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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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.
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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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About 2,000 mourners gather at a church in the Texas Hill Country to remember Lady Bird Johnson. Earlier, a family spokeswoman says nearly 10,000 visitors streamed past the casket as it lay in repose at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, Texas.
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The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings into charges that Marines massacred up to 24 Iraqi civilians last November while hunting for a roadside bomber, Chairman John Warner (R-VA) said Sunday. The U.S. military is already investigating the allegations.
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This week, the Sept. 11 commission is expected to call for a new chief to coordinate the nation's intelligence agencies, including the CIA. The panel's report has not been released yet, but acting CIA chief John McLaughlin has already criticized the recommendation. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.
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Conjuring images of America's founding fathers — Washington, Adams, Franklin — is easy. But less is known about the women who helped build a new nation. In a new book, Founding Mothers, NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts examines the lives and contributions of Revolutionary wives and lesser-known women of the era. Roberts speaks with NPR's Renee Montagne.
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This week, the Sept. 11 panel hears testimony from former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former Attorney General Janet Reno, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Their testimony comes as representatives of several other agencies have blamed the FBI for not alerting the government to the possibility of attack. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.
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Members of the Sept. 11 panel think National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's testimony this week will illuminate what went wrong with U.S. anti-terror policy before the attacks. Republicans hope Rice will rebut Richard Clarke's charges that the White House ignored the growing threat. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.
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In the new book Against All Enemies, Richard Clarke -- President Bush's former counter-terrorism coordinator -- says the president disregarded his warnings about the threat posed by al Qaeda prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, and tried to push a link to Iraq immediately after. Senior Bush administration officials vigorously deny the allegations. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.
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Consumer advocate Ralph Nader's decision to run as an independent presidential candidate stirs consternation among Democrats hoping to unseat President Bush in November. Many Democrats blame Nader for siphoning votes away from Al Gore in the 2000 election and helping to send Bush to the White House. Hear NPR's Renee Montagne and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.