Roger Mudd (1928-2021)

 If Walter Cronkite was "The Most Trusted Man in America", Roger Mudd, who periodically filled in for Cronkite on The CBS Evening News, and anchored its weekend edition, was a close second, in this writer's opinion.

Perhaps fittingly, then, Mudd was covering politics for CBS, and, later, NBC & PBS. Mudd had interviewed Robert F. Kennedy mere minutes before the presumptive Democratic nominee was slain in 1968. 11 years later, Mudd interviewed Kennedy's brother, Edward, for CBS Reports, and it was this interview, which we'll show shortly, that sank "Teddy"'s chances of taking the Democratic nomination not only from Jimmy Carter in 1980 (Carter soundly defeated Kennedy in the primaries in most states, save maybe for Massachusetts---also Kennedy Country), but in the future.

In a scenario not too dissimilar to the late night wars that would break out in the 90's between CBS & NBC, Mudd was passed over in favor of Dan Rather to succeed Cronkite, and Mudd moved to NBC. He would co-anchor the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw before that attempt at recapturing the spirit of The Huntley-Brinkley Report fell by the wayside, with Brokaw becoming sole anchor. Mudd would later team with another ex-CBS reporter, Marvin Kalb, to co-host Meet The Press, and partnered with Connie Chung on American Almanac in the mid-80's.

After that, Mudd left for PBS to contribute to The McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, now the PBS NewsHour, which he continued to do right up to his passing on Tuesday, one month after his 93rd birthday.

A 5 time Emmy winner and a Peabody Award winner, Mudd also taught at Princeton University during the 90's.

Here, then, is "Teddy":

Edit, 8/28/23: The complete episode was deleted. In its place is an excerpt:

Seems the Kennedys were not the least bit happy with the interview, and Mudd never got to interview any of the family again.

Mudd also was one of the first on-air personalities for the History Channel when it launched in the mid-90's, and also continued there until the end.

Rest in peace, Roger. Now, you & "Uncle Walter" can share some stories.