James Charles Lehrer is an American journalist. He is the news anchor for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Lehrer is also an acclaimed author, writing both non-fiction and fiction which draws on his life experiences and his interests in history and politics Wichita, Kansas, and attended middle school in Beaumont, Texas. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was one of the three sports editors at the Jefferson Declaration. He also graduated from Victoria College and the University of Missouri's Missouri School of Journalism.

After three years in the United States Marine Corps, he began his news career in Dallas, first as a newspaperman, covering the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and then later, 1970 - 73, as the anchor on a local single-story in-depth news show - Newsroom on KERA-TV, the local PBS affiliate. Lehrer started work with PBS network in 1973, and in 1975 started The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with Robert MacNeil. The show was later renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and in its most recent incarnation is known as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Nicknamed the "Dean of Moderators" by CNN's Bernard Shaw, Lehrer has been the moderator for 10 debates among candidates vying for President of the United States of America. Most recently he moderated the first presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry during the 2004 election campaign on September 30, 2004.

Lehrer is well known as a bus enthusiast. He is a major supporter of the Pacific Bus Museum in Williams, California, and the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania. His father was a bus driver and also briefly operated a bus company. As a college student, he worked as a Trailways ticket agent.

Lehrer is also a well known proponent of mandatory national service.

He is married to the novelist Kate Lehrer, and has three children and six grandchildren. He was awarded the Presidential National Humanities Medal in 1999.