Sam Donaldson, Jr.

Sam Donaldson, 1934 - Sam Donaldson was born in 1934 in El Paso, Texas. He attended Texas Western College where he majored in telelcommunications. While he was in college, Donaldson worked at a local radio station. He graduated in 1955 and spent one year at the University of California before show more entering the army. He was discharged in 1959 and hired as a television announcer in Dallas, Texas. Soon after, Donaldson was offered a job by a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. as a general assignment reporter. He later broadcast a nightly commentary and anchored the station's evening news. In 1976, Donaldson moved to the Washington Bureau of ABC and covered the 1968 political convention as well as the House and Senate news. He spent three months as a war correspondent in Vietnam before returning home to cover the presidential nominating conventions and the campaign of George McGovern. But it was his reporting on the Watergate hearings in 1973 and '74 that earned him national recognition. In 1976, Donaldson was assigned to follow Jimmy Carter on his presidential campaign, causing him to later become the White House correspondent, reporting on both the Reagan and Bush administrations. Donaldson has also appeared on "This Week with David Brinkley" and beginning in 1989, he coanchored "Primetime Live" with Diane Sawyer. His memoirs, "Hold On, Mr. President" were published in 1987. (Bowker Author Biography) show less