John Dickerson: The Kindle Singles Interview (Kindle Single) by Tom Roston

It has been the most divisive and contentious presidential election in American history, and few in the media have had a better seat at the table than Face the Nation host and CBS News political director John Dickerson. In many ways, Dickerson, a Washington D.C. native, has been there from the start. In the past year he’s moderated not one but two CBS primary debates, helping introduce the country to its candidates and the policies and personalities that would go on to shape the election season. Known for his “Dickersonian” style of interviewing—asking intelligently worded, but incisive questions that provoke illuminating answers and the occasional “gotcha” moment—Dickerson has ascended the political media mountain, first as Time magazine’s White House correspondent under George W. Bush, then at Slate , before being tapped to replace long-time host Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation .

In a wide-ranging interview conducted in his CBS office, Dickerson—who at the time was in the running to moderate one of the presidential debates—discusses his views on our current political climate, while deftly delivering a master class on how to interview Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Over the course of a 90-minute conversation, Dickerson explains why a too-secretive government is like too much cologne, shares the ways in which mother—the late Nancy Dickerson, a pioneering newswoman in the ‘60s and ‘70s—continues to influence his career, and reveals the real reason why he’s seen " The Legend of Ron Burgundy" at least fifty times.

Tom Roston is the author of I Lost It At The Video A Filmmakers' Oral History of a Vanished Era . Roston started out at The Nation and Vanity Fair , and then worked for ten years at Premiere magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times , The Guardian , Spin , and The Los Angeles Times , among other publications. This is his fourth Kindle Singles Interview. He also writes a blog about documentaries for PBS’ award-winning POV website. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.