Roger Mudd

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

During the heyday of CBS News in the 1970's, Mudd was the weekend anchor and frequently substituted on the weeknight broadcasts when popular anchor Walter Cronkite was on vacation. Mudd was also the congressional and national affairs correspondent for the CBS Evening 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, the corporate decision makers gave the position to Dan Rather after Rather threatened to leave the network and sign a contract with ABC News.

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

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. 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.

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 then almost invincible poll numbers. President Jimmy Carter defeated Kennedy 50% - 38% in the Democratic primary vote. Although the Kennedy family froze Mudd out, 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.

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.

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 Lincoln. Many accounts have muddled the facts, assuming incorrectly that he is a direct descendant.^[1]

[edit] External links

Mudd received honorary degree
Collins, Reid. "Mudd in the CBS Eye", Accuracy in Media, March 14, 2005.

Preceded by John Chancellor	NBC evening news anchors (as the NBC Nightly News) April 5, 1982 - September 5, 1983 co-anchor with Tom Brokaw	Succeeded by Tom Brokaw