Roger Harrison Mudd (February 9, 1928 – March 9, 2021) was an American
broadcast journalist
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...
who was a correspondent and anchor for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
and
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
. He also worked as the primary anchor for
The History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
. Previously, Mudd was weekend and weekday substitute anchor for the ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'', the co-anchor of the weekday ''
NBC Nightly News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'', and the host of the
NBC-TV
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
''
Meet the Press
''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...
'' and ''American Almanac'' TV programs. Mudd was the recipient of the Peabody Award, the
Joan Shorenstein
Joan Shorenstein (1947 – March 10, 1985) was an American journalist for ''The Washington Post'' and producer for CBS News.
She died of cancer in 1985 at the age of 38.
Early life
Shorenstein was born in San Francisco as one of three children ...
Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting,
and five
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s.
Early life and career
Mudd was born in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
His father, John Kostka Dominic Mudd, was the son of a tobacco farmer and worked as a map maker for the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
. His mother, Irma Iris Harrison, was the daughter of a farmer and was a nurse and lieutenant in the
United States Army Nurse Corps
The United States Army Nurse Corps (USANC) was formally established by the U.S. Congress in 1901. It is one of the six medical special branches (or "corps") of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical ...
serving in the physiotherapy ward in the
Walter Reed Hospital, where she met Roger's father. Roger attended DC Public Schools and graduated from
Wilson High School in 1945.
Mudd earned a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
from
Washington and Lee University
, mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future"
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.092 billion (2021)
, president = William C. Dudley
, provost = Lena Hill
, city = Lexingto ...
, where one of his classmates was author
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
, in 1950, and a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in History from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
in 1953.
Mudd was a member of
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapters ...
international fraternity. He was initiated as an alumnus member of
Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...
at Washington and Lee in 1966.
Mudd began his journalism career in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
, as a reporter for ''
The Richmond News Leader
''The Richmond News Leader'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Richmond, Virginia from 1888 to 1992. During much of its run, it was the largest newspaper source in Richmond, competing with the morning ''Richmond Times-Dispatch''. By ...
'' and for radio station
WRNL
WRNL (910 AM "910 AM The Fan") is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WRNL features a sports radio format and is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. The studios, offices and transmitter are all co-located just north of the ...
.
At the ''News Leader'', he worked at the rewrite desk during spring 1953 and became a summer replacement on June 15 that year. The ''News Leader'' ran its first story with a Mudd byline on June 19, 1953.
At WRNL radio, Mudd presented the daily noon newscast. In his memoir ''The Place to Be'', Mudd describes an incident from his first day at WRNL in which he laughed hysterically on-air after mangling a news item about the declining health of
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
, mispronouncing his name as "Pipe Poeus". Because Mudd failed to silence his microphone properly, an engineer intervened. WRNL later gave Mudd his own daily broadcast, ''Virginia Headlines''. In the fall of 1954, Mudd enrolled in the
University of Richmond School of Law
The University of Richmond School of Law (Richmond Law) is a school of the University of Richmond, located in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Law is ranked 52nd (tie) in the US by ''US News'', among the ''top five value'' law schools by the ''Natio ...
, but dropped out after one semester.
WTOP News
![Dorothy_Counts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Dorothy_Counts.jpg)
In the late 1950s, Mudd moved home to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, to become a reporter with
WTOP News,
the news division of the radio and television stations owned by
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
-
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
. Although WTOP News was a local news department, it also covered national stories. At first Mudd did the 6:00 a.m. newscast for WTOP and he did local news segments on the local TV program ''Potomac Panorama''.
During the fall of 1956, Mudd hosted the first newscast he wrote, WTOP's 6:00 p.m. newscast, that included a weekly commentary piece, all without "the constraints of the wire service vocabulary". Mudd produced a half-hour TV documentary in summer 1957 advocating the need for a third airport in the
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.
In September that year, Mudd conducted his first live TV studio interview. The interview was with
Dorothy Counts
Dorothy "Dot" Counts-Scoggins (born March 25, 1942) is an American civil rights pioneer, and one of the first black students admitted to the Harry Harding High School.
After four days of harassment that threatened her safety, her parents withdr ...
, a black teenage girl who had suffered racial harassment at her otherwise all-white high school in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
. Then in March 1959 WTOP replaced Don Richards with Mudd for its 11 p.m. newscast.
CBS News
CBS News was located on the third floor of
WTOP's studios at 40th and Brandywine in northwest Washington, D.C. Mudd quickly came to the attention of
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
and moved "downstairs" to join the Washington bureau on May 31, 1961.
For most of his career at CBS, Mudd was a Congressional correspondent. Mudd was also the anchor of the Saturday edition of ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'' and frequently substituted on the weekday and weeknight broadcasts when regular anchormen
Douglas Edwards
Douglas Edwards (July 14, 1917 – October 13, 1990) was an American radio and television newscaster and correspondent who worked for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for more than four decades. After six years on CBS Radio in the 1940s ...
and
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
were on vacation or working on special assignments.
During the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, Mudd anchored the August 28, 1963, coverage of the
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...
for CBS.
On November 13, 1963, CBS-TV broadcast the documentary ''Case History of a Rumor'', in which Mudd interviewed Rep.
James Utt, a Republican of
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...
, about a rumor that Utt spread about Africans who were supposedly working with the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
to take over the United States. Utt sued CBS-TV in
U.S. Federal Court
The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...
for libel, but the court dismissed the case.
In 1964, Mudd became nationally known for covering the two-month filibuster of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, starting in late-March.
Mudd also covered numerous political campaigns. He was paired with CBS journalist
Robert Trout
Robert Trout (born Robert Albert Blondheim; October 15, 1909 – November 14, 2000) was an American broadcast news reporter who worked on radio before and during World War II for CBS News. He was regarded by some as the "Iron Man of Radio" for h ...
for the August 1964 Democratic National Convention anchor booth, temporarily displacing
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
, in an unsuccessful attempt to match the popular NBC
Chet Huntley
Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester (given name), Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of England, English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, En ...
–
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997.
From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, ''The Huntley–Brinkley Re ...
anchor team.
Mudd covered the
1968 Presidential campaign of
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
and interviewed him at the
Ambassador Hotel in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
only minutes before Kennedy was
assassinated
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
on June 5, 1968.
Mudd hosted the seminal documentary ''The Selling of the Pentagon'' in 1971.
He won Emmys for covering the shooting of Gov.
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
of Alabama in 1972 and the resignation of Vice President
Spiro T. Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
in 1973, and two more for CBS specials on the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
. In 1981,
[ he was a candidate to succeed Walter Cronkite as anchor of the '']CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
.'' Despite substantial support for Mudd within the ranks of CBS News and an offer to co-host with Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurr ...
, network management gave the position to Rather after the longtime White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
and ''60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' correspondent threatened to leave the network for ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
.
Ted Kennedy interview
Mudd is best known for an interview with Senator Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
broadcast on November 4, 1979. The CBS Reports
''CBS Reports'' is the umbrella title used for documentaries by CBS News which aired starting in 1959 through the 1990s. The series sometimes aired as a wheel series rotating with '' 60 Minutes'' (or other similar CBS News series), as a series of i ...
special ''Teddy'', appeared three days before Kennedy announced his challenge to President Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination. In addition to questioning Kennedy about the Chappaquiddick incident
The Chappaquiddick incident occurred on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts some time around midnight between July 18 and 19, 1969, when Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy negligently drove his car off a narrow bridge, causing it to overturn ...
, Mudd asked, "Senator, why do you want to be President?" Kennedy's stammering answer, which has been described as "incoherent and repetitive" and "vague, unprepared", while the senator "twitched and squirmed" for an hour, raised serious questions about his motivation in seeking the office, and marked the beginning of the sharp decline in Kennedy's poll numbers. Carter defeated Kennedy for the nomination for a second presidential term. Although the Kennedy family
The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
refused to permit any further interviews by Mudd, the interview helped strengthen Mudd's reputation as a leading political journalist
Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.
Political journa ...
.
Mudd won a Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for the interview. Broadcaster and blogger Hugh Hewitt
Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network and an attorney, academic, and author. A conservative, he writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is ...
and ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
Michael Gerson
Michael John Gerson (May 15, 1964 – November 17, 2022) was an American journalist and speechwriter. He was a neoconservative op-ed columnist for ''The Washington Post'', a Policy Fellow with One Campaign, a visiting fellow with the Center fo ...
have used the term "Roger Mudd moment" to describe a self-inflicted disastrous encounter with the press by a presidential candidate.
NBC News
In 1980, Mudd and Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurr ...
were in contention to succeed Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
as the weeknight anchor of the ''CBS Evening News''. After CBS awarded the job to Rather, Mudd chose to leave CBS News and he accepted an offer to join NBC News. He co-anchored the ''NBC Nightly News
''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'' with Tom Brokaw
Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...
from April 1982 until September 1983, when Brokaw took over as sole anchor.
From 1984 to 1985, Mudd was the co-moderator of the NBC ''Meet the Press
''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...
'' program with Marvin Kalb
Marvin Leonard Kalb (born June 9, 1930) is an American journalist. Kalb was the founding director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and Edward R. Murrow Professor of Press and Public Policy from 1987 to 1999. The Shor ...
, and later served as the co-anchor with Connie Chung
Constance Yu-Hwa Chung (born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist. She has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow ...
on two NBC news magazines, ''American Almanac'' and ''1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
''.
PBS and The History Channel
From 1987 to 1993, Mudd was an essayist and political correspondent with the '' MacNeil–Lehrer Newshour'' on PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
. He was a visiting professor at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
and Washington and Lee University
, mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future"
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.092 billion (2021)
, president = William C. Dudley
, provost = Lena Hill
, city = Lexingto ...
from 1993 to 1996. Mudd was also a primary anchor for over ten years with The History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
, where many of his programs are still repeated in reruns. Mudd retired from full-time broadcasting in 2004, and remained involved, until his death, with documentaries for The History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
Channel.
Personal life
Mudd resided in McLean, Virginia
McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...
. He was married to the former E. J. Spears of Richmond, Virginia, who died in 2011. They had three sons and a daughter: Daniel
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
, the former CEO of Fortress Investment Group
Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based in New York City. Fortress was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wes Edens, Rob Kauffman, and Randal Nardone. When Fortress launched on the NYSE in February 200 ...
LLC and the former CEO of Fannie Mae
The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...
; the singer and songwriter Jonathan Mudd; the author Maria Mudd Ruth, and Matthew Mudd. He was survived by 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mudd was a collateral descendant of Samuel Mudd
Samuel Alexander Mudd Sr. (December 20, 1833 – January 10, 1883) was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Mudd worked as a doctor and tobacco fa ...
(meaning he descended from another branch within the same extensive family tree), the doctor who was imprisoned for aiding and conspiring with John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...
after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
.
Mudd was active as a trustee of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, with which he helped to establish its popular "Ethics Bowl", featuring student teams from Virginia's private colleges debating real-life cases involving ethical dilemmas. He was also a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.
On December 10, 2010, he donated $4 million to his alma mater, Washington and Lee University, to establish the Roger Mudd Center for the Study of Professional Ethics and to endow a Roger Mudd Professorship in Ethics. "For 60 years," he said, "I've been waiting for a chance to acknowledge Washington and Lee's gifts to me. Given the state of ethics in our current culture, this seems a fitting time to endow a center for the study of ethics, and my university is its fitting home."
Mudd died from complications of kidney failure at his home in McLean, Virginia
McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...
, on March 9, 2021, at the age of 93.
References
*
Notes
External links
*
''Booknotes'' interview with Mudd on ''Great Minds of History'', June 6, 1999.
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Mudd, about ''The Place To Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News'', March 30
an
April 6, 2008
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudd, Roger
1928 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
21st-century American journalists
60 Minutes correspondents
21st-century American memoirists
American television news anchors
American television reporters and correspondents
CBS News people
Deaths from kidney failure
Journalists from Washington, D.C.
Journalists from Virginia
NBC News people
Peabody Award winners
Emmy Award winners
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
Washington and Lee University alumni
People from McLean, Virginia