Richard Benedetto is a retired USA Today political reporter and columnist who is currently an adjunct professor in the School of Public Affairs and the School of Communication at The American University 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, ...

He also teaches in The Fund For American Studies Program at George Mason University. He is founding member of the ''

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, Virgi ...

'' staff, wrote the first Page One cover story for that newspaper in 1982, and spent many years as its

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 ...

Early life and education

Benedetto is a native of

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...

and a graduate of the

Thomas R. Proctor High School Thomas R. Proctor High School is the only high school in the Utica City School District in Utica, New York. The school was built in 1934 with funds from the Works Progress Administration and Thomas R. Proctor. It opened its doors on September 9, ...

. He holds a 1965 B.A. from

Utica College Utica University is a private university in Utica, New York. The university dates back to the 1930s when Syracuse University began offering extension courses in the Utica area. In 2016, the university enrolled 3,084 undergraduate students and ...

of Syracuse University and an 1971 M.A. from Syracuse University's

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

in newspaper journalism. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Syracuse University.

Career

He began his news reporting career in 1966 with The Buffalo (N.Y.) Evening News. He also was a city government reporter and columnist with the Utica (N.Y.) Daily Press and the Utica (N.Y.) Observer Dispatch. He went on to become a state government reporter for the Gannett News Service in its State Capital Bureau, in Albany, New York. In 1982, he joined the start-up team of USA Today in Washington, D.C., covering the presidential administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush,

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

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. He retired from USA Today in 2006. Upon his retirement he began teaching at American University and in The Fund For American Studies program - first at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and later at George Mason University. He is the author of two books, ''Politicians Are People, Too'' (2006) and ''Around And About'' (2019). Benedetto was inducted as a Living Legend into the Oneida County Historical Hall of Fame in 2017.

References

External links

*
American University profile
* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American University people Journalists from New York (state) George Mason University faculty People from Utica, New York S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Utica University alumni USA Today journalists {{US-journalist-20thC-stub