Mudd’s son Jonathan told CNN that his father died of complications related to kidney failure. He was 93 years old.
Mudd began his television career in the 1950s in Richmond, Virginia, but worked his way up to CBS News as a hard-hitting political reporter. His no-nonsense style was featured as the host of the groundbreaking 1971 documentary “The Selling of the Pentagon,” revealing the US Department of Defense’s public relations operations to persuade Americans to support military conflict.
Mudd’s most famous moment was in an interview with then-presidential candidate Edward Kennedy, in which he asked him in 1979, “Why do you want to be president?” Kennedy’s difficulty in answering the question is widely seen as a turning point in his failed campaign.
“He was a journalist of tremendous integrity and character. He wouldn’t give in if he believed he was right and didn’t jeopardize his ethical standards,” said Susan Zirinsky, president of CBS News, who started her career. worked with Mudd in the network’s Washington office. .
After CBS overturned Mudd in favor of Dan Rather as the permanent anchor of the CBS Evening News, Mudd went to NBC to help anchor that network’s nightly schedule. But the arrangement only lasted for a year until Tom Brokaw became the solo anchor.
Mudd became co-moderator of “Meet the Press” and organized specials from time to time.
He joined the PBS ‘MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour team in 1987 and then served as Cable’s History Channel’s primary anchor. He helped found the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics at Washington & Lee University, his alma mater.
“Roger loved and collected books, read good old-fashioned newspapers from cover to cover every morning of his life, and watched the evening news as much as possible,” his family said in a written statement.