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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Some Republican lawmakers hope Pope Francis addresses abortion in his talk this week, as a government shutdown looms over the question of federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
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As Biden considers whether to launch a presidential bid, he met with Sen. Elizabeth Warren over the weekend. She's not running for president but has passionate supporters.
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As Donald Trump gets attention for his campaign comments, his Republican rivals are trying to handle the fallout. Trump has been overshadowing the 16 other Republican presidential candidates.
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On the Democratic side of the presidential race, presumed frontrunner Hillary Clinton is running into some headwinds. Reports say Vice President Joe Biden is considering getting into the race.
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Donald Trump is rising in the polls and is getting all the attention when he delivers controversial speeches. A look at how the other candidates, and the Republican establishment, are responding.
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Iran is clearly a matter of huge concern to the Obama administration. But are these nuclear talks making much of a splash on the presidential campaign trail or even foreign affairs issues in general?
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GOP presidential hopefuls converged in Iowa for the Lincoln Day Dinner. More candidates are entering the presidential race, in part, because there is no obvious next-in-line for the GOP nomination.
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Lawmakers in Congress will be negotiating whether to extend the Patriot Act. That's the law written following the September 11th attacks, designed to thwart future acts of terrorism in the U.S.
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Pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson is set to formally announce his candidacy for president in Detroit on Monday. Also getting into the mix on Monday is former Hewlett-Packard CEO Cary Fiorina.
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Public opinion on the subject of gay marriage has changed dramatically, and it will be interesting to see how the Republican presidential contenders come down on the issue.