Highlights of “60 Minutes” originator Don Hewitt’s career

Highlights of Don Hewitt’s career

Career highlights of Don Hewitt, the former “60 Minutes” executive producer who died on Wednesday.

—Directed the first network television newscast, with anchor Douglas Edwards, on May 3, 1948.

—Produced the first televised presidential debate, in 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

—First used cue cards for news anchors, a forerunner of the electronic TelePrompTer machine now widely in use today.

—Executive producer of the first half-hour network TV newscast, anchored by Walter Cronkite, starting in 1963.

—First to superimpose type on the bottom of the television screen.

—Created “60 Minutes” and was the show’s executive producer for 36 years.