Sam Donaldson

Sam Donaldson, a 30-year ABC News veteran, was named Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News in January, 1998. He covers the White House for “World News Tonight” and other ABC News programs. In addition, Mr. Donaldson is the co-anchor, with Diane Sawyer, of “PrimeTime Live.” He is also the co-anchor, with Cokie Roberts, of the ABC News Sunday morning broadcast, “This Week with Sam & Cokie.”

Since the premiere of “PrimeTime Live” in August of 1989, Mr. Donaldson has covered breaking news events, reported on a wide range of topics, and conducted scores of timely interviews with newsmakers.

During the recent season, Mr. Donaldson co-anchored a special edition of “PrimeTime Live” with Judd Rose, in which the two men shared their personal experiences with cancer; conducted an exclusive interview with Dick Morris, President Clinton’s ex-political advisor; and interviewed Sgt. Maj. Brenda L. Hoster, who accused the U.S. Army’s highest-ranking enlisted soldier of sexual assault. Mr. Donaldson also updated his report on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., posing the theory that the killing was a conspiracy possibly involving the U.S. government.

In June, 1997, Mr. Donaldson, along with Diane Sawyer, co-anchored an episode of “PrimeTime Live” dedicated to the mystery of TWA Flight 800. In the episode, Mr. Donaldson interviewed James Kallstrom, head of the FBI in New York; secretary of the Navy John Dalton; and Dr. Bernard Loeb, the NTSB chief investigator who told “PrimeTime” he believes the crash could have been prevented and could happen again.

During the 1995-96 season, Mr. Donaldson investigated a neo-Nazi subculture in the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne division; investigated a so-called “herbal stimulant” called herbal ecstacy; examined organizations that have tax-exempt status even though they make millions of dollars in profits; investigated steroid use by Chinese Olympic swimmers; interviewed Colin Powell about the GOP race for the 1996 presidential nomination; investigated the rape of a teenage girl in Okinawa by three U.S. servicemen; interviewed Capt. Scott O’Grady; and was the first to interview Claytron Lonetree, the first U.S. marine to be convicted of espionage after Lonetree fell in love with a Soviet woman.

In the 1994-95 season, he reported on one of the worst friendly fire accidents in U.S. history, which occurred over northern Iraq, killing 26 people. Mr. Donaldson investigated just what happened when two U.S. Air Force fighter planes shot down two U.S., Army helicopters, and in an exclusive interview, spoke to the only man accused of making a mistake, Air Force Captain Jim Wang. Mr. Wang has since been aquitted of all charges. Also, Mr. Donaldson profiled Senator Robert Dole and traveled to northern Italy, where Senator Dole was injured during World War II. In addition, Mr. Donaldson talked to the Senator about his run for the Presidency in 1996. Throughout the year, Mr. Donaldson conducted numerous investigations into mismanagement, fraud and waste by our federal government, revealing staggering sums of squandered U.S. taxpayer funds.

During the 1993-94 season, Mr. Donaldson tracked down Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke in Bariloche, Argentina; Priebke was extradited to Italy and tried for his crime. Mr. Donaldson investigated the past criminal history of Richard Allen Davis; alleged kidnapper and murderer of Polly Klass, and how the Davis cases fell through the cracks of the California criminal justice system.

In 1992-93, Mr. Donaldson investigated a U.S. naval air station in Bermuda that appeared to remain open as a vacation playground for military brass at the expense of taxpayers. He investigated how, for 40 years, the six U.S. tobacco companies waged campaigns to obscure the truth about smoking hazards and fend off regulation; investigated a controversial entrepreneur who oversees a high-volume cataract clinic and allegedly performs unnecessary surgery costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars; and took an inside look at the hunt for billionaire fugitive cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar.

With co-anchor Diane Sawyer, Mr. Donaldson joined President and Mrs. Bush at the White house for a live tour of the First Family’s living quarters in 1989. They also co-anchored an unprecedented broadcast from inside the Kremlin in 1990, where they toured its magnificent palaces and provided a rarely seen look at Lenin’s private apartments. Mr. Donaldson also reported from Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1989, as part of an hour-long, award-winning investigation of the Pan Am 103 bombing.

Dam Donaldson has conducted interviews with such newsmakers as Bill Clinton, when he was a Presidential candidate; President George Bush, Secretary of State James Baker, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, controversial biographer Kitty Kelly, Gulf Forces Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former first daughter Patti Davis and embattled boxing manager Don King.

From 1977 until 1989, Mr. Donaldson was ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent. He was also anchor of “World News Sunday” for ten years (1979-1989). Since joining ABC News in 1967 as Capitol Hill correspondent, he has covered many major news stories, including the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the House Judiciary Committee impeachment investigation in 1974.

Mr. Donaldson has covered every national political convention since 1964 with the exception of the 1992 Republican Convention in Houston. He reported on the presidential campaigns of Senator Barry Goldwater, Senator Eugene McCarthy, Senator Hubert Humphrey, President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan and Governor Michael Dukakis.

The Washington Journalism review named him the Best Television White House Correspondent in the Business in 1985, and the Best Television Correspondent in the Business in 1986,1987,1988 and 1989. Mr. Donaldson has won many other awards, among them three Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Mr. Donaldson received his Bachelors degree from Texas Western College and did graduate work at the University of Southern California. His 1987 autobiography, “Hold On, Mr. President,” was an international best-seller.

Beginning his broadcast career at KRLD-1V in Dallas in 1959, he soon joined WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C., where he anchored the station’s weekend news broadcasts, and produced and moderated a weekly interview program, before joining ABC News in 1967.

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