watch — but CBS was quick to emphasize that he'll still be working on special projects for the news divisions.

CBS boss Leslie Moonves called Hewitt his idol, a status not diminished when Hewitt pitched him the worst idea for a sitcom that he had ever heard.

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