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Tim Russert

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Tim Russert
Tim Russert, October 22 2007
Born
Timothy John Russert

(1950-05-07)May 7, 1950
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 13, 2008(2008-06-13) (aged 58)
Washington, D.C.
EducationB.A. in Political Science, 1972
John Carroll University,
J.D., 1976 Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
OccupationJournalist
Notable credit(s)Meet the Press moderator
(1991–2008), "NBC Nightly News" correspondent,
NBC News Washington Bureau Chief
SpouseMaureen Orth (married 1983)
ChildrenLuke Russert (born 1985)
Websitehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4459759/

Timothy John Russert (May 7 1950 – June 13 2008) was an American television journalist and lawyer, best known for appearing for over 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief and also hosted the self-titled CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview program Tim Russert. He was a frequent correspondent and guest on NBC's The Today Show and Hardball. Russert was noted for his coverage of presidential elections and for his presentation of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on the NBC Nightly News during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Time Magazine declared Russert one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008, shortly before his sudden death from an apparent heart attack.[1]

Early life

Russert was born in Buffalo, New York to Irish American Catholic parents Elizabeth ("Betty"), a homemaker, and Timothy Joseph "Big Russ" Russert, a sanitation worker and newspaper truck driver,[2] [3] who were married for 30 years and separated in 1976.[4] He was the second of four children; his sisters' names are Betty Ann ("B.A."), Kathleen ("Kathy") and Patricia ("Trish").[4] He received a Jesuit education.[5] from Canisius High School in Buffalo. He received his B.A. from John Carroll University and his Juris Doctor from Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Russert commented on Meet the Press that he went to Woodstock, "in a Buffalo Bills jersey with a case of beer." Russert was admitted to the bar in New York and the District of Columbia. While in law school, an official from his alma mater, John Carroll University, called Russert to ask if he could book some concerts for the school as he had done while a student. He agreed, but said he would need money because he was running out of money to pay for law school. One concert that Russert booked was headlined by a then-unknown singer, Bruce Springsteen, who charged $2,500 for the concert appearance. Russert told this story to Jay Leno when he was a guest on the The Tonight Show on NBC on June 6 2006.[6]

File:Russertmarkerboard.jpeg
Russert with his trademark white marker board during the 2000 presidential election

Career

Russert graduated with honors from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law [2] and then worked on New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan's successful senatorial campaign in 1976. He served as Moynihan's chief of staff to from 1977 to 1982. He then worked on New York Democrat Mario Cuomo's successful gubernatorial campaign in 1982, and was counselor in the governor's office in Albany from 1983 to 1984. He left politics and joined the NBC Washington Bureau in 1984. In 1985 he arranged for Pope John Paul II's first interview on American television.[7] He became Washington Bureau Chief in 1988 and was later promoted to the position of senior vice president of NBC News.[8]

Russert took over the Sunday morning program Meet the Press in 1991, and would become the longest serving host of the program. Its name was changed to Meet the Press with Tim Russert, and, at his suggestion, went to an hour-long format in 1992. The show also shifted to a greater focus on in-depth interviews with high profile guests, where Russert was known especially for his extensive preparatory research. One approach he developed was to find old quotes or video clips that were inconsistent with guests' more recent statements, present them on-air to his guests and then ask them to clarify their positions. With Russert as host the show became increasingly popular, receiving more than four million viewers per week, and was recognized as one of the most important sources of political news. Time Magazine named Russert one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008, and Russert often moderated political campaign debates.[9]

During NBC's coverage of the 2000 presidential election, Russert calculated possible United States Electoral College outcomes on a marker board on the air and memorably summed up the outcome as dependent upon "Florida, Florida, Florida."[10] Russert again accurately predicted the final battleground of the presidential elections of 2004: "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio." On the MSNBC show Tucker, Russert predicted the battleground states of the 2008 presidential election would be New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, saying, "If Democrats can win three of those four, they can lose Ohio and Florida, and win the presidency."[11]

An avid fan of the Buffalo Bills football team, Russert usually closed Sunday broadcasts during the football season with some type of pro-Bills comment. The team released a statement condolences which noted, in part, that listening to Russert's "Go Bills" exhortations was part of their Sunday morning game preparation.[12]. He once prayed publicly on the show with his father when the Bills were going for the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive time before Super Bowl XXVIII.[13]. He had also ended his show by mentioning the successes of Boston College football, baseball, and hockey.

During his career, Russert received 48 honorary doctorates and won several awards for excellence in journalism including the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the John Peter Zenger Freedom of the Press Award, the American Legion Journalism Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Journalism Award, the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism, the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Communication and the Catholic Academy for Communication's Gabriel Award.[7] Russert also received an Emmy Award in 2005 for his coverage of the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.[14]

CIA leak scandal

In the Plame affair, Scooter Libby, convicted chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that Russert was the first to tell him of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame (Mrs. Joseph C. Wilson). Russert testified previously, and again in United States v. I. Lewis Libby, that he would neither testify whether he spoke with Libby nor would he describe the conversation.[15][16] Russert did say, however, that Plame's identity as a CIA operative was not leaked to him.[15]

Russert testified again in the trial on February 7 2007.[17] At the trial, the prosecution asserted that a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent had called Russert regarding Russert's phone call with Libby, and that Russert had told the agent that the subject of Plame had not come up during his conversation with Libby.[17]

During the trial, another witness, former Cheney communications director Cathie Martin, testified that she "suggested we put the vice president on Meet the Press, which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format", allowing the administration to "control the message".[18][19]

Personal life

File:Bigrussandme.jpg
One of Russert's books, Big Russ & Me
Russert's last book, Wisdom of Our Fathers

Russert met Maureen Orth at the 1976 Democratic National Convention; they married in 1983. Orth has been a special correspondent for Vanity Fair since 1993. Their son, Luke[20], graduated from Boston College in 2008 and hosts the XM radio show 60/20 Sports with James Carville.

Russert penned a bestselling autobiography, Big Russ and Me[4] , in 2004 , which chronicled his life growing up in a predominantly Irish working-class neighborhood in South Buffalo and his education at Canisius High School. Russert's father, a World War II veteran who held down two jobs after the war, emphasized the importance of maintaining strong family values through the methods of the "carrot and the stick", the reverence of faith, and of never taking a short cut to reach a goal. Russert claimed to have received over 60,000 letters from people in response to the book, detailing their own experiences with their fathers.[11][21] He released Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons in 2005, a collection of some of these letters, which also became a bestseller.

He appeared briefly in a scene on the television drama Homicide as himself.[22] On that show, one of the fictional characters, Megan Russert, was supposedly his cousin. Russert also appeared on the Nickelodeon game show What Would You Do?

Russert grew up as a New York Yankees fan, switching his allegiance to the Nationals when they were established in Washington, DC. He was a Nationals and Washington Wizards season ticket holder.[23] He was elected to the board of directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 2003.[24]

He and his family lived in northwest Washington, D.C.[2] and also spent time at a vacation home on Nantucket island, where he served on the board of several non-profit organizations. As of 2008, his 6,220-square-foot (578 m2) Nantucket home was valued at $7.2 million.[25]

Russert, a devout and faithful Catholic, admitted many times to having made a promise to God to never miss Sunday Mass if his son were born healthy. In his writing and in his news reporting, Russert spoke openly and fondly of his Catholic school education and of the role of the Catholic Church in his life. He was an outspoken supporter of Catholic education on all levels. [26] He said that his father, a sanitation worker who never finished high school, "worked two jobs all his life so his four kids could go to Catholic school, and those schools changed my life." He also spoke warmly of Catholic nuns who taught him. "Sister Mary Lucille founded a school newspaper and appointed me editor and changed my life," he said. Teachers in Catholic schools "taught me to read and write, but also how to tell right from wrong."[26]

Russert also contributed his time and to numerous Catholic charities. He was particularly devoted and concerned for the welfare of street kids in the United States and children whose lives were lost in gun violence.[26] He told church workers attending the 2005 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering that "if there's an issue that Democrats, Republicans, conservatives and liberals can agree on, it's our kids."[26]

Before returning to the United States from his trip to Italy just before his death he had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. He had been scheduled to give the Catholic Common Ground Initiative's Philip J. Murnion Lecture on June 27, 2008 at The Catholic University of America.

Death

Shortly after 13:30 EDT on the afternoon of June 13, 2008, Russert collapsed at the offices of WRC-TV, which houses the Washington, D.C. bureau of NBC News where he was the Bureau Chief. Russert was recording voiceovers for the Sunday edition of Meet the Press at the time of the collapse. The District of Columbia Fire and Rescue service received a call from NBC at 13:40 and dispatched an EMS unit which arrived at 13:44. The responding paramedics attempted to defibrillate Russert's heart three times on scene before transporting him to Sibley Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at 14:23.[7]

In accordance with American journalistic tradition, the public announcement of Russert's death was withheld by both the Wire Services and his network's competitors[27]. After Russert's family had been notified, retired NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw delivered, live on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC, the news of his passing.[28] Russert had just returned from a family vacation in Italy, where he went to celebrate his son's graduation from Boston College.[29] While his wife and son remained in Italy, Russert returned to prepare for his Sunday television show.[30]

Russert's long time friend and physician, Dr. Michael Newman, said that he had asymptomatic coronary artery disease that was controlled with medication and exercise and that he had performed well on a stress test in late April. An autopsy performed on the day of his death determined that his history of coronary artery disease led to sudden cardiac death with the immediate cause being an occlusive coronary thrombus in the left anterior descending artery, resulting from a ruptured cholesterol plaque.[31][7]

Wikinews has related news:

Rick Sanchez of CNN reported on Sunday June 15, 2008 that Russert suffered from diabetes as well.[citation needed]

Tributes

Main article: Tim Russert tributes

On the evening of his death, the entire, nearly commercial-free half hour of NBC Nightly News was dedicated to Russert's memory, featuring previous news segments with Russert and interviews with some of Russert's colleagues. The broadcast also included tributes to Russert by presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, as well as Keith Olbermann, Ethel Kennedy, Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw, Bob Woodward and others. Dateline NBC also served as a memorial for Russert, by highlighting the heights of both his early life and political and journalistic career in television. No other news was covered in the broadcast. Other major public and cable news agencies, including CBS, ABC, CNN and Fox News also devoted large segments of their programming on June 13 to Russert's life and memory. Even the BBC covered his death. MSNBC, the cable network operated by NBC at which he had spent much time working, devoted several continuous hours of commercial-free interviews with Russert's colleagues, during which host Keith Olbermann and other NBC commentators teared up several times. Their weekend coverage was also devoted exclusively to interviews and analysis about Russert and his impact. Many other journalists also offered tributes to Russert throughout the weekend.

On Sunday, June 15, the first Meet the Press airing after Russert's death was devoted entirely to a remembrance of Russert. With the moderator's chair empty, Tom Brokaw led a discussion among Russert's colleagues, including James Carville, Mary Matalin, Gwen Ifill, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Mike Barnicle, and Maria Shriver. Clips from Russert's years as host of Meet the Press were included throughout the broadcast.[32] On June 15, a candlelight vigil was held in Tim Russert Park in his hometown of Buffalo. WGRZ-TV reported that over 1,000 people attended. A number of local politicians offered praise and fond memories of Russert, led by Mayor Byron W. Brown, who talked about Russert’s “continuing love affair with the City of Buffalo,” proclaiming Sunday “Tim Russert Day.” [33][33]


Many entertainers, including talk show host Rush Limbaugh[34], musician Bruce Springsteen[35][36], and comedian Jon Stewart made statements in Russert's memory.

References

  1. ^ Time Magazine. May 12, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Steinberg, Jacques (2008-06-14). "Tim Russert, 'Meet the Press' Host, Is Dead at 58". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Kellman, Rich (2008-06-14). "Russert's Love Affair With Buffalo". WGRZ-TV Buffalo, NY. wgrz.com. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  4. ^ a b c Amazon.com page for book (ISBN 978-1401352080) [1] Accessed: 14 JUNE 2008
  5. ^ "Tim Russert, John Carroll University Class of '72, to Moderate Democratic Debate". Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publiisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "John Carroll University, Cleveland, OH". Brucebase. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  7. ^ a b c d "NBC's Tim Russert dead at 58". msnbc. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  8. ^ "Interview With Tim Russert". CNN Reliable Sources. CNN. May 23 2004. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Tim Russert, by Mario M. Cuomo. Time Magazine. May 12, 2008
  10. ^ Howard Kurtz, Washington Post: In the Hot Seat, Washington Post, May 23, 2004.
  11. ^ a b Tucker, June 15, 2007
  12. ^ Quoted by Greta Van Susteren on her Fox News show On The Record with Greta Van Susteren", 13 June 2008
  13. ^ NFL.com's tribute and interview to the late Tim Russert
  14. ^ "About Meet the Press". MSNBC. 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  15. ^ a b Template:PDFlink. United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby. United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 2004-06-04. Retrieved 2008-06-13. Page 3.
  16. ^ In the indictment of Libby, the grand jury found that Russert did not ask Libby if Libby knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Template:PDFlink. United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby. United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 2005-10-28. Retrieved 2008-06-13. Page 19.
  17. ^ a b Lewis, Neil A. NBC's Russert Wraps Up Prosecution Case in Libby Trial. The New York Times. 2007-02-09. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  18. ^ Milbank, Dana (2007-01-26). "In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  19. ^ Greenwald, Glenn. Favorite quotes of 2007. Salon. 2007-12-26. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  20. ^ Luke was reportedly named after Buffalo Bisons slugger Luke Easter ("Remembering Russert: Bills had a special place in journalist's life". NFL.com. 2008-06-14. Retrieved 2008-06-15.); his father also referred to St. Luke as his son's "namesake". ("Tim Russert's son 'eternally grateful' for his dad's love". NBC News. 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2008-06-16.)
  21. ^ Tim Russert liked St. Louis. KSDK-TV. 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  22. ^ Tim Russert at IMDb
  23. ^ Reiss, Mike (2006-02-05). "This Russert will be interrogating athletes on radio". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  24. ^ Bloom, Barry M. Late Russert left mark on baseball. Major League Baseball'. 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  25. ^ Myers, K.C. (2008-06-14). "Russert involved in Nantucket life". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved 2008-06-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ a b c d Catholic News Service (2008-06-13). "Russert remembered for his fondness for church, faithfulness". Catholic News Service. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  27. ^ From Neil Cavuto, host of Cavuto's World, on the FoxNews Channel, 13 June 2008 broadcast
  28. ^ "Tim Russert dead at 58". CNN. 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  29. ^ Kurtz, Howard and William Branigin (June 13, 2008). "NBC's Tim Russert Dies at 58: Host of 'Meet the Press' Stricken While at Office". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q. (June 13, 2008). "NBC's Tim Russert Dies". The Caucus. New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ Morgan, David (2008-06-13). "TV newsman Tim Russert dies of heart attack". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  32. ^ CNN (2008-06-15). "NBC remembers Russert on first 'Meet the Press' since his death". CNN.com. Retrieved 2008-06-15. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  33. ^ a b Buffalo News (2008-06-16). "Hundreds attend candlelight vigil at Tim Russert Park". thebuffalonews.com. Retrieved 2008-06-16. Cite error: The named reference "sabres2137" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  34. ^ Rush Limbaugh's website statement on Tim Russert's death, posted 13 JUNE 2008 [2] Accessed 13 JUNE 2008
  35. ^ Bruce Springsteen Tribute, [3] Accessed 16th June 2008
  36. ^ msnbc.msn.com

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tim Russert.


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