This week on “Sunday Morning” (Sept. 14)

The Emmy Award-winning “CBS News Sunday Morning” is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.  “Sunday Morning” also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) 

Hosted by Jane Pauley

      
HEADLINES: Historian Jon Meacham on political violence and the threat to American democracy
The murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week follows a litany of violent acts against political targets, from Democratic lawmakers and officials, to a police officer at CDC headquarters, to President Trump himself last summer. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham talks with Robert Costa about the existential questions facing our nation right now, and how the current climate of political violence must be addressed if American democracy is to endure. 

For more info:

THESE UNITED STATES: A history of America’s Constitution
Over the past several decades, the checks-and-balances of our government have been increasingly tested in ways our founding fathers never anticipated. Tony Dokoupil talks with Jill Lepore, author of “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution,” and Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, about our nation’s bedrock document, which Rosen calls “absolutely eternal and timeless.”

READ AN EXCERPT: “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution” by Jill Lepore
Harvard professor and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore explores the ongoing struggle to amend America’s founding document and keep it a living framework for an evolving nation.

For more info:

• The United States Constitution (Full text)
• “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution” by Jill Lepore (Liveright), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available September 16 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Jill Lepore, The New Yorker
• “The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America” by Jeffrey Rosen (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available Oct. 21 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO, National Constitution Center
• “Celebrating 250 Years of the United States at NYPL,” New York Public Library

       
ALMANAC: September 14
“Sunday Morning” looks back at historical events on this date.

U.S.: A blue ribbon-worthy exhibition of state fair crafts
To honor the cultural traditions of state fairs, a new exhibition at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., brings together crafts dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the present – quilts and pottery and butter cows – that speak to one of America’s most cherished institutions. Conor Knighton reports.

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MOVIES: Marlon Wayans on “Him,” and on veering from comedy to horror
In the new psychological horror film “Him,” Marlon Wayans plays an aging football superstar tempting a rookie quarterback – who wants to be the greatest – with an evil bargain. Wayans, who juggles films with stand-up, talks with Tracy Smith about how his new role is a big change for someone raised on comedy, and who learned how to turn personal loss into dramatic power.

To watch a trailer for the film “Him,” click on the video player below:

For more info:

     
PASSAGE: In memoriam
“Sunday Morning” remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week.

WORLD: La Foce: A Renaissance painting come to life
The La Foce estate is the showpiece of one aristocratic family’s generations-long effort to revitalize an area in Italy’s Val d’Orcia region that was impoverished in the early 20th century. Seth Doane reports on how a farmer-entrepreneur helped remake the 7,000-acre estate, which is now a backdrop for weddings and film shoots.

For more info:

• La Foce Estate, Chianciano Terme, Italia
• “La Foce: Paradise in Tuscany” by Katia Lysy, photographs by Simon Upton and Matteo Carassale (Rizzoli), in Hardcover, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Katia Lysy on Instagram

• “War in Val d’Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944” by Iris Origo (New York Review Books Classics), in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

TV: Jason Bateman on “Black Rabbit”
Jason Bateman has been acting since he was a child; he’s since added director and podcaster to his résumé. Now, the Emmy Award-winner is starring with Jude Law in the Netflix series “Black Rabbit,” playing brothers whose troubled relationship threatens to destroy more than just the restaurant they founded. Bateman talks with Lee Cowan about the appeal of directing; sobriety; and recording his podcast, “Smartless,” with fellow actors Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.

To watch a trailer for “Black Rabbit,” click on the video player below:

For more info:

A NEW LEAF: The pride and perils of plant parenthood
Not every “plant parent” has a green thumb. For many, the fun of growing houseplants is tempered by a sense of withering loss when a leafy dependent dies. Nancy Chen reports on a common hazard of indoor gardening, and one plant owner’s uncommon funeral arrangements.

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ARTS: A new look at French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte
Now showing at the Art Institute of Chicago, an exhibition of works by Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) offers a fresh perspective on a lesser-known French painter who is ripe for rediscovery. Jane Pauley reports.

For more info:

• Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World, at the Art Institute of Chicago (through Oct. 5)
• Exhibition catalogue: “Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men,” edited by Scott Allan, Gloria Groom and Paul Perrin (J. Paul Getty Museum), in Hardcover, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Gustave Caillebotte. “Paris Street; Rainy Day,” 1877. The Art Institute of Chicago, Charles H. and Mary F. Worcester Collection
• Gustave Caillebotte. “Floor Scrapers,” 1875. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Caillebotte heirs through Auguste Renoir, 1894. Photo courtesy of Musée d’Orsay, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn/Franck Raux
• Gustave Caillebotte. “Man at His Bath,” 1884. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum purchase with funds by exchange from an Anonymous gift, Bequest of William A. Coolige, Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, and from the Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, Fanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin, Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund, Gift of Mrs. Samuel Parkman Oliver – Eliza R. Oliver Fund, Sophie F. Friedman Fund, Robert M. Rosenberg Family Fund, and funds donated in honor of George T.M. Shackelford, Chair, Art of Europe, and Arthur K. Solomon Curator of Modern Art 1996–2011. Photo © 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Footage courtesy of Musée d’Orsay Digital Department/YouBLive

        
COMMENTARY: James Fallows on the lessons to take from political violence
“Breaking the News” writer James Fallows says political gun murders have written too much of the American story. But when political violence erupts, and we are aware that “history is happening around us,” there are two lessons we can take – about cycles of political violence, and our reactions to it – that will shape how our nation moves forward. 

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NATURE: Forest regrowth

WEB EXCLUSIVES: 

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Impressionism at 150 (YouTube Video)
On April 15, 1874, the first Impressionist exhibition opened in Paris. Watch these fascinating “Sunday Morning” portraits of the innovative painters who created a new language of art, including: 

• Édouard Manet
• Vincent Van Gogh 
• Claude Monet 
• Camille Pissarro 
• Edgar Degas 
• Mary Cassatt 
• Paul Cézanne 
• Georges Seurat 
• Gustave Caillebotte 
• The Brooklyn Museum of Art exhibition “Impressionists In Winter: Effets de Neige” 
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir 
• late-period Degas 
• Childe Hassam 
• Director Julian Schnabel and actor Willem Dafoe talk about reimagining Vincent Van Gogh’s life in the film “At Eternity’s Gate” 

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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