Susan Lea Page (born February 12, 1951) is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

, and the Washington DC Bureau Chief for ''

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 ...

'' newspaper.

Early life

Page, a native of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, is a 1973 graduate of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...

, where she was editor-in-chief of the ''

Daily Northwestern ''The Daily Northwestern'' is the student newspaper at Northwestern University which is published in print on Mondays and Thursdays and online daily during the academic year. Founded in 1881, and printed in Evanston, Illinois, it is staffed prima ...

'', and has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

, where she was a Pulitzer Fellow. As a child, Page had two passions: music and journalism. She began studying oboe in the third grade and played it in the school orchestras throughout her public school education. She was also the editor-in-chief of her high school yearbook, ''The Hoofbeats'', and served as a reporter and editor for her high school newspaper, ''The Stampede''. She considered attending music school, but ultimately decided to pursue journalism at Northwestern University.

Career

Page ha
covered
seven White House administrations and eleven presidential elections, and interviewed ten presidents. She founded and hosts an award-winning video newsmaker series for ''USA Today'', "Capital Download" . She appears frequently on cable news networks as an analyst and often guest-hosted ''

The Diane Rehm Show ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nati ...

,'' which was syndicated on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. She was the first woman to serve as music chairman of the

Gridiron Club The Gridiron Club is the oldest and among the most prestigious journalistic organizations in Washington, D.C. History Frank A. De Puy (1854–1927) was one of several who met January 24, 1885, at the Welcker's Hotel in Washington, D.C. – ...

show and was also president of the club in 2011, the oldest association of journalists in Washington. She was president of the

White House Correspondents Association 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 ...

in 2000. She also served as chairman of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards and has twice been a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes. Her first book was published in 2019, a biography of former First Lady

Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...

titled ''The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty''. In 2021, her biography of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was published, titled
Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power
'. Page signed a deal with Simon & Schuster in 2021 to write a biography of legendary broadcaste
Barbara Walters
Page was selected as the moderator of the 2020 vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

, which took place on October 7, 2020 in Salt Lake City. Page attracted scrutiny over her journalistic ethics when investigations revealed she had hosted off-the-record events for Trump administration officials like CMS Administrator

Seema Verma Seema Verma (born September 26, 1970) is an American health policy consultant and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the Donald Trump administration. During her tenure, she was involved in efforts to repeal ...

. USA Today defended her participation, claiming she put on the soirees for female officials of both parties. She is a frequent panelist on ''

Fox News Sunday ''Fox News Sunday'' is a Sunday morning talk show that has aired on the broadcast Fox network since 1996, as a presentation of Fox News Channel. It is the only regularly scheduled Fox News program carried on the main Fox broadcast network. Ho ...

'', '' This Week'' on ABC, ''

Washington Week ''Washington Week''—previously ''Washington Week in Review''—is an American public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educational Television, since 1967. Unlike other panel discussion shows whic ...

'' on PBS, and ''

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. ' ...

'' on NBC.

Awards

She has won several awards for her work, including the Merriman Smith Memorial Award, the

Aldo Beckman Memorial Award 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 ...

, the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency (twice) and the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Washington Correspondence (shared).

Personal life

In 1982, she married Carl Leubsdorf, syndicated columnist and former Washington bureau chief for ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

'', in a non-denominational ceremony 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, ...

Bibliography

* ''The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty'' (Twelve, 2019) * ''Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power'' (Twelve, 2021)

References

External links

*https://susanpagedc.com/
Her bio from usatoday.comInterview with Susan Page in the recruiting section of usatoday.com (2004)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Susan 1951 births Living people 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American biographers 21st-century American journalists American women journalists Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Journalists from Kansas Medill School of Journalism alumni USA Today journalists Writers from Wichita, Kansas 20th-century American women 21st-century American women