Sam Donaldson

Sam Donaldson (born March 11, 1934, El Paso, Texas, U.S.) is an American television journalist best known for his long and distinguished career at ABC (the American Broadcasting Company), where he covered stories and conducted investigations of national and international interest.

Donaldson was raised on his family’s farm in Chamberino, New Mexico. He earned a B.A. in telecommunications at Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) and later worked for local radio and television stations. After a year of graduate school and a stint in the military, he returned to broadcasting in 1959, first as a television announcer and then as a newscaster for an NBC (National Broadcasting Company) affiliate in Washington, D.C. In 1967 he joined ABC, and in 1977 he became the network’s chief White House correspondent, a position he held until 1988 and again in 1998–99. His booming voice and his persistent questions earned him public attention and, often, presidential ire.

In the 1980s Donaldson’s role at ABC expanded dramatically, a trend that would continue throughout his career. He served as anchor for World News Sunday and was a regular panelist on the news discussion program This Week with David Brinkley. From 1989 to 1999 he served as cohost of Primetime Live. During his second stint as ABC’s chief White House correspondent, he was also the anchor of the investigative program 20/20. From 1999 to 2001 Donaldson hosted a live Webcast (a broadcast over the World Wide Web), and from 2001 to 2004 he anchored a daily news program, The Sam Donaldson Show–Live in America, for ABC News Radio. In 2009 Donaldson retired from full-time work.

Donaldson’s reporting garnered numerous accolades, including a number of Emmy Awards and George Foster Peabody Awards. His career is chronicled in his memoir Hold On, Mr. President (1987).