After graduating from Wellesley College in 1967, Sawyer began her career as a weather reporter on a Louisville, Kentucky television station. In 1970, she took a job at the White House on the staff of Presidential Press Secretary Ron Ziegler. She continued her career as a press aide during the Nixon administration until 1974 and then assisted the former president with the preparation of his memoirs. The transition to broadcast journalism was made in 1978 when she joined CBS News as a reporter in the Washington bureau.
When Sawyer accepted the job of State Department correspondent for CBS News (1978-81) she began an unstoppable career as a popular figure in television journalism: She was the co-anchor of CBS Morning News (from 1981), the co-anchor of Early Morning News (1982-84), and the first woman on the network's flagship public affairs program, 60 Minutes CBS (1984-89). Sawyer left this successful position at CBS to sign a multi-year contract to co-anchor PrimeTime Live on ABC News with Sam Donaldson in 1989.