The No. 1 Sunday morning public affairs program, which has been on the air since 1954, is getting a new anchor.

CBS News staple “Face the Nation” will be anchored by the news division’s political director, John Dickerson, starting this summer. Making the announcement was CBS News President David Rhodes.

Bob Schieffer, who has anchored the show since 1991, talked about the transition on Sunday’s broadcast. Schieffer will retire from the post this summer, handing off to Dickerson.

In the announcement, Rhodes commented: “John is first and foremost a reporter — and that’s what he’ll be as anchor of ‘Face the Nation.’ His work in the studio will always be informed by what he’s learned in Iowa, in New Hampshire, on Capitol Hill — anywhere there’s news.”

Schieffer noted on Sunday’s program: “My friend CBS News Political Director John Dickerson — who has been on this broadcast 83 times and he sure has the right bloodlines. His mother, Nancy Dickerson, was the first female correspondent in the CBS News Washington bureau.”

After a long stay at CBS in the 1950s and early 1960s, Nancy Dickerson also reported for NBC News from 1963-1970.

Please click here to read the announcement from CBS News.

John Dickerson