Editing Sam Donaldson (section)

==ABC News==
[[File:Sam Donaldson Talking.jpg|thumb|Donaldson in 2007]]

Donaldson was hired by ABC News as a Washington correspondent in October 1967. He covered the two major party political conventions in 1968 and in 1969 began anchoring the network's 11:00 pm Saturday and Sunday newscasts.

In 1971, Donaldson covered the [[Vietnam War]] for ABC News. He was ABC's chief [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]] correspondent in 1973–74, covering the trial of the [[Watergate burglaries|Watergate burglars]], the Senate [[Watergate hearings]] and the House Judiciary Committee's [[Impeachment investigations of United States federal officials#Richard M. Nixon (Republican)|impeachment investigation of President Nixon]].

===Chief White House Correspondent===
Donaldson covered [[Jimmy Carter#1976 presidential campaign|Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign]] and became the network's White House Correspondent in January 1977, a post he held until January 1989. One of his most widely remembered questions during his tenure at the White House came during the Reagan administration: "Mr. President, in talking about the continuing recession tonight, you have blamed mistakes of the past, and you have blamed the congress. Does any of the blame belong to you?" To which Reagan retorted: "Yes, because for many years I was a Democrat!"  In January 1998, Donaldson was once again assigned to the White House as the network's chief correspondent there and served until mid-1999. He covered the [[Lewinsky scandal]] and the [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeachment of President Clinton]].

===This Week===
Donaldson appeared as a panelist on the Sunday morning television program ''[[This Week (ABC TV series)|This Week with David Brinkley]]'' from its inception in 1981 and after [[David Brinkley|Brinkley]]'s retirement in 1996 co-anchored the ''This Week'' program with [[Cokie Roberts]] until the two were replaced in September 2002 by [[George Stephanopoulos]]. He still occasionally serves as a panelist on ''This Week.''

=== ''Primetime Live'' and ''20/20'' ===
In August 1989, Donaldson became co-anchor of the network's new magazine program ''[[Primetime (U.S. TV program)|Primetime Live]]'' with [[Diane Sawyer]].  He and Sawyer co-anchored Primetime Live from 1989 to 1998 and its successor, ''[[20/20 (US television show)|20/20 Wednesday]]'', from 1998 to 2000. One of his reports featured a Nazi [[Gestapo]] officer named [[Erich Priebke]] who had escaped to Argentina after World War II. Donaldson's team located Priebke in 1994, and Donaldson interviewed him on a street in [[Bariloche]], Argentina, about his role in the execution of 335 Italian civilians on the direct orders of Adolf Hitler in the caves outside Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Samuels|first=Shimon|date=May 15, 2020|title=The SS and the Vatican|url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/the-ss-and-the-vatican-628075|access-date=2020-09-02|website=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> When the report aired, Italy demanded Priebke's extradition and Argentina eventually complied. Priebke was sentenced to life in prison in Italy for his crimes.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Smale|first=Alison|date=2013-10-11|title=Erich Priebke, Nazi Who Carried Out Massacre of 335 Italians, Dies at 100|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/world/europe/erich-priebke-nazi-who-carried-out-italian-massacre-dies-at-100.html|access-date=2020-09-02|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Other===
Donaldson anchored the ''ABC Sunday Evening News'' from its inception in 1979 until August 1989.

In 1990–91, Donaldson covered the [[Gulf War]] ([[Operation Desert Shield]] and [[Operation Desert Storm]]) and co-anchored ''Primetime Live'' from [[Kuwait City]] two days after the Iraqi troops were forced out.

In 1991, he ended the [[Nightline|ABC News ''Nightline'']] broadcast to announce the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] with playing the [[State Anthem of the Soviet Union|Anthem of the Soviet Union]] and a video of the last [[Flag of the Soviet Union|Soviet Kremlin Flag]] lowered and the Raising of the [[Flag of Russia|Russian Tricolor]], including the resignation of [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] as [[President of the Soviet Union|President of the USSR]].

In August 1992, Donaldson and his producer [[David Kaplan (producer)|David Kaplan]] went to Sarajevo on assignment. On the way into town from the airport, Kaplan, riding in a second vehicle, was shot to death by a sniper. That night from Belgrade, Donaldson, co-anchoring the program ''Primetime Live'', reported on Kaplan's death.

In 2002, Donaldson anchored the first regularly scheduled U.S. news broadcast on the Internet<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kurtz |first=Howard |date=1999-09-28 |title=Sam Donaldson Debuts Online |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/09/28/sam-donaldson-debuts-online/458cacdf-c30b-43f8-b33f-ef26de6031f5/ |access-date=2023-08-16 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> and, in later years, hosted the ABC News Now "Politics Live" broadcast.

On August 2, 2006, during the last White House Press conference in the briefing room before undergoing major renovations, Donaldson shouted, "Mr. President, should [[Mel Gibson]] be forgiven?", referencing reports of the actor/producer's alleged [[anti-Semitic]] remarks. President [[George W. Bush]] laughed and looked up to see who had asked the question. Bush joked, "Is that Sam Donaldson? Forget it ... you're a 'has-been'! We don't have to answer has-beens' questions."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060802-3.html|title=President Visits White House Press Briefing Room Prior to Renovation|date=August 2, 2006|website=The White House - President George W. Bush}}</ref> Donaldson replied, "Better to have been a has-been than a never-was."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Loven|first=Jennifer|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/02/AR2006080201451.html|title=Bush Makes Last Call at Briefing Room|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=August 2, 2006}}</ref>

With the exception of the Republican convention in August 1992, Donaldson covered every major political party convention from 1964 to 2012, until he retired from ABC in 2009.

Donaldson was voted Best White House Correspondent in 1985 by readers of the ''Washington Journalism Review'' and Best Television Correspondent in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989 by readers of the same magazine. Among his other awards are four Emmys, three Peabodys, the Edward R. Murrow award 1997 (WSU), the Paul White award (RTNDA 1998), and he and his wife Jan were among those named as "Washingtonians of the Year" by [[Washingtonian (magazine)|''Washingtonian'' magazine]] in 2002.

===Federal aid scandals===
====Mohair subsidies====
In 1995, the struggle in DC over whether to cut the growing deficit touched Donaldson directly. [[Bruce Ingersoll]], award-winning journalist for the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' and ''[[The Wall Street Journal]],'' published a column entitled "As Congress Considers Slashing Crop Subsidies, Affluent Urban Farmers Come Under Scrutiny," where he named Donaldson as one of the wealthy, absentee beneficiaries of Federal subsidies, the "third largest recipient" of federal funds in his area.

During the debate in Congress over whether to cut "[[pork (politics)|pork]]," this article was read into the ''Congressional Record'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/|title=Congress.gov - Library of Congress|website=www.congress.gov}}</ref> and Donaldson was chastised by Senator [[Al D'Amato]] to "Give the money back," a phrase repeated multiple times in his floor speech and elsewhere.

There were claims that Donaldson received as much as $1 million in subsidies.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.policytoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=149 |title=U.S. Farm Subsidies: Billions and Billions Served	|first=James |last=Pethokoukis |date=2006-09-14 |website=Policy Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224133020/https://www.policytoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=149 |archive-date=2012-02-24}}</ref> The real number turned out to be around $188,000,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mulchblog.com/2007/01/what-will-sam-donaldson-tell-the-farm-bureau-about-farm-subsidies.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129123201/http://www.mulchblog.com/2007/01/what-will-sam-donaldson-tell-the-farm-bureau-about-farm-subsidies.html|url-status=dead|title=Our Most Recent Stories|archive-date=January 29, 2013|website=EWG}}</ref> but the scandal of a millionaire receiving money for a farm on which he was "absentee" still got significant public coverage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950318/2110804/sam-donaldson-gets-farm-subsidies|title=Sam Donaldson Gets Farm Subsidies |website=[[The Seattle Times]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]| date=March 18, 1995}}</ref>

The subsidy was held up as a sign of how meaningless much of the pork was, as the Federal government had stopped using [[mohair]] for uniforms in 1960, after only seven years of subsidies, but was still subsidizing its production over three decades later, and apparently giving out money to people other than "poor family farmers." Even the Department of Agriculture was on record as wanting the program ended.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/reports/ag01.html|title=USDA01: End the Wool and Mohair Subsidy|website=Department of Agriculture}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1994/07/1994-07-21-npr-accompanying-report-department-of-agriculture.html | title = 1994-07-21 NPR Accompanying Report: Department of Agriculture | date = September 1993 | website = Clinton Presidential Materials Project White House Virtual Library}}</ref>

Donaldson initially refused to comment, but eventually defended himself by describing the mohair subsidy as "built into the price of sheep," and claimed he had "argued against subsidies for years" and was glad when the program was finally "killed," but in fact mohair subsidies continued all the way to 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.creators.com/opinion/john-stossel/will-the-republicans-really-cut-this-time.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602083747/http://www.creators.com/opinion/john-stossel/will-the-republicans-really-cut-this-time.html|url-status=dead|title=Will the Republicans Really Cut This Time?|archive-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38379.html|title=Mohair subsidies get reps' goats|first=Marin|last=Cogan|website=[[Politico]]|date=June 10, 2010}}</ref>

====Pest control====
Only a year later, Donaldson was embroiled in another Federal aid scandal. While still receiving Federal mohair subsidies, it was revealed that he was also using Federal resources to kill [[prairie dog]]s, [[bobcat]]s, [[fox]]es, and [[coyote]]s on his ranch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jimhightower.com/node/2748|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427223222/http://www.jimhightower.com/node/2748|url-status=dead|title=Sam Donaldson: Welfare for the Rich|last=Hightower|first=Jim|date=September 6, 1996|archive-date=April 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19970829&id=-UdWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3175,6766666|title=Sam Donaldson, government should shape up (letter to the editor)|last=Peterson|first=Anna|website= [[The Gainesville Sun]] |via=news.google.com}}</ref> His farm was reported to have used the [[USDA]]'s Animal Damage Control agents 412 times in only 5 years.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/624477/Aerial-wildlife-killers-should-be-grounded.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524123917/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/624477/Aerial-wildlife-killers-should-be-grounded.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 24, 2018|title=Aerial wildlife killers should be grounded|date=April 15, 1998|newspaper=[[Deseret News]]}}</ref> This sparked outrage among both [[deficit hawk]]s and [[animal rights activist]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://azdailysun.com/ranchers-aren-t-the-only-ones-using-federal-program-to/article_d6b8c11c-659d-53d5-9661-fdfd267adaa7.html|title=Ranchers aren't the only ones using federal program to kill predators|first=Barry |last=Massey|newspaper=[[Arizona Daily Sun]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

This was actually brought to light by Donaldson's own demands for more Federal money. He claimed to have lost a number of sheep to predators despite the heavy use of Federal resources, and therefore wanted Federal money to pay for his losses: "The government helps ranchers and farmers and businesses of all kinds. If it's in existence and I am eligible to use it, I'll use it."<ref>{{Cite news | url = http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-13/living/25644019_1_predators-suha-yasir-arafat | title = Predators Preyed; Donaldson Wants To Be Paid | last = Speers | first = W. | newspaper = [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] | date = August 13, 1996 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151226203148/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-13/living/25644019_1_predators-suha-yasir-arafat | archive-date = December 26, 2015 | url-status = dead}}</ref>

In an interview, Donaldson said of the animal rights complaints:

<blockquote>What are we going to do about the coyotes, that are eating the lambs like there's no tomorrow? They're eating so many lambs, I thought the other day I'd put out some mint jelly, in case they want it with their mutton. Every time I say this, the conservationists and the people who love animals just jump all over me. "What? A coyote is a predator and has a right to live." Yeah, they have a right to live, I'm all for that, but they're eating my lambs, folks. I just put it to you, doesn't the lamb have a right to live? "Yeah, but you're going to sell the lamb and they're going to kill the lamb for the money." That's right. If you're going to be in the sheep ranching business, you have to try to get rid of the coyotes. Otherwise, you're not going to stay in the ranching business.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/don0int-9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517034314/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/don0int-9|url-status=dead|title=Sam Donaldson interview|publisher=[[Academy of Achievement]]|page=9 |archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref></blockquote>