Ann Devroy
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Ann Mary Devroy ( ; 9 October 1948 – 23 October 1997) was an American
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 ...
. She was a
White House correspondent The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
for 15 years, for the
Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' (1979–1985), and ''
The 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 ...
'' (1989–1997). She covered four presidents including
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 ...
,
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
,
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
and
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, and 10 White House chiefs of staff.


Life and career

Ann Mary Devroy was born October 9, 1948, in
Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
. While she was a journalism student at the
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UW–Eau Claire, UWEC or simply Eau Claire) is a public university in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's and master's degrees. UW–Eau Claire ...
, she interned at the ''
Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...
'' and worked as a reporter for the ''Eau Claire Leader-Telegram''. After she received her bachelor's degree in 1970, Devroy began working for the ''
Courier News The ''Courier News'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Somerville, New Jersey, that serves Somerset County and other areas of Central Jersey. The paper has been owned by Gannett since 1927. Notable employees * John Curley, former pre ...
'', a New Jersey newspaper owned by the
Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
''. In 1985, Devroy joined ''
The 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 ...
'' as political editor on the national news desk—a job that would allow her to spend more time with her young daughter. As deputy national editor, Devroy directed coverage of the 1988 Presidential campaign. In 1989, she returned to the White House beat.
Andrew Rosenthal Andrew Mark Rosenthal (born February 25, 1956) is an American journalist and former editorial page editor of ''The New York Times''. He is the son of A. M. Rosenthal, a longtime ''New York Times'' senior executive and executive editor. While at ...
of ''The New York Times'', who was Devroy's main competition, described her as "the scariest and most generous reporter I've ever known. She would kick your butt 24 hours a day." She was also a prolific reporter. Over 2,300 stories carrying Ann Devroy's byline appeared in ''The Post'' from 1989 through 1995. Devroy was not part of the Washington TV punditocracy. She turned down frequent requests to appear on camera participating in press panels. Devroy made a rare television appearance as
Tim Russert Timothy John Russert (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008) was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's ''Meet the Press''. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Wa ...
's guest on his
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
show March 28, 1994. As a cost-saving measure, ''The Post'' once floated the idea of ending expensive press charter flights to out-of-town presidential events, proposing instead that its reporters fly commercial. Devroy fired off a response concluding that the short-sighted move to economize "diminishes our commitment to White House coverage ... and erodes a lesson I have spent a career beating into every White House I cover: Don't screw with The Post. When no one else pays attention, we do." "Ann Devroy was the toughest and fairest White House reporter I knew," said
George Stephanopoulos George Robert Stephanopoulos ( el, Γεώργιος Στεφανόπουλος ; born February 10, 1961) is an American television host, political commentator, and former Democratic advisor. Stephanopoulos currently is a coanchor with Robin Robe ...
, senior adviser to President Clinton in his first term. "She knew when she had a story, and she knew when to kill one. She revered the office of the presidency and the role that reporters play in keeping it honest." In May 1994, Devroy received a journalism award from the
Gerald R. Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
Foundation, for distinguished reporting on the presidency. She received the foundation's seventh annual prize for her articles on
President Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
's foreign policy and his effort to sell his domestic program, Vice President
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
's record and an evaluation of former president
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
. Devroy died at her home in Washington October 23, 1997, age 49, of uterine cancer. President Bill Clinton issued a statement that day on learning of her death: "For more than a decade, no journalist dominated and defined the White House beat with the kind of skill, shrewd analysis and gruff grace that Ann brought to her reporting."


Legacy

After Ann Devroy's death, ''The Washington Post'' created an annual journalism fellowship at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. Featured speakers at the Ann Devroy Memorial Forum are listed below. * 1998:
David S. Broder David Salzer Broder (September 11, 1929March 9, 2011) was an American journalist, writing for ''The Washington Post'' for over 40 years. He was also an author, television news show pundit, and university lecturer. For more than half a centur ...
* 1999:
David Maraniss David Maraniss ( ; born 1949) is an American journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''The Washington Post''. Career ''The Washington Post'' assigned Maraniss the job of biographer for their coverage of 2008 president ...
* 2000:
Leonard Downie Jr. Leonard "Len" Downie Jr. (born May 1, 1942) is an American journalist who was executive editor of ''The Washington Post'' from 1991 to 2008. He worked in the ''Post'' newsroom for 44 years. His roles at the newspaper included executive editor, manag ...
* 2001:
Gwen Ifill Gwendolyn L. Ifill ( ; September 29, 1955 – November 14, 2016) was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program ...
* 2002:
Karen DeYoung Karen DeYoung is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, and is the associate editor for ''The Washington Post''. DeYoung was born in Florida and she grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She received bachelor's degrees in journalism and comm ...
* 2003:
Lou Cannon Louis Cannon (born 1933) is an American journalist, non-fiction author, and biographer. He was state bureau chief for the ''San Jose Mercury News'' in the late 1960s, and later senior White House correspondent of ''The Washington Post'' during the ...
* 2004:
Andrea Mitchell Andrea Mitchell (born October 30, 1946) is an American television journalist, anchor and commentator for NBC News, based in Washington, D.C. She is NBC News' chief foreign affairs & chief Washington correspondent, reporting on the 2008 presid ...
* 2005: Mike McCurry * 2006:
Dana Milbank Dana Timothy Milbank (born April 27, 1968) is an American author and columnist for ''The Washington Post''. Personal life Milbank was born to a Jewish family, the son of Ann C. and Mark A. Milbank. He is a graduate of Yale University, where he wa ...
* 2007: Robert G. Kaiser and
Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingto ...
* 2008:
Dana Priest Dana Louise Priest (born May 23, 1957) is an American journalist, writer and teacher. She has worked for nearly 30 years for the ''The Washington Post, Washington Post'' and became the third John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Jo ...
* 2009:
Dan Balz Daniel Balz is an American journalist at ''The Washington Post'', where he has been a political correspondent since 1978. Balz has served as National Editor, Political Editor, White House correspondent and as the ''Washington Post''s Texas-based S ...
* 2010:
Helen Thomas Helen Amelia Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an American reporter and author, and a long serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from t ...
* 2011:
E. J. Dionne Eugene Joseph Dionne Jr. (; born April 23, 1952) is an American journalist, political commentator, and long-time op-ed columnist for ''The Washington Post''. He is also a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a profes ...
* 2012:
Bob Edwards Robert Alan "Bob" Edwards is an American broadcast journalist, a Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He hosted both of National Public Radio's flagship news programs, the afternoon ''All Things Considered'', and '' ...
and
Gene Weingarten Gene Norman Weingarten (born October 2, 1951) is an American journalist, and former syndicated humor columnist for ''The Washington Post.'' He is the only two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Weingarten is known for both ...
* 2013: Ruth Marcus * 2014: Scott Wilson * 2015: Al Kamen * 2016: Terence Samuel * 2017: Jenna Johnson * 2018:
Ashley Parker Ashley Rebecca Parker (born September 18, 1982) is an American journalist, a White House reporter for ''The Washington Post'', and senior political analyst for MSNBC. From 2011 to 2017 she was a Washington-based politics reporter for ''The New Yo ...
* 2019: Tracy Grant * 2021:
Philip Rucker Philip Rucker is an American reporter and author. He is currently the White House Bureau Chief at ''The Washington Post'', where he has been working since 2005. Early life and education Rucker is a 2002 graduate of the Saint Andrew's School (Sav ...
"Her reputation was one of fairness and accuracy, a gift for straight and impartial news reporting, and a tenacious pursuit of information," wrote Martha J. Kumar in '' The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics''. "Both in interest and in style, Ann Devroy was ideally suited to the White House beat. Devroy not only had the persistence required to strip the bark off the White House publicity tree, but she also possessed an avid interest in understanding the institution she covered, including the rhythms of its operations over time. ... Ann Devroy established a lasting standard of how the White House should be covered."


References


External links

*
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
Video Library: *
Media Coverage of Clinton's First Year
March 15, 1994 (1 hour 38 minutes, with
Charles Royer Charles T. Royer (born August 22, 1939) is an American news reporter and politician who served as the 48th mayor of Seattle, Washington (U.S. state), Washington from 1978 to 1990. After serving as mayor of Seattle, Royer became the director of t ...
,
Mark Gearan Mark Daniel Gearan (born September 19, 1956) is a public servant, lawyer, higher education expert, and the director of the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. From 1999 to 2017, Gearan was the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleg ...
,
Thomas Oliphant Thomas Oliphant is an American journalist who was the Washington correspondent and a columnist for ''The Boston Globe''. Life and career Oliphant was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from La Jolla High School in California and in 196 ...
,
Charles Peters Charles Peters (born December 22, 1926) is an American journalist, editor, and author. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the ''Washington Monthly'' magazine and the author of ''We Do Our Part: Toward A Fairer and More Equal America'' (Ra ...
,
Margaret D. Tutwiler Margaret DeBardeleben Tutwiler (born December 28, 1950) is an American politician who has served multiple different positions within the United States Department of State. Early life and career Tutwiler was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the daugh ...
) *
White House Press Corps
(vignette), April 26, 1993 (8 minutes, with Larry McQuillan,
Helen Thomas Helen Amelia Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an American reporter and author, and a long serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from t ...
,
Brit Hume Alexander Britton Hume (born June 22, 1943), known professionally as Brit Hume, is an American journalist and political commentator. Hume had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings'', ''N ...
,
Wolf Blitzer Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He is the host of ''The Situat ...
) *
News Discussion
May 7, 1985 (57 minutes, with Carl Rutan) *
War Powers Act
September 16, 1983 (60 minutes, with
Brian Lamb Brian Patrick Lamb (; born October 9, 1941) is an American journalist. He is the founder, executive chairman, and the now-retired CEO of C-SPAN, an American cable network that provides coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Sen ...
) *
News Discussion
February 10, 1983 (50 minutes, with Bruce Collins) {{DEFAULTSORT:Devroy, Ann 1948 births 1997 deaths American newspaper reporters and correspondents Journalists from Wisconsin Writers from Green Bay, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire alumni The Washington Post people American women journalists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Deaths from uterine cancer Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. 20th-century American journalists