The Star of Sunday Morning

WITH FIVE YEARS AT THE HELM OF THE ICONIC CBS NEWS SHOW, THE AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST STRIKES A BALANCE BETWEEN MODERATING AND MOTHERHOOD 

- KYLER ALVORD

Margaret Brennan was at the gym one day in early 2018 when she got the call asking her to become the next moderator of Face the Nation. Just 37 at the time, she had spent nearly 15 years covering the economy and foreign policy, first for CNBC and Bloomberg Television then, since 2012, at CBS News. "I didn't react at first because I was so taken aback. I was already moving on with my life," she says, having assumed the role had gone to someone else. Brennan remembers feeling ecstatic, then overwhelmed: "It was a really high-pressure moment."

Professionally it was an unmatched opportunity: One of television's longest-running broadcasts, the Sunday morning news show Face the Nation has been moderated by esteemed journalists since its 1954 premiere, including the legendary Lesley Stahl, the program's only other female host. But Brennan-a Stamford, Conn., native who majored in foreign affairs and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Virginia, earned a Fulbright-Hays grant to study Arabic in Jordan and graduated with highest distinction-didn't doubt her ability to carthe torch. The source of her anxiety: the as-yet-unannounced news that she was pregnant with her first child. "I was like, 'Holy moly, these two massive things are happening at once," " Brennan recalls. "I wondered, 'How will I build trust with viewers if I take maternity leave? Will people be bothered seeing me pregnant on TV?""