On May 19, 60 Minutes’s Scott Pelley went to Wake Forest University to give what was advertised as a commencement speech but in reality was a partisan diatribe warning that President Trump is a threat to all things good and decent. While Pelley urged the graduates to resist Trump, on Friday, colleague John Dickerson urged “all of us” to pay attention to Pelley’s words on CBS Evening News Plus.
Dickerson, who styles himself as a straight newsman, was playing clips from various commencement speeches across the country when he arrived at Pelley, who “spoke to Wake Forest about the urgency of history's call.”
In the clip, Pelley was shown declaring, “The Wake Forest class of 1861. They did not choose their time of calling. The class of 1941 did not choose. The class of 1968 did not choose. History chose them. And now history is calling you, the class of 2025. You may not feel prepared, but you are. You are not descended of fearful people.”
The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources reports, “The college closed in 1862, as a large portion of the faculty and student body enlisted in the Confederate Army,” so it probably isn't the best idea to go to a school in the old Confederacy and invoke the greatness of the class of 1861 when you are presently decrying the threats to democracy, civil rights, and the rule of law.
Still, after a clip of Jon Batiste singing at Brown University, Dickerson wrapped up, “Creative courage, moral integrity, historical urgency, and determination. All a different compass. Not just for graduates, but all of us. And that's tonight's CBS Evening News Plus, thank you for joining us. I'm John Dickerson. Good night.”
Actual moral integrity would require Dickerson to claim Pelley was wrong because 2025 is not akin to the Civil War, World War II, or the Civil Rights Movement.
Here is a transcript for the May 30 show:
CBS Evening News Plus
5/30/2025
7:27 PM ET
JOHN DICKERSON: Scott Pelley spoke to Wake Forest about the urgency of history's call.
SCOTT PELLEY: The Wake Forest class of 1861. They did not choose their time of calling. The class of 1941 did not choose. The class of 1968 did not choose. History chose them. And now history is calling you the class of 2025. You may not feel prepared, but you are. You are not descended of fearful people.
DICKERSON: And finally, Jon Batiste, who treated students at Brown University to the civil rights anthem “Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.
JOHN BATISTE: Ain't gonna let nobody turn me ‘round. Turn me ‘round. Turn me ‘round. Ain't gonna let nobody turn me ‘round. I'm [jump cut] marching on the freedom land.
DICKERSON: Creative courage, moral integrity, historical urgency, and determination. All a different compass. Not just for graduates, but all of us. And that's tonight's CBS Evening News Plus, thank you for joining us. I'm John Dickerson. Good night.
