This week on "Sunday Morning" (August 11) (2024)

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" alsostreams on the CBS News appbeginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)

Hosted by Jane Pauley

WATCH THE FULL AUGUST 11 BROADCAST!

COVER STORY: President Biden speaks on the stakes of the 2024 election, and on his place in history | Watch Video
President Joe Biden sits down with CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa for his first interview since announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race. He talks about dropping his bid for reelection; his support of the Harris-Walz ticket; and what he sees as the threat posed to democracy if former President Donald Trump is successful in regaining the White House.

ALMANAC: August 11 (Video)
"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.

BOOKS: James Baldwin at 100 | Watch Video
A century after his birth in Harlem, the writer and activist James Baldwin is being celebrated for his visionary work, and for the many facets of his personality – Black, gay, playwright, essayist, New Yorker, expatriate – that transformed him into an iconic figure in the civil rights movement, even beyond his death in 1987 at age 63. "Sunday Morning" contributor Kelefa Sanneh looks back at the author of such noted works as "Notes of a Native Son," "The Fire Next Time," and "Giovanni's Room."

READ AN EXCERPT:"The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
To celebrate the centenary of the writer, poet and civil rights activist, read his stirring essay "My Dungeon Shook," written as a letter to his young nephew, in which he encapsulates the ironies of race relations in America.

For more info:

• Exhibition:"JIMMY! God's Black Revolutionary Mouth,"at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem (through February 28, 2025)
• Exhibition:"This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance,"at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. (through April 20, 2025)
• Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.
• James Baldwin Digital Resource Guide (Smithsonian)
• "The Fire Next Time; Nobody Knows My Name; No Name in the Street; The Devil Finds Work"by James Baldwin (Everyman's Library), in Hardcover, available viaAmazon,Barnes & NobleandBookshop.org
• JamesBaldwinBooks.com (Penguin Random House)

MUSIC: Post Malone on success, loneliness, and making his audience know they're loved | Watch Video
He's one of the biggest pop stars in the world, yet Post Malone's new album, "F-1 Trillion," features his duets with some of the biggest names in country, including Luke Combs, Blake Shelton, Morgan Wallen and Dolly Parton. Correspondent Anthony Mason visits Malone in Nashville to talk about his acceptance among country music fans; how he dealt with being called a "one-hit wonder" following his debut with the 2015 hip hop smash "White Iverson"; and how he recovered from a downward spiral that he experienced in the midst of his success.

To watch the music video for Post Malone's "Guy For That" featuring Luke Combs (from the album "F-1 Trillion"), click on the video player below:

For more info:

• postmalone.com | Show info
• "F-1 Trillion" tour (Live Nation)
• Pre-order Post Malone's album "F-1 Trillion," to be released August 16
• Done + Dusted
• Definate Films

NATURE: Horseshoe crabs: Ancient creatures who are a medical marvel (Video)
Correspondent Conor Knighton visits New Jersey beaches along the Delaware Bay to learn about horseshoe crabs – mysterious creatures that predate dinosaurs – whose very blood has proved vital to keeping humans healthy by helping detect bacterial endotoxins. He talks with environmentalists about the decline in the horseshoe crab population, and with researchers who are pushing the pharmaceutical industry to switch its use of horseshoe crab blood with a synthetic alternative used in medical testing.

For more info:

• ReTurn the Favor New Jersey
• Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition
• Wetlands Institute
• American Littoral Society
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Horseshoe Crab (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission)

PASSAGE: In memoriam (Video)
"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including pioneering tech executive Susan Wojcicki, who was instrumental in the rise of Google and YouTube.

U.S.: Crocheting magical gifts for special patients (Video)
Holly Christensen, a former oncology nurse, saw how much joy could be brought to young cancer patients and their families when she made a Rapunzel wig out of soft yarn for a friend's daughter undergoing chemotherapy. What began in 2015 as a thoughtful gift has since spun into a national non-profit, the Magic Yarn Project. Volunteers at 10 chapters nationwide transform yarn into character wigs for kids with cancer (or any child dealing with medical hair loss). Correspondent Serena Altschul reports.

For more info:

• Magic Yarn Project
• Ronald McDonald House Charities, Greater Cincinnati

COMMENTARY: Jim Gaffigan's green thumb fails | Watch Video
The comedian has had a long interest in growing his own corn, and he's not letting a little thing like lack of knowledge about gardening (or the ready availability of canned corn) get in his way.

For more info:

• jimgaffigan.com
• Pre-order Jim Gaffigan's album "The Prisoner,"available August 30

BROADWAY: | Watch Video
In 1959 an unknown named Carol Burnett burst onto the New York stage in the musical comedy "Once Upon a Mattress." Now, two-time Tony-winning star Sutton Foster is recreating the role of Winnifred, a princess in search of a suitable mate, in the new Broadway revival. Correspondent Tracy Smith talks with Burnett and Foster about the power of fairy tales – from the theatrical kind to real life.

To watch a trailer for "Once Upon a Mattress" click on the video player below:

For more info:

• "Once Upon a Mattress," at the Hudson Theatre, New York City | Ticket info

UPDATE: Philippe Petit commemorates his legendary Twin Towers walk (Video)
Fifty years after Philippe Petit walked high above New York City between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the French high-wire walker marked the anniversary this week with another walk, high in the nave of New York's St. John the Divine Cathedral.

MOVIES: Zoë Kravitz on "Blink Twice" and directing fiancé Channing Tatum (Video)
Zoë Kravitz has been an actress, producer, executive producer, and now, for the first time, a writer-director. She talks with correspondent Michelle Miller about coming from a family of celebrity performers; about her new film, the psychological thriller "Blink Twice," in which she directs her now-fiancé Channing Tatum; and about her attraction to stories of strong women.

WEB EXTRA: Zoë Kravitz on the films that inspired her first directorial feature (YouTube Video)
Actress Zoë Kravitz has just directed her first feature film, "Blink Twice." In this web exclusive, she talks with correspondent Michelle Miller about some of the films that inspired her and her director of photography, Adam Newport-Berra, to create the new psychological thriller starring Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum.

To watch a trailer for "Blink Twice" click on the video player below:

For more info:

• "Blink Twice"opens in theaters August 23

NATURE: Horseshoe crabs in Florida (Extended Video)
We leave you this Sunday morning among horseshoe crabs at Gator Creek, near Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Videographer: Doug Jensen.

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Happy birthday, Smokey Bear (YouTube Video)
August 9, 2024, marks the 80th birthday of Smokey Bear, created at the height of World War II with the mission to warn against the threat of fires in the nation's wilderness areas. He's now the face of the longest-running public service announcement campaign in American history. Jane Pauley offers this tribute, originally broadcast in 2014.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Philippe Petit's Twin Towers walk (2009)
On August 7, 1974, French highwire artist Philippe Petit stunned the world when he walked a wire illicitly strung between the Twin Towers of New York City's World Trade Center. In this "Sunday Morning" profile that aired on February 22, 2009, Petit, the subject of the documentary "Man on Wire," talked with correspondent Anthony Mason about the birth of his dream to take his "profound" walk a quarter-mile in the air.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Democracy and the Ballot Box (YouTube Video)
Watch stories from the "Sunday Morning" archives about the history of America's elections, the power of one's vote, and the fight to protect democracy. Featured: Mo Rocca on the original "birther" controversy of President Chester Alan Arthur, the "worst" president ever, the disputed election of 1876, and a classroom lesson on the Electoral College; Scott Simon on the violent 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; Richard Schlesinger on the return of Richard Nixon; Anthony Mason on Bush v. Gore; Nancy Giles on the election of Barack Obama; Steve Hartman on a family split by competing political allegiances; Lee Cowan on how late-night comedians tackled the 2016 race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and how Trump attempted to overturn his 2020 election loss; David Martin on the violence of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; Seth Doane on how the world's media reacted to scenes of political violence in America; and John Dickerson on the importance of the congressional committee investigating a president who fought against the peaceful transfer of power.

"HERE COMES THE SUN": "The Sopranos" cast, and breaking (Video)
Stars of "The Sopranos" speak with Anthony Mason about the hit show celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Then, Luke Burbank learns about breakdancing, the latest Olympic sport. "Here Comes the Sun" is a closer look at some of the people, places and things we bring you every week on "CBS Sunday Morning."

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.

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