Bob Schieffer speaks at UT Arlington exhibit showcasing his Vietnam War photos

Bob Schieffer, the legendary CBS correspondent and journalist who has covered many of America’s most important moments since the 1960s, was just 28 when he embarked to report on the Vietnam War for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Schieffer, a Fort Worth native and a TCU grad, was sent to talk to young servicemen and relay messages to their families back in Texas.

Star-Telegram photographer Harry Cabluck sent Schieffer to Vietnam with a 35mm Nikon film camera. He arrived in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in December 1965, and spent four months talking to and photographing soldiers — some barely older than 20.

When Schieffer returned to the United States in 1966, he went on to become an anchor at Channel 5, and later a CBS correspondent and the moderator of “Face the Nation.”

Now, a collection of the photos that Schieffer took in Vietnam are on display for the first time at UT Arlington, in a special collection called “Our Man In Vietnam,” in addition to paintings that Schieffer created based on photographs he took of Texas soldiers serving in the war.

On Feb. 7, Schieffer was joined by friends and family, and one of the veterans he photographed, to celebrate the opening of the exhibit. He spoke to the crowd about his long career and what he hopes others can gain from seeing his work.

“Tonight, I’m going to give myself the same advice that I would give when people would ask me, ‘What’s the secret to moderating a presidential debate?’” Schieffer said. “Don’t forget that it’s not about you. It’s about them.”

He was referring to the soldiers that he originally photographed during his time in Vietnam, then painted decades later. During his time in Vietnam, Schieffer located 235 soldiers deployed from Texas, and interviewed dozens of them for the Star-Telegram.

“I’ve covered a lot of stories, but I never got the response that I got when I would ask kids, ‘Hi, I’m Bob Schieffer from the Star Telegram, and your mother asked me to find out how you were doing,’” Schieffer said. “I remember kids that would absolutely break into sobbing tears. They were lonesome. They were in a place that many of them had never heard of… I’ll never forget the looks on their faces when they saw me.”

Schieffer said that his time in Vietnam for the Star-Telegram altered the course of his career.

“I can’t think of any particular organization that I owe more to than the Star-Telegram,” Schieffer told the crowd.

After his remarks, Schieffer toured the exhibit and spoke to attendees along the way.

Marine Cpl. Joe Beaver Jr., an Arlington native, was in attendance Saturday night. He was one of the servicemen photographed and painted.

Beaver served for eight years in the Marines, and spent four years in Vietnam. He was wounded three times, he told reporters, and said how lucky he was to make it out of the war alive.

“This is about Bob Schieffer, not me,” Beaver said. “I just happened to be one that got shot all the time.”

As Beaver reminisced about the war, surrounded by his family, he spoke of those who never came home.

“I am the luckiest person in the world to come out of that country,” Beaver said.

Sara Pezzoni, the archivist at UT Arlington Libraries’ Special Collections department, was a major force behind the exhibition.

Schieffer reached out to Pezzoni in March 2025, she said, asking about photos he had taken in Vietnam. UTA also stores the Star-Telegram’s photo archives.

Pezzoni knew that UT Arlington didn’t have the photos he was talking about — but it turned out that Schieffer had, after all, held on to some of his notes and negatives.

Pezzoni visited Schieffer at his home in Washington, D.C., and discovered a trove of photographs, notes and letters that Star-Telegram readers had sent asking about their sons who were fighting in the war.

After a months-long search, Pezzoni and her team tracked down family members for all four of the soldiers Schieffer painted. Three of those families were present Saturday night.

The exhibition represents what Pezzoni and Schieffer both said is a top-of-mind goal — preserving American history for future generations.

“This exhibit has several intentions,” Pezzoni told the crowd. “It serves as a reflection of Bob’s career and how his time in Vietnam shaped who he became and is today, it celebrates Bob’s legacy of honoring service members and their families, and it brings more awareness to the history of the Vietnam War and its many complex layers.”

The free exhibit of Schieffer’s photos, titled “Our Man in Vietnam,” will be held in the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries’ Special Collections area at 702 Planetarium Place. Visit libraries.uta.edu/schieffer for more details. The exhibit is on display until April 4.

This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 11:08 PM.