Donald Shepard "Don" Hewitt (December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an
American television news producer and executive, best known for creating
60 Minutes, the
CBS television news magazine, in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running
prime-time broadcast on American television. Under Hewitt's leadership,
60 Minutes was the only news program ever rated the nation's top-ranked television program, an achievement it accomplished five times. Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.