We’ll Do It LIVE! — Leland Vittert

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis

Episode: We’ll Do It LIVE! — Leland Vittert
Date: June 18, 2026
Host: Bill O'Reilly
Guest: Leland Vittert
Theme: The Role of Fathers: Resilience, Vulnerability, and Values

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Episode Overview

This Father’s Day episode features a heartfelt and candid discussion between Bill O’Reilly and journalist Leland Vittert. Drawing upon Vittert’s best-selling memoir, Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism, they explore the foundational influence of fathers—especially in the face of adversity. The conversation weaves together personal anecdotes, cultural critique, and generational perspectives on parenting, masculinity, bullying, and family dynamics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Leland Vittert’s Story: Father as Protector, Friend, Therapist

• Vittert’s childhood loneliness: Leland describes how, due to autism and social rejection, his father became his only friend, protector, and confidant.
• Vulnerability and strength: Vittert shares stories of his father’s private fears, nighttime tears, and relentless hope—highlighting that strong fathers often feel isolated and unsure, yet press on for their children.

  "My dad, as I learned when writing Born Lucky, spent a lot of nights crying because he felt as though the world had turned against him and turned against his son." (02:10, Leland Vittert)

The Pain of Being “Different”—and the Cost of Bullying

• Bullying’s reach: Vittert and O’Reilly discuss the harsh reality of children who don’t “fit” the norm—whether due to autism, appearance, or other differences.

  "When you're different in any school…you're going to get it. You're going to get bullied, you're going to get demeaned, you're going to get mocked. And it's brutal." (04:33, Bill O’Reilly)

• Teachers as bullies: Vittert recounts painful memories not just from classmates but also abusive teachers.

  "This teacher before Class ended, said loud enough for everybody to hear... 'If my dog was as ugly as you, I would shave its ass and make it walk backwards.'" (05:09, Leland Vittert)

The Power of a Supportive Father

• Reluctance to be called a hero: Vittert’s father refused press interviews, insisting he was simply “a dad who was scared and did whatever I could.”
• Universal resonance: The book’s reception resonates across political spectrums and family types.

  "...I don't feel alone anymore. This is proof of what great fathers can do." (06:41, Leland Vittert)

• Shared vulnerability vs old-school toughness: O’Reilly contrasts his own father’s stoic “tough it out” ethos with Vittert’s father, who openly admitted his fears.

Generational and Cultural Shifts in Fatherhood

• Programs and values: O’Reilly describes his “program” of instilling values—following through on promises, hard work—with his own children, contrasting with both lax “sitcom” dads and overbearing patriarchs.
• Evolving pop culture archetypes: Dialogue about how media depicted fathers: from revered authority figures to bumbling sit-com dads, and now shifting yet again.
• Changing household roles: O’Reilly laments the loss of “mom at home” as a stabilizing presence, while Vittert highlights that for some families, traditional roles make a profound difference.

  "I'm sorry, all you feminists out there... but it's so much better to have mom in the house when you come home from school." (18:13, Bill O’Reilly)

Fatherhood and Societal Outcomes

• Single fathers and societal issues: Both note rising rates of absentee fathers, tying this to poor outcomes for kids—from emotional turmoil to likelihood of incarceration.

  "The single biggest determining factor on whether a kid ends up in jail or not is whether they had a father at home." (30:54, Leland Vittert)

• Importance of male presence and guidance: O’Reilly notes, “...if you don't have any male in that home that cares about you, ... makes it very hard.” (31:20, Bill O’Reilly)

Acceptance, Humor, and Bond Strengthening

• Rituals and continued closeness: Vittert and his father still talk every night; they share golf outings and humor, even after writing a book about their journey.
• Gentle teasing as affection: O’Reilly emphasizes humor as key to parenting and maintaining strong bonds.

  "I mock my kids all the time... gently. It's a form of affection." (37:35, Bill O’Reilly)

• Therapy through storytelling: Both note that documenting the family journey brought closure and appreciation, acting as a form of mutual therapy.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On fatherhood’s challenge and humility:
  "He doesn't think of himself as a hero. And obviously the book makes him out to be that way. ... I am just a dad who was scared and did whatever I could." (06:22, Leland Vittert)
• On generational parenting:
  "The ethos in the house was, tough it out, you tough it out. ... There was no sensitivity training in the O'Reillys." (09:00, Bill O’Reilly)
• On values:
  "You told the truth, worked hard, you were a kind person, and you had a good attitude. You didn't ever think of yourself as a victim." (13:39, Leland Vittert)
• On modern family roles:
  "If you're living your life because you want to make somebody else happy and what makes her happy isn't good for the family, then you're an idiot." (19:34, Bill O’Reilly)
• On the impact of a single ally:
  "It was one person who believed in me. And that, for me, was enough." (24:56, Leland Vittert)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00–02:09]: Leland Vittert describes relationship with his father and the inspiration for Born Lucky
• [04:32–06:37]: The brutality of being “different” at school—bullying by peers and teachers, and the psychological cost
• [13:21–15:15]: Vittert breaks down the values instilled by his father: honesty, work ethic, kindness, and perspective
• [17:32–18:38]: Reflection on changing portrayals of fatherhood in pop culture
• [29:52–31:26]: Social consequences of absent fathers; why strong male presence matters
• [37:26–38:08]: Injecting humor into fatherhood and bonds formed on the golf course
• [44:18–45:22]: Father-son connection today: mutual gratitude, daily calls, and the power of speaking truth

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Conclusion

This episode offers a powerful meditation on the evolving meaning of fatherhood. Through the lens of Leland Vittert’s personal battles—and his father’s quiet heroism—the dialogue dissects American norms around strength, vulnerability, and nurturing. It urges recognition of the irreplaceable impact of a present, value-driven father figure, while blending humor, honesty, and sometimes uncomfortable truths. Whether grappling with adversity or upholding family traditions, the episode affirms that being there—truly there—is what matters most.

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Transcript

[Leland Vittert]

My dad became my only friend, my protector, my therapist. All that mattered to him was that I had good values. You told the truth, worked hard, you were a kind person and you had a good attitude. Talked to him every night after the show.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Does he tell you you're a pinhead like I do?

[Leland Vittert]

Oh, yeah. With you, I can fight back with him. Okay, dad, you got anything else? Yeah, thanks.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Hey, Bill O'Reilly here. Welcome to We'll Do It. Leland Vittered, everyone. Here he is. You see him with me on Monday on NewsNation. He was at Fox when I was there as a correspondent in Middle east and he wrote a best selling book that got a lot of attention and hit the New York Times bestseller list. Not an easy thing to do called Born Lucky. A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism. So it's Father's Day and who better than Wittert? How you doing? All right.

[Leland Vittert]

Fantastic. And on Father's Day, we're re airing the Bill O'Reilly Leland Vitters special. Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And we have another one with the Revolutionary War. Have you seen it yet?

[Leland Vittert]

I have not seen it. I'm working on the script, though. You were brilliant in it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Thank you. I appreciate that. That's a fun one that people. And it's gonna run on July 2, Thursday. So Vidard and I, we kind of collaborate on this stuff and it's worthy. So you're not a dad yet. What do you think since your father saved you, which is what Born Lucky is all about. Lucky was Vittert's nickname when he was born because he shouldn't have been born. The book is fascinating. You know, A Dedicated Father, Grateful Son, My Journey with Autism. But anyway, the nickname Lucky was tagged on Vitter because he had all kinds of complications being birthed. So what do you think's the most important thing for a father to have?

[Leland Vittert]

It's interesting you ask that because you're right, I'm not a dad. So I don't have that perspective. The part that I think is so interesting, that I have learned now since Born Lucky came out is how many fathers feel so scared and alone. My dad, as I learned when writing Born Lucky, spent a lot of nights crying because he felt as though the world had turned against him and turned against his son. He was downstairs in our house in Missouri, sitting on a blue couch. There's some picture windows, so it was all dark. And he would just sit there and cry because he had come down from my bedroom where I would have spent a couple of hours yelling at him and taking out the frustrations and the emotional hurt and cruelty that had been inflicted on me, emotional and physical. And I think what is so interesting is for fathers to know they're not alone in this struggle. And that's what Born Lucky is proof of, is that there are so many fathers out there going through these struggles where they don't know what to do. They're scared. And as my dad showed, it still means that they can be exceptional fathers.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, so your father, to use the cliche, felt your pain.

[Leland Vittert]

He did. He felt my pain. And at the same time, he said, you're going to go back to school the next day.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, well, he was a motivator. I mean, he wasn't going to allow you to let this define your life. But when you are a father and I have two urchins and something bad happens to them, at least in my case, you know, number one, you try to stop it as soon as you can. And number two, you feel terrible. You really, you know, because it's. And I'm talking about the good fathers. Unfortunately, in America, we get a lot

[Leland Vittert]

of bad fathers and fathers who aren't even there.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. Fathers who split and fathers who don't care and they do terrible things in front of their children and all that. But most fathers are good fathers. I put the number in about, oh, 65% are good, 35% are bad. But that's a lot of bad. So in your case, you had a dad who basically understood your problem. And the problem I have to define for people who haven't read the book was when you have autism, as you did, you're different.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah, very.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And when you're different in any school, whether you're overweight, whether you're perceived to be gay, whether you have a bad complexion, because I taught high school, I know you're going to get it. You're going to get bullied, you're going to get demeaned, you're going to get mocked. And it's brutal. And it's worse now than when you were in school. And I was in school because of the phones.

[Leland Vittert]

Oh, the social media thing. My dad wrote the afterword to Born Lucky. He said, I don't know what we would have done without social had there been social media. I'll give you something, though. It was not just the kids, it was the teachers, too. So eighth grade, I'd been through five or six different schools. And we're in art class. So there's art hanging on the walls and big tables you painted on. And this teacher before Class ended, said loud enough for everybody to hear. He goes, hey, Wittert. So everybody turns and looks at Vittert. If my dog was as ugly as you, I would shave its ass and make it walk backwards.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So if. And that got a laugh, right? A roar.

[Leland Vittert]

So if the teachers are doing that, you know what the kids feel like

[Bill O'Reilly]

they can do, you know, you can't do that now if you're a teacher, you really get hammered. Yeah, but there's some really bad teachers.

[Leland Vittert]

Just cruel in so many ways. And you know, the principal said to my dad, and you know what this would mean, his having taught school. The principal said to my dad, when I graduated, they said, we've had kids who've had it worse than Lucky did.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Nobody who survived, they ought to recede. And the damage stays with you your whole life. There's no doubt about it. Now, your father didn't want to do press with you, correct? Because I tried to book him.

[Leland Vittert]

I tried to book him and he

[Bill O'Reilly]

didn't want any of that.

[Leland Vittert]

Why? He doesn't think of himself as a hero. And obviously the book makes him out to be that way. I certainly think he is. But he will tell you over and over that I am just a dad who was scared and did whatever I could to help myself.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He'll say he was scared, terrified every

[Leland Vittert]

day because he couldn't protect me when I went to school. He knew that if I was slapped with a label, then all the standards would get lowered and I'd never figure out how to adapt and, and work in the real world. And he said I never knew whether what I was doing was right. I would come home every day broken and in tears and crushed. And he would make me go back to school the next day. He will tell you he was scared. The thing that I think is most remarkable is the thousands of families we have heard from since the book came out and we did the special and did your show, all of them do a t, say, I don't feel alone anymore. This is proof of what great fathers can do. And you think about the reception bill from your show and Steve Bannon on one side to Joe Scarborough on the other. Universally from hosts who are tough interviewers like you, there's a feeling that this story is something that people need to hear.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, there's all variety of reasons why people need to hear certain things. Most people don't want to hear them. Simple one. And bullying is, is one of the big ones in the United States. But I understand your. Your father's reticence. But it might have done some good for him to come on out.

[Leland Vittert]

What would you have asked him about?

[Bill O'Reilly]

The fear. See, my father, William James O'Reilly Sr. Never in a million years would he admit that he was afraid of anything, ever. Because my family was so. Not aggressive, but tough. It's a word, tough. These were tough guys, okay? They came over in 1868 from Ireland, where their farm was seized by the Crown, the London Crown. My ancestors who arrived in America did so on a coffin ship where they had to throw bodies into the Atlantic Ocean to get passage to come to Brooklyn from Galway. And then the ethos in the house was, tough it out, you tough it out. Now, your father did it differently. He toughed it out, you toughed it out. But my experience with my father was there's no way he would ever admit that vulnerability. I never saw him admit anything like that. Naval officer. He was on his way to Japan to invade when they dropped the atom bombs. My grandfather dwarfed them all. He was a New York City cop who was a hero in Meuse Argonne in World War I, where there was 75% of his battalion killed or wounded. He didn't get a scratch. But can you imagine how tough you gotta be? He's 19 years old. He's in a trench.

[Leland Vittert]

Gives you a different worldview, right?

[Bill O'Reilly]

So I never had any of that. Yeah, all right. It was like, okay, this is what we do, and you better do it. There was no sensitivity training in the O'Reilly and in Levittown. Almost everybody was like that. It was when I was 17, I was. I was gone. Yeah, that was it. All right. We raised you to 17. Have a nice life now. They weren't that cold. I mean, I'd go back for holidays and stuff, but there was no dependence. And it never. An admission by my father, who's too tough, particularly on his oldest son, he was too tough. And so when your father went through all of this pain because you were getting hammered, I would have lied to have heard, okay, you didn't expect us, because I'm sure he didn't. You rose to the occasion. Your own son has deified you.

[Jillian Michaels]

In a book, every major story has a version the news gives you and then a version that's actually true. If you're a critical thinker, if you're somebody who's not tribal, if you're somebody who just wants the facts so you can make your own decisions, Keeping It Real with Jillian Michaels is the show for you. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts,

[Bill O'Reilly]

but you don't want to really be known for this. You don't want to be the poster guy for this.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Why?

[Leland Vittert]

I've never met anyone who was more humble than he is in my whole life. And now you could make the joke that we both work in television, a place not known for humility. Most humble person who. I think all that mattered to him in life. And we wrote about this, so I'm not gonna. I'm not sharing anything. Out of school. He lost his dad when he was 16. A defining moment in his life. And all he ever wanted to do in life was make his dad proud. He wrote a column. He wrote a column every week for a newspaper that he started. And one of the columns he wrote was that he would give every cent he'd ever earned when he was an entrepreneur, start his life all over if he could just spend 24 hours with his dad. And if at the end of the

[Bill O'Reilly]

24 hours, did they have a close relationship.

[Leland Vittert]

His dad was probably a lot like your dad. His dad was tough. His dad hit him every once in a while. I don't think with a closed fist, but his dad was an old boxer, came up through the Jewish ghetto. It was a rough, tough life, very similar to the way folks from your heritage came over. And he loved his dad, and his dad loved him, but it was a different relationship. And he said, you know, all that would mean to me is if my dad told me he was proud of me. And the only thing that my dad's dad judged a man by was his character. That's all that mattered. It wasn't success, monetary success or achievement or accolades. And so I think my dad, all that mattered to him was that I had good values. And that was the one standard you think about things that dads grade their kids on. Are you good at school? Do you have friends? Are you popular? Are you good at athletics? He didn't care about any of that. The only thing he had for me was you have to have good values.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So good values. Pretty broad subject.

[Leland Vittert]

You tell the truth. You tell the truth, or his dad was gonna put him in an orphanage. His dad threatened to put him in an orphanage if he caught him lying again.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, orphanage threat number one.

[Leland Vittert]

He took him to the orphanage and showed him around.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Showed him. Showed the room, the accommodations.

[Leland Vittert]

Yes. Yeah, you told the truth. You worked hard. When I was five years old, he was having me do 200 pushups a day, five days a week, because he wanted me to learn what hard work meant. You were a kind person, and. And you had A good attitude. You didn't ever think of yourself as a victim. So there were very tough standards.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He would state those values to you. He'd say, hey, Lulu, you're gonna do 500 pushups because I want you to

[Leland Vittert]

know you did 200 push ups a day because there was something to achieve.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But he would say this. Would he explain?

[Leland Vittert]

Yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay.

[Leland Vittert]

You set goals and then you achieve them through hard work.

[Bill O'Reilly]

There are all kinds of ways to be a good father. Yep. And a bad father. All kinds of ways. So what I did was I call it the program. All right? You either buy into the program or you don't. And when my kids were younger, they had no choice. They had to buy into the program because there's a six foot four guy standing there. And they know I'm not going to hit them. I never hit my kids, ever. I very rarely raise my voice to them. But I would explain, this is what we do. And that number one was if you say you'll do something, you do it. You have to do it. Because if you don't, you're not a person of respect. You have to do that. And by drilling it in, it got there.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay. Now, my son, who's going to be President of the United States someday, if the country's lucky enough to have him because he's unbelievably brilliant, he bought the program right away. I never in a million years had a problem with him. No alcohol, no drugs. And it wasn't. We'll understand. We won't understand. You're not getting stoned and living in this house. And both kids don't drink, don't take drugs. They don't do anything. But I had to be me, which is for any kid. I would actually give them bonuses, cash. I said, you survived another month with your father. Here's 10 bucks. Okay? Because it wasn't that. I was a martinet. How about that? For word of the day, I wasn't. But they knew there were lines they couldn't cross. They couldn't. Yep. And so it worked. But other fathers that I know were. Killed him. Kindness. They were, you know, they were a bunch of sitcom fathers. Yes.

[Leland Vittert]

My dad. My dad was Leave it to Beaver.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, Ward.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right.

[Leland Vittert]

Cleaver. Ward Cleaver was sort of in Father Knows Best.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Leland Vittert]

But that's how he modeled his. His house.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The best sitcom father ever was Mr. C. Happy days.

[Leland Vittert]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He's the best.

[Leland Vittert]

Yep.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Because he just thought the whole thing was a joke. He just thought Fonz was A joke. That Riti was a joke. And he brought this unbelievable like, okay, I expect you guys to be morons. And that kind of attitude worked. You know? I mean, I know it was a sitcom and all that, but there's a lot of different ways to be a good father. And I'm not a guy who intrudes at all, but I have seen bad fathers.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah, for sure. It's interesting how pop culture has looked at fatherhood, because there was where you talk about Mr. C and Oz and Harriet and Father Knows Best. And then over the recent history, fathers have always been the dunces. And that's starting to change now in pop culture. But you think about Everybody Loves Raymond and others. The dad was always the guy screwing it up.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right? But there's even a deeper change, is that the woman now becomes the dominant force in the home, which is true to some extent, because she, the wife. The mother is. We got to go to work. She can go to work, too. Okay? Which is not a great thing. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, all you feminists out there,

[Leland Vittert]

but you're not really sorry.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yes. I don't want to offend anybody who's doing what they have to do they believe is the right thing or they have to do. All right? Well, yeah, for money reasons. But it's so much better to have mom in the house when you come home from school.

[Leland Vittert]

If you can't. If for families that can, it is an enormous difference.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right. I didn't want dad in the house when I came home from school. All right?

[Leland Vittert]

Sounds like it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. Right, right. You did. And. And you needed.

[Leland Vittert]

I needed that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right. But if. If dad were in the house every day, I. I would have run away. There's no doubt about it. But mom was nurturing. Nurturing. But now what's happened is I had this last week, so I'm talking to a very famous guy, and I'm saying, you guys, five houses. I go, why do you need five, you know, money guy? So he goes, my wife haunts them. I said, your wife wants five houses. She goes, happy wife, happy life.

[Leland Vittert]

Yep.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay.

[Leland Vittert]

I've only been married for a year. I've learned that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You got the case.

[Leland Vittert]

I got that drill.

[Bill O'Reilly]

B.S. b.S.

[Leland Vittert]

Okay?

[Bill O'Reilly]

If you're living your life because you want to make somebody else happy and what makes her happy isn't good for the family, then you're an idiot.

[Leland Vittert]

Well, that's a different story.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, but this is, like, whatever they want.

[Leland Vittert]

Well, if you marry the right woman with the right values, of course, then

[Bill O'Reilly]

you don't have to deal with that.

[Leland Vittert]

Right. Then you don't have to deal with a woman who wants five.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, I'll tell you, you mark down a happy wife, happy life, you're gonna find ton of them, because what they do is reseed whatever she wants. Kids, pick that up. Kids, pick that up. They want dad to be not in charge so much, but a presence. They don't want some whiny guy going, what color curtain should we have, dear? Honey?

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah. My dad didn't pick out a lot of curtains. When my parents got married, the agreement was, no house, no kids. Because my dad wanted to live in a house. He didn't want to deal with it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No house, no kids.

[Leland Vittert]

No. He can't change a light bulb. Really, he can't. So he's just not inclined that way. His mind just doesn't work that way. Brilliant entrepreneur, built big businesses, but he cannot change the light bulb. So my mother. My dad wanted a dog. So my mom said, if you get a dog, I get a house. And he said, great. He said, you let me know.

[Bill O'Reilly]

That's not unreasonable. You should have a house.

[Leland Vittert]

He said, you let me know when I need to come home from the office and go to the house rather than the apartment. She wanted to build a house. And one day she said, okay, honey, it's time to come to.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You can get the beagle, but I get a house.

[Leland Vittert]

It was a Newfoundland, but yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay.

[Leland Vittert]

And then he got a Newfoundland.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay. Fathers in this country and in America, they don't get really the analysis that the moms get or the single women or it's the gender shift. I mean, we're all going to be trans. And what about 20?

[Leland Vittert]

You follow the chart.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, everybody's going to be trans, but. But now, it used to be in a man dominated. All right, you got it. But now it's not. It's the female that dominates. And that on a boy has an effect.

[Leland Vittert]

That's a fair point. Being a father has changed for some over time.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Leland Vittert]

I think what's interesting about Born Lucky is how it has resonated with fathers today and how many I have heard from both of kids who have really serious issues and just dads who are dealing with the vicissitudes of growing up, of their kids, of how they see the world differently. After reading it, they see what the power of a parent is. And my dad would have told you during my time growing up, he had no idea how it was going to work out. And he said there were a lot of times I thought it wasn't going to work out. I thought you were going to just never be able to function in the real world. But that he had to try. And that I think is very empowering to a lot of fathers and certainly that's what they've written.

[Bill O'Reilly]

How old were you when you kind of figured out your dad was a hero?

[Leland Vittert]

Well, he was the only friend I had, starting from when I was 4 or 5 years old, because kids wouldn't play with me. I was so off putting to them. Some people have magnetic attraction. They just attract friends and people and we've all know guys like that. I was the opposite. I repelled anybody my own age. Just totally repelled anyone.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And you were aware of that?

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah, I mean, it's obvious. You'd walk over to kids because they were playing kickball or soccer or whatever, and they'd all laugh and walk away. It was pretty obvious to the rejection starting when I was 4, 5, 6 years old. And by the time I was 7 or 8 years old, it was very clear. Even my parents, who would see me interact with kids. My dad said to my mom, we got a real problem here. We all went on vacation. There was a little pickup soccer game going on, and I tried to run around with the kids. It just didn't work. I pushed kids down because they'd look at me and wouldn't pass me the ball and I'd get angry and they'd try to joke with me and I didn't know and it was terrible. So my dad became my only friend. And really starting when I was six or seven years old, he was my protector all through having to move schools, getting pulled out of schools, getting accused of doing stuff I wasn't doing at schools, and my dad standing up for me, that was my only option. He still remembers when I was in fifth grade telling me that I wouldn't have to go back to this one school. In the middle of the school year, he pulled me out and he said, I'll never forget that. You heard me. And you took about 15 or 20 seconds. And then you just started sobbing tears of joy because of how awful every day was for you.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So about 10, 11, 12, you realized that your father was your protector?

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah, before that. But that was sort of the moment

[Bill O'Reilly]

that it kicked in, because fifth grade is that age. And then was that enough was your father's love? Because that's what it was, enough to see you through.

[Leland Vittert]

It was. It had to be. But it was.

[Bill O'Reilly]

That's amazing.

[Leland Vittert]

It was one person who believed in Me. And that, for me, was enough, because it was. It was enough. It was hard. And in the book, I don't think you would have done this, O'Reilly, but in the book, we didn't name any of the people who were mean to me. We didn't name the principal who told my parents I was weird. We didn't name the people who tried to kick me out of a school and make up a bunch of stuff. We didn't name any of the people who were mean. We only named the people who are nice. And there were a couple. There were a couple of teachers, there were a couple of coaches, and there were a couple of my dad's friends who understood that I needed an adult to believe in me and to teach me. And they did.

[Bill O'Reilly]

It's a shame that they were in the minority, though.

[Leland Vittert]

Vast minority.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right. You know, when I was teaching school, I was teaching high school kids. And the kids who, as I mentioned earlier, who were different in any way, got hammered, bullied. Now, I put myself up as the protector of these kids. I didn't even know you at time. This is way back, my first job out of college.

[Leland Vittert]

You were down in what, Miami?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, in a ghetto. So there were no olds barred there. And the administration couldn't care less, did not care. One of the kids wound up life in prison. Killed somebody because he was so damaged by the treatment that the other kids gave him. And I'm sure at home, too. But anyway, what I did was that I made it a moral issue. And I said to my students, look, we all know that there are all kinds of people here that you deal with every day. And some of them you like, some of them you don't. And that's fine. I mean, you're not compelled to like everybody or whatever, but if you're hurting those people on purpose, you're a bad human being. And if I find out about it, you got a problem. That's all I had to say. I didn't wipe it out entirely, but I de. Intensified it. And when a teacher talks like that to students, particularly former college football player who had a big ruler, I carry around with me as a symbol of my authority.

[Leland Vittert]

You taught history and you carried a ruler?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Everywhere I went, I carried this yardstick, this big ruler. And I did it on purpose, obviously, because I wanted these. It was like that movie Walking Tall. Remember that movie? With the guy? So I wanted.

[Leland Vittert]

Did you ever use it?

[Bill O'Reilly]

I never hit anybody with it, but I hit walls with it. And I made a very loud sound. I wasn't married then. I had no interest in getting married when I was 22 years old. But I understood the mentality that was happening. I absolutely understood everything that was happening among these teenagers only three years younger than me. All right, I wasn't going to let it happen. We were going to let it happen. It wasn't going to happen. And I was, hey, you want to come up against me?

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[Leland Vittert]

Sure.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Am I going to walk away from the child? I don't know how you live with yourself. You're not a man. I don't know what you are. Okay. I don't. But how am I going to raise them? How am I going to interact with the mom? Who's going to be protective? Usually that's what the role is. And what do I want to accomplish here? Because it goes fast. Oh, my God, it goes so fast. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I don't think that's emphasized in this society at all.

[Leland Vittert]

Well, it's actually de emphasized. Right. For the past 15 or 20 years, strong fathers have been demonized and said that they're not needed, they're too tough on kids. Celebrate the single mom. Celebrate that your strong father isn't needed. And in fact, you go through it, the statistics, at least it is the single biggest determining factor whether a kid ends up in jail or not is whether they had a father at home.

[Bill O'Reilly]

That's right. And I write about that in my upcoming book, Confronting America is that that is the key to all social problems. Not that you're going to have a perfect kid, even if you try very hard, but at least they got a shot at.

[Leland Vittert]

Yep.

[Bill O'Reilly]

If you don't have any male in that home that cares about you.

[Leland Vittert]

Makes it very hard.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. That emotional, you know, just a fact that this guy. You know, how many kids, you know, want to love their fathers and want to. And the father just blows them off. I mean, it's like, what are you doing? And again, I saw that because of my son and his crew and they were. Fathers never showed up. They couldn't care less. And, you know, I didn't like those guys and I would show it and they never figure out why. You know, I just look at them walk away. You know, that kind of stuff. But I think you're right that we have to change in America back to not a system where it's the man rules. That's not a good system. Or. You do what I say. Why? Because I said it. That's what I got. Because I. You do? Well, why do I have to do it now? Because I said, you know. You know, do I want to live in Adolf's house? Not really. You know, you explain a little bit. Kids got a right to know if you want him to climb up and kill the wasps. Why he's being selected for that.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah. I would say my dad would always explain the why. But you still had to do it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The expectation was that I couldn't get out of it. And even though I never got the why, it was like, hey, up there on the ladder. I said, oh, you know, all right. And I didn't get bribed either.

[Leland Vittert]

You know, it wasn't like your kids had it easy. They got bribed.

[Bill O'Reilly]

My kids got bribed because I wanted them to be happy.

[Leland Vittert]

You were doing the Factor and you only gave them 10 bucks a month.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, that was. I gave them a little bit more for surviving me in other ways.

[Leland Vittert]

Okay.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So they got first class vacations.

[Leland Vittert]

Okay.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Really? Yep. They got any game they wanted to go to. I want to see the Mets. Okay. All right. They were in a second row, so they believed this was not okay.

[Leland Vittert]

I just wanted to make sure the dust Bowl.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, okay. This was. You're in the program. Program has benefits.

[Leland Vittert]

Understandable.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right. But today, I think a lot of fathers get married too young.

[Leland Vittert]

It's an interesting concept. And I, you know, our buddy Geraldo gave me Advice about that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And Haraldo's married 80 times.

[Leland Vittert]

I know. So you should take his advice.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He's got women from Tasmania, from however many.

[Leland Vittert]

So the first time I came back from being overseas, I went around Fox News and met with everybody I could. I think you were too busy. Understandable. I was a little munchkin. But Geraldo saw me. It was a Friday afternoon, it was like three o'. Clock. I walk into his office. He had a corner office at Fox and he had a bar in his office.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Of course.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

If you were Geraldo, you'd have one too.

[Leland Vittert]

Far too. He said, you want something to drink? I said, sure. So sat there and had a beer or something and I said, you got any advice for me? Thinking, no, this is Geraldo Rivera. He's been all over the world. Such fabulous, famous correspondent. He goes, yep, stay single as long as you can. That was his only advice. I thought, really, that's it. I was 28 years old and I called him when I got engaged. I was 42. When I got into age 41, 42, I called Geraldo. I said, you know, Geraldo, I waited as long as I could. I'm 41. 42. Is it okay if I get married? He goes, yeah. He goes, yeah, you waited long enough.

[Bill O'Reilly]

One piece of advice for you. Yeah, okay. Don't spread it around. You're taking marital advice from Geraldo.

[Leland Vittert]

Oh, that's a good point.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah.

[Leland Vittert]

This wasn't marital advice.

[Bill O'Reilly]

This was economic advice.

[Leland Vittert]

Economic advice, premarital advice, pre engagement advice from Geraldo.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Heraldo's a good dad.

[Leland Vittert]

He's a great dad.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right. Just so the record is, well, will show because he gets. Haroldo is an emotional dad. Okay? He's an emotional guy and I'm not an emotional dad. So Rolo and I are. We both have the same instinct that you got to protect your children from evil. And you've got to give them a foundation of behavior. Okay? This is what. How you should live. But he's an emotional guy, and I'm not an emotional guy in the sense that I don't react. I think I'm a.

[Leland Vittert]

You don't react.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I react to adults who are pinheads because they deserve no mercy. But not to the urchins. The urchins are just urchins. They're just growing up. So for me to go in and sit him down and hey, did you know Abraham Lincoln? Hey, come on now. So I'm not in that quadrant. There are a lot of emotional dads. You see him at the games. You see him at the soccer games, baseball games where they'll beat you up if they think that you hit their kid in a cheap shot. You know, these are emotional.

[Leland Vittert]

Dad, I thought you were talking about the ones who would go beat the refs up.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, well, they're beating a lot of people up. And it's a game that made it that matter is not okay. But what I do bring or have brought is a sense of humor, okay? Very important in my view of fatherhood. I mock my kids all the time. I mean, I'm gently, gently. It's not like I'm on you and Cuomo and, you know, gently. But if they do something ridiculous, you know, can we see that again? You know, and they get it and they like it because it's a form of affection.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right. You bring gentle humor into somebody's area, it shows you care enough about them to do it.

[Leland Vittert]

I've tried it with my father. You're not a golfer, right?

[Bill O'Reilly]

No.

[Leland Vittert]

You know what a gimme putt is?

[Bill O'Reilly]

If a putt's close in, you don't have to putt it.

[Leland Vittert]

You don't have to putt it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You're so close.

[Leland Vittert]

You're so close. And I can't tell you how many times I'm out on the golf course now with my father, and he won't give me a putt. It'll be three feet. Putt it, putt it. I'll give him four or five feet. I mean, it's what you do for your father.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I'll petty. He wants to beat you.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah. And I'll say. And I say to him, look, Dad, I wrote a New York Times bestselling book about you, turned you into a hero, and you won't give me a three foot putt.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You just put it.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Leland Vittert]

My dad's got a lot of advice for me every night. Still calls me every night, my dad after.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Does he?

[Leland Vittert]

After every show.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And he's got thoughts, man, it's gold. I'll tell you what, that is gold. The only time that I ever spoke to my father about my career was when I was about to go to El Salvador to get shot at. Okay? And you know what that's like. And he said, why are you doing that? I said, because if I'm successful, I come back alive. That my status as a reporter rises because knocked on many people cover shooting wars. He goes, not worth it. I said, I'll pay for the cemetery plot. Don't worry about it. Because he's a big money guy, my father, okay? And so there was no interaction. And the reason there wasn't any interaction, I was the first one in my family, remember 1868, the first O'Reilly to break out of the working class. The first one.

[Leland Vittert]

Well, you had made it to him. And why would you give that up?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, it was more than that. It was a fascination of this guy should be in the penitentiary. When I go back to my levitate neighborhood, a lot of people still live there.

[Leland Vittert]

Yep.

[Bill O'Reilly]

They stare at me and go, how come you're not in jail? That's how rambunctious I was. I wasn't malevolent, but I was rambunctious. And nobody could believe it. I said, this is America. That's why. All right? I did what I had to do. And I enjoy my profession. But my father never ever. And the same thing with girls I dated or, or nothing. This is you. And I didn't mind it.

[Leland Vittert]

Okay.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I. You know, it wasn't like I. It wasn't like you. It was like, he's here. He provides. He gives you a dose of reality. My father was certainly good at that. I don't need the touchy feel. My mother will do that. Okay. And that's the way I always saw it. And my neighbor who was like that, who was like, you know, you guys hanging around and the kids are doing God knows what. It wasn't like therapy, family therapy. You would have gone bankrupt in two days in Levittown if you were a family therapist. I mean, everybody's like, what?

[Leland Vittert]

Well, you either gone bankrupt or you would have had endless amounts of customers that needed you.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, they wouldn't.

[Leland Vittert]

They wouldn't. They wouldn't admit it, but they needed you. Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Oh, sure. I mean, you could have done a psychoanalysis. Now, today you say you golf with your father a lot.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And that. Do you guys talk about now that you're successful, do you bring back the past or do you just talk about.

[Leland Vittert]

You know, it's interesting you say that. And I said about the book that we never wrote, about the people who are mean. We wrote about it, but we never used their names. And I don't think we talk about the past. I think telling this story, us both feeling like we were able to put this down, this story that the two of us had gone through together, it is, I think, helped both of us deal with the past and talk about it and sort of move past it. And I think, at least for me, I find myself, in a way, all the more grateful to him.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So it's like therapy.

[Leland Vittert]

Yeah. I never went to therapy as a kid. Probably should have, but I didn't. My dad was my therapist. And interestingly enough, going to therapy on national television, sharing all these stories about my past and everything else is not exactly fun. It's kind of like sitting in a bathtub full of scissors. And I've said it is worth it because I really feel like it has helped people. But I think it's also helped me, too. I think it's also helped my dad.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But the fact that you take the time and you travel, be with your father, play the golf and all that, I mean, that makes the bond stronger.

[Leland Vittert]

It does. Look, I still talk to him two or three times a day. Talk to him every night after the show.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Does he tell you you're a penhead like I do?

[Leland Vittert]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you see, with you, I can fight back, right? With him. Okay, dad, you got Anything else? Yeah, thanks. Thanks. I say, you know, dad, there's people whose job it is to tell me and to, you know, give this kind of thoughts. He goes, yeah, yeah. But none of them, none of them will tell you the truth. I'll tell you the truth. Okay.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Pretty Brian. All right, Leland Vitter. The book is born lucky. I want you to pick it up for Father's Day. Great. Father's Day. Give now for BillORilly.com premium and concierge members. We have killing time coming up. Another 10 minutes with Mr. Leland. And for those of you who haven't really caught on yet, that, you know, premium membership to Billorilly.com is going to enhance your life. We leave you now. Thank you for watching.

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