Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne
Boggs Roberts
(1943-2019) was a familiar and authoritative on-air voice and a gold standard
in journalism since the 1960s. She reported for National Public Radio beginning
in the 1970s and for ABC News beginning in the 1990s. She died of breast cancer on Tuesday.
“[W]e called them the Founding Mothers of NPR, or sometimes
we called them the Fallopian Club.”—Mara Liasson, NPR reporter, referring to Cokie
Roberts, Linda Wertheimer and Nina Totenberg, who all started at NPR
in the 1970s.
“No, no, no, no, no granting — no granting. We had
the right to vote as American citizens. We didn’t have to be granted it by some
bunch of guys.” —Cokie Roberts, correcting NPR host Steve
Inskeep’s statement that the 19th Amendment granted women
the vote.
“In 1966 I left an on-air anchor television job in
Washington, D.C., to get married. My husband was at The New York Times. For
eight months I job-hunted at various New York magazines and television
stations, and wherever I went I was asked how many words I could type.” —Cokie Roberts, in NYTimes interview, 1994.
“Never treated me well, but I certainly respect her
as a professional.” —Donald J. Trump
Cokie Roberts was “a role model to young women at a
time when the profession was still dominated by men; a constant over 40 years
of a shifting media landscape and changing world, informing voters about the
issues of our time and mentoring young journalists every step of the way.” —Michelle Obama
“Cokie Roberts was a trailblazer. Over five decades
of celebrated journalism, Cokie shone a powerful light on the unsung women
heroes who built our nation, but whose stories had long gone untold. As she
helped tell the full story of America’s history, she helped shape its future —
inspiring countless young women and girls to follow in her groundbreaking
footsteps.” —Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House.
“I’m proud as hell — proud as hell — to work at a
news organization that has ‘Founding Mothers’ whom we all look up to. God bless
Cokie Roberts.” —Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR reporter, on Twitter.
“[O]ne of the first guilty culprits of fake news.” —Michelle Malkin, conservative commentator.
“Cokie’s kindness, generosity, sharp intellect and
thoughtful take on the big issues of the day made ABC a better place and all of
us better journalists.” —James Goldston, president of ABC News.
“I’m the only person in my original nuclear family
who didn’t run for Congress. . . . I
have always felt semi-guilty about it. But I’ve sort of assuaged my guilt by
writing about it and feeling like I’m educating people about the government and
how to be good voters and good citizens.” —Cokie
Roberts, in WaPost
interview, 2019.
Roberts’ death was a “complete, irreplaceable loss”
to the field. “She was a pioneer, a mentor, committed to integrity and truth, a
driving force in trying to change the system that held women back.” —Farrah Fazal, investigative reporter.
“Our newsroom is in tears. My phone and email are
bursting with more tears. The country has lost a great journalist. But I and so
many thousands of others have lost a great friend. Yes, thousands of others.”
“I went to see her Monday night in the hospital. I
am not sure that she could hear me. But when I said goodbye, I told her I’d see
her on the other side, at that big broadcasting studio somewhere, and that I
knew she would still be a star.” —Nina Totenberg, NPR legal affairs reporter, “‘The Personification of Human Decency’: Nina Totenberg
Remembers Cokie Roberts,” NPR, Sept. 17, 2019.
• NPR obit
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