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Morning Mika Brzezinski went on the “Late Show with David Letterman” last night recounting growing up as the daughter of the National Security Adviser. Which meant a childhood of meeting world leaders including Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, Pope John Paul II, and tapping Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in the shins with a golf cart. And she also saw Pres. Jimmy Carter in a Speedo. Watch:

CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” cracked the top 10 during, not bad considering this is the time of year broadcast networks throw everything at the wall with season and series finales. “60″ drew 11.73 million Total Viewers making it the 10th most-watched show of the week. “60″ was also Sunday’s #1 show, but was the 11th most-watched in the A18-49 demo for the night. The show featured Lesley Stahl’s interview of two pilots turned military whistleblowers, Byron Pitts’ story of two young journalists who risked their lives to expose corruption and Anderson Cooper’s interview with Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps.

The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter writes about the flagship CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes,”: and notes that its share of young viewers has increased, even as its overall ratings remain flat. CBS attributes this to a new generation of correspondents, including Lara Logan and CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

In the story, CBS executives note that Gupta will have more of a presence on the newsmagazine going forward, and that Cooper is very well-regarded at The Eye network.

Mr. Cooper and Dr. Gupta’s contributions are contractually limited since they work for CNN. But Dr. Gupta, who had his first story last season, had two more this season and Mr. Fager said, “He’ll be doing more with us next year.”

A CBS executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that were Mr. Cooper to become available to “60 Minutes” full time, he would be hired “in a heartbeat.” Mr. Cooper’s deal with CNN and with his daytime talk show extend through next year.

Former CBS News correspondent Ben Silver, who covered monumental events like school integration and the race riots for The Eye network, has died at 85. After retiring, Silver became a professor at Arizona State University, home of the Walter Cronkite school of journalism and Mass Communication. Silver worked with Cronkite.

More details from the AP’s obituary, here.

He is survived by his wife, six children and 11 grandchildren.

Early morning’s Charlie Rose had another late night last night as the “CBS This Morning” anchor moderated a discussion  sponsored by The Guardian called “Commercial Pressures vs. Journalistic Standards.” FishbowlNY was there:

The panel featured someone who knows first-hand about the pressures of journalistic standards. Juan Williams was dramatically fired by NPR in 2010. Williams, who remains a contributor to Fox News, has had time to reflect on his ugly end to an 11-year tenure.

“It’s not fun being called a bigot and a bad journalist,” Williams tells FishbowlNY. “The degree to which it was about assailing my personal reputation, struck me as Kafkaesque. I didn’t know what to make of it.”

(Photo: Getty Images for The Guardian)

Rocker Ted Nugent spoke to “CBS This Morning” today, his first interview since he was visited by the Secret Service following comments he made regarding President Obama.

Jeff Glor conducted the interview.

GLOR: Tell me about that [your meeting with the Secret Service] – how serious was it?

NUGENT: I feel sorry for liberals who can be that brain dead as to take a clear statement of fear on my part and turn it into a threat against somebody else.

GLOR: What did they say to you? How does that all take place?

NUGENT: “Hey Ted, good to meet you. Thanks for giving us the time. We appreciate you responding to our request.” And I said, “I appreciate it back because you guys are following up on your professional responsibilities even though you’re reporting to complete idiots who should probably be investigated.”

‘Tis commencement season, and so without further ado, we present TVNewser’s fifth annual list of who’s-speaking-where-and-when at America’s colleges and universities (in alphabetical order):

ABC/CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: University of Southern California - Annenberg School of Journalism,  May 11

NBC’s Tom Brokaw: Arizona State University , May 3…Vanderbilt University (TN) – Senior Class Day, May 10

FNC’s SVP of News Editorial Michael Clemente: Warren County Community College (NJ), May 19

ABC’s Katie Couric:  University of Virginia, May 20

NBC’s Tom Costello: University of Colorado, Journalism & Mass Communication, May 10.

NBC’s David Gregory: Emerson College (MA), May 14

CNN/CBS’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta: University of Michigan, previously on April 28

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie: Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY), May 13

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry: Wellesley College (MA), May 25

PBS’s Maria Hinojosa: Simmons College (MA) – Morning Commencement, May 18

NBC’s Lester Holt: Pepperdine University (CA), previously on April 28

PBS’s Gwen Ifill: Holy Names University (CA), May 12… Bates College (ME), May 26

More after the jump, including Koppel, Lehrer, Sawyer, Schieffer, and three Williamses (Brian, Juan, and Pete)

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While CBS News president David Rhodes (right) attended the memorial service for Mike Wallace Tuesday, seated next to presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his brother, Ben Rhodes was on his way to Afghanistan, seated next to — or at least near — Pres. Obama. Ben Rhodes is a deputy national security adviser in the administration and was on the trip to Bagram Air Field yesterday.

A year ago Tuesday, David Rhodes was at CBS News headquarters heading up the coverage of the death of Osama Bin Laden, while his younger brother was at the White House supporting the administration’s part in the raid that took out Bin Laden.

If the news business was like football, Mike Wallace would be its MVP. But if news was a beauty contest, Wallace would never have been Mr. Congeniality.

That’s what hundreds of Mike Wallace’s friends, colleagues and family — four generations of them — learned as they gathered at the Rose Hall at Time Warner Center to remember the “60 Minutes” original who died April 8 at age 93.

Morley Safer and Steve Kroft remembered Wallace’s unrelenting competitive streak. When Kroft had set up an interview with Gov. Bill Clinton in 1988, amidst accusations of an extra-marital affair, Kroft says, “Mike offered me encouragement, while trying to take the story away from me.”

Safer admitted months would go by without the two reporters even speaking to each other. In a taped piece, the late Ed Bradley echoed the sentiment, after Wallace stole a Manuel Noriega interview from him. “You and I didn’t talk for  six months,” Bradley says to Wallace who is unmoved.

“He brought the same zeal to a story as he did to a penny ante poker game,” said Safer.

Wallace even stole a story from his own son, Chris Wallace who, at the time, was working for ABC’s “Primetime.” In the Fall of 1997, young Wallace had set up an interview with comedian Chris Rock. Rock canceled not long before the shoot. Wallace later found out why.

“My old man had stolen the interview!” said Wallace. “And he knew he’d stolen it from me!” Bradley ended up conducting the Rock interview, mostly to make amends for the Noriega theft, but also to keep in good stead with his son.

“He was so exasperating and yet so endearing,” said Wallace choking back tears.

“It took many years for us to find our path to each other,” the Fox News anchor admitted. “He had a good heart. He could be naughty. But he was never mean.”

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Ann And Mitt Romney were among the guests at this morning’s memorial service for Mike Wallace held at the Rose Hall at Time Warner Center. Seated next to Romney is CBS News President David Rhodes. We’ll have more on the memorial, which included remarks from Morley Safer, Steve Kroft, and Chris Wallace later today. The Romneys were on “CBS This Morning” earlier today. Romney also met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and appeared at an event at an FDNY firehouse with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

(Photo: John Paul Filo/CBS©2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc.)