‘Face the Nation’ returns to W&M to interview Chancellor Robert M. Gates

Face the Chancellor Longtime broadcast journalist Bob Schieffer (right) is returning to the university this weekend to interview W&M Chancellor and former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates '65 for "Face the Nation." The two are pictured here during an interview at the Wren Building last spring. Photo by Stephen Salpukas

Face the Nation Bob Schieffer and Chancellor Robert M. Gates '65 walk together outside of the Wren Building last year during Commencement weekend. Photo by Stephen Salpukas

by Brian Whitson | May 8, 2014

William & Mary’s historic campus during Commencement weekend is quickly becoming a favorite backdrop for CBS News national interviews.

Longtime broadcast journalist Bob Schieffer is returning to the university this weekend to interview W&M Chancellor and former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates ’65 for Face the Nation. Schieffer, anchor and moderator of the popular Sunday public affairs show, also interviewed Gates a year ago for a broadcast that aired the morning of Commencement. This year’s interview, which will be taped on campus, will air locally Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. on CBS (local channel WTKR-TV 3).

Gates, who was installed in 2012 as William & Mary’s 24^th chancellor, is on campus to participate in Commencement weekend activities. Medal of Honor recipient Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry will serve as keynote speaker for the ceremony. Gates will provide welcoming remarks for the event at William & Mary Hall.

This will actually be the third year in a row that CBS News will be on campus during W&M Commencement festivities. In 2012, CBS This Morning co-anchor and longtime PBS broadcaster Charlie Rose came to Williamsburg to interview Gates. Schieffer is the CBS network’s chief Washington correspondent. He has covered Washington for CBS News for more than 30 years and has anchored Face the Nation since 1991.

Gates retired in June 2011 after serving since 2006 as head of the U.S. Department of Defense. He is the only defense secretary in the nation’s history to serve two presidents from different political parties – serving under former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Prior to becoming defense secretary, he served in numerous capacities in the executive branch and worked for eight presidents. He is also the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. From 2002 to 2006, Gates was president of Texas A&M University.

Earlier this year, Gates released his latest book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. A New York Times bestseller, the book is a candid account of Gates’ experience serving Bush and Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.