Lehrer was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Lois Catherine (née Chapman), a bank clerk, and Harry Frederick Lehrer, a bus station manager. He attended middle school in Beaumont, Texas and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was one of the three sports editors at the Jefferson Declaration. He also graduated from Victoria College in Texas and the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. Lehrer joined the United States Marine Corps and attributes his service and travels with helping him to look past himself and feel a connection to the world that he would not have otherwise experienced.

Lehrer began his career in journalism at The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times-Herald, where he covered the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. From 1970 to 1973, Lehrer anchored the local single-story news show, Newsroom on KERA-TV, the local Public Broadcasting affiliate station in Dallas. Lehrer began working with PBS network in 1973, and in 1975 developed and co-anchored The MacNeil/Lehrer Report with Robert MacNeil. The news show was later renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and after MacNeil's departure in 1995 was named The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and finally The PBS Newshour in 2009.

Nicknamed the "Dean of Moderators" by CNN's Bernard Shaw, Lehrer has moderated eleven presidential candidate debates, with the most recent being the presidential debate between senators Barack Obama and John McCain on September 26, 2008.

Lehrer underwent a heart valve surgery in April 2008, and, while he recuperated, Ray Suarez anchored in his stead until his return on June 28, 2008.

Lehrer is a bus enthusiast. His father was a bus driver and also briefly operated a bus company. As a college student in the 1950s, he worked as a Trailways ticket agent in Victoria, Texas. He is a supporter of the Pacific Bus Museum in Williams, California and the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He is a collector of bus memorabilia, including depot signs, driver caps, and antique toy buses.

Lehrer is married to the novelist Kate Lehrer. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.

Novels (One-Eyed Mack Series)

Novels (Charlie Henderson Series)

Novels (Standalone)

Memoirs

Screenplays

• White Widow screenplay is currently being written by Luke Wilson
• Viva Max! (1970) writing credit with Elliott Baker

Plays

• The Will and Bart Show
• Church Key Charlie Blue
• Chili Queen