Cokie Roberts
Cokie Roberts was one of the 'Founding Mothers' of NPR who helped make that network one of the premier sources of news and information in this country. She served as a congressional correspondent at NPR for more than 10 years and later appeared as a commentator on Morning Edition. In addition to her work for NPR, Roberts was a political commentator for ABC News, providing analysis for all network news programming.
From 1996-2002, she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program This Week. In her more than forty years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting. In 2020, she was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in the Longstanding Network/Syndication (20 years or more) category.
In addition to her appearances on the airwaves, Roberts, along with her husband, Steven V. Roberts, wrote a weekly column syndicated in newspapers around the country by Universal Uclick. The Robertses also wrote From This Day Forward, an account of their more than 40-year marriage and other marriages in American history. The book immediately went onto The New York Times bestseller list, following Roberts' number one bestseller, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, an account of women's roles and relationships throughout American history. Roberts's histories of women in America's founding era — Founding Mothers, published in 2004 and Ladies of Liberty in 2008 — also became instant bestsellers. Her most recent book, Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868, was published in 2015. In total, she wrote six national bestsellers that honored and elevated the role of women in American history.
Cokie Roberts held more than thirty honorary degrees. She served on the boards of several non-profit institutions and on the President's Commission on Service and Civic Participation. The Library of Congress named her a "Living Legend." Roberts was the mother of two and grandmother of six. She died on September 17, 2019, at age 75.
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As a result of a newly released White House email, House Speaker John Boehner has decided to set up a special committee to investigate the attack in Libya but Democrats are balking at serving on it.
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This week, we'll be hearing about presidential legacies — both involving anniversaries. On Tuesday, 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln gave the speech he is most known for — honoring the soldiers who fought at Gettysburg. Also this week, on Friday, marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.
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The camaraderie that veterans talk about used to be true in Congress too — partly because many members had served in the military. But today's Congress has very few veterans in its ranks, about 20 percent, compared with more than three-quarters in the post-Vietnam era. What does that number mean politically.
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This is Day 7 of the partial government shutdown, and there does not appear to be a resolution in sight. Why are the two sides so dug in?
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President Obama heads to New York on Monday for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. The international meeting comes as, back in Washington, the U.S. Congress is once again heading into a possible government shutdown over spending priorities.
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President Obama on Saturday announced that he would wait on military action against Syria until members of Congress could vote on the resolution. Congress still has a week to go before its recess ends and lawmakers can discuss the matter.
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After a week's vacation, President Obama is back at the White House planning a bus tour later this week to promote his economic and educational policies. The president comes home to increased pressure from both political parties to get tougher with the Egyptian military.
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Congress returns to Capitol Hill this week with the House in a quandary about immigration overhaul. The Senate-passed bill is "Dead on Arrival," according to many House members, and they are considering a variety of alternatives.
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How could a barrage of controversies over Libya, the IRS and reporters' phone records affect President Obama's agenda and the 2014 elections. The president and his team have spent much of the past week answering questions, or deflecting questions, about three controversies.
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Members of Congress are already expressing how they think the suspect in the marathon bombing case should be questioned and tried. Some lawmakers are also using the attack in Boston to argue both for and against overhauling immigration and gun control.