Roger Mudd

Roger Mudd (born February 9, 1928, Washington, D.C.) is an Emmy Award-winning U.S. television journalist and broadcaster, most recently as the primary anchor for The History Channel. Previously, Mudd was weekend and weekday substitute anchor of CBS Evening News, co-anchor of the weekday NBC Nightly News, and hosted NBC's Meet the Press, and NBC's American Almanac television newsmagazine.

Background

Mudd received a B.A. degree from Washington and Lee University in 1950 and a Master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1951. He began his journalism career in Richmond, Virginia as a reporter for the Richmond News Leader and for radio station WRNL. He moved to Washington, DC in the late 50's to become a reporter with WTOP News, the news division of the radio and television stations owned by Post-Newsweek. Although WTOP News was a local news department, it covered many national stories. CBS News was located on the 3rd floor of WTOP's studios at 40th and Brandywine in NW Washington. Mudd quickly came to the attention of CBS News and moved "downstairs" to join the Washington bureau in 1961.

CBS Anchor, 1970s

During the heyday of CBS News in the 1970s, Mudd was the weekend anchor and frequently substituted on the weeknight broadcasts when popular anchor Walter Cronkite was on vacation. At the time, Mudd was also the congressional and national affairs correspondent for CBS News. He was a candidate in 1981 to succeed Walter Cronkite as anchor of the CBS Evening News. Despite substantial support for Mudd within the ranks of CBS News, network management gave the position to Dan Rather after Rather threatened to leave the network and sign a contract with ABC News.

Over two decades later after Rather's eventual unceremonious ouster, some bloggers online called for the return of Roger Mudd.

Post-CBS Years

Mudd chose to leave CBS News and accepted an offer to co-anchor NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, which he did from 1982 until 1983, when Brokaw took over as sole anchor. From 1984 to 1985, he was co-anchor of NBC's Meet the Press with Marvin Kalb. From 1987 to 1992, he was an essayist and political correspondent with the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour on PBS. He was a visiting professor at Princeton University and Washington and Lee University from 1992 to 1996. Mudd was also a primary anchor for over ten years with The History Channel, where many of his programs are often repeated in reruns. He retired from full-time broadcasting in 2004, yet remains involved with documentaries for The History Channel.

Ted Kennedy Interview

Mudd is perhaps best remembered for an interview he conducted with Senator Edward M. Kennedy for a November 4, 1979 CBS special, "Teddy," aired three days before Kennedy officially announced his candidacy for the 1980 Democratic Presidential nomination. Mudd asked Kennedy, "Senator, why do you want to be president?," and Kennedy's vague and rambling answer was considered by many to be the beginning of the sharp decline in Kennedy's impressive poll numbers. President Jimmy Carter defeated Kennedy 50% - 38% in the Democratic primary vote. Although the Kennedy family refused any further interviews with Mudd, the interview helped strengthen Mudd's reputation as a leading political reporter. Broadcaster and blogger Hugh Hewitt has used the term "Roger Mudd moment" to describe a self-inflicted disastrous encounter with the press by a presidential candidate.

Miscellanea

Mudd is the recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award, the Joan Shorenstein Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting, and five Emmy Awards.

Mudd is an indirect, distant relative of Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who was implicated with inadvertently aiding John Wilkes Booth shortly after he assassinated U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Many accounts have muddled the facts, assuming incorrectly that he is a direct descendant.

External links

• Mudd received honorary degree
• Collins, Reid. "Mudd in the CBS Eye", Accuracy in Media, March 14, 2005.
• YouTube clip of Mudd anchoring CBS Evening News, January 1977, (beginning at 3:35)
• YouTube clip of Mudd co-anchoring NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, 1983