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.
-
Steve Inskeep talks to columnist and commentator Cokie Roberts, who answers listener questions about the lame-duck session of Congress.
-
Commentator Cokie Roberts knew the Bush family well. She shares her personal experiences with former President George H.W. Bush and reflects on his friendship with Bill Clinton.
-
Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both go into the day in strong positions. Trump just scored a series of wins, and Clinton had a blowout in South Carolina over the weekend.
-
Cokie Roberts offers her take on John Boehner's abrupt resignation as House speaker and what it will mean for Congress in the days to come.
-
As Iran is set to hold nuclear talks with world powers, the Obama administration is working to convince senators to hold off on additional sanctions. And on Tuesday, voters across the country will go to the polls to elect mayors, governors and other officials.
-
As President Obama focuses this week on housing and jobs, Republican White House hopefuls are keeping up a drumbeat of criticism over his announcement last week that all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the end of this year. In debates and on the stump, the GOP candidates are attacking each other but also maintaining a steady anti-Obama refrain.
-
President Bush said he would ask Congress to release the remaining $350 billion in bailout money for Wall Street, if President-elect Barack Obama asks him to. Bush warned the incoming president that he'll face "disappointments" as president.
-
President-elect Barack Obama is set to announce his national security team Monday. The list of people will be familiar to many Americans. Hillary Clinton is expected to be named secretary of state.
-
Colin Powell, a Republican and retired general who was President Bush's first secretary of state, broke with the party Sunday and endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president. Powell called Obama a "transformational figure" while criticizing the tone of John McCain's campaign.
-
Louisiana Rep. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, is now the state's governor-elect. He becomes the first Indian-American to head a state government, and at 36, he will be the youngest governor. He promises the endemic corruption that is longstanding in the state won't be tolerated.
