This fall, the IOP is excited to welcome ABC news veteran Ann Compton as a resident Fellow. As the first women assigned by a television network to cover the White House, Ann Compton has been on the air for ABC news as a political news reporter for over 40 years. In addition to her expansive on-air career, Compton has also served as the President of the White House Correspondent’s Association (2007-2008) and the chairman of the Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association on Capitol Hill (1987-1989).
In her answers to our questions about millennials, her career, and the “future of politics”, she offers great insight into her decision to become a journalist, her views on voting and the future, and her experience as the only broadcast journalist allowed on Air Force One with President Bush on September 11, 2001.
What can students expect to learn in your study groups?
Students will track the final weeks and hours of this high-stakes campaign. They will be encouraged to think out loud about ways in which they would shape strategy. And they will teach me how 21st Century news coverage of presidential campaigns has evolved into something entirely new.
Millennials are known for their social activism, but not necessarily their political engagement. What would you say to those who doubt the value of voting or political participation, especially in this election year?
The parents of Millennials are asking themselves the same thing in this unconventional year! With two major party nominees suffering extremely high disapproval ratings from the public, this is not a year to measure normal participation. But I hope every student comes to appreciate that voting is a gift to be treasured and respected in local and state races just as much as the presidential ballot.
Can you talk about a turning point moment that defined you as a person and your choice of career?
I found journalism quite by accident in a college internship during the month of January my junior year. I was never very political, but I became fascinated by the newsroom at the local TV station where I was working. There was an historic governor’s race underway in a time when progressives were being elected to conservative Southern statehouses. I was hooked. It helped that at the time the all-male newsrooms were desperate to hire women. Four years later, ABC network was too, and they actually assigned me to become the first female on the White House beat for television.
You were the only broadcast journalist allowed to remain on Air Force One with President George W. Bush after he, and the nation, learned about the September 11 attacks. What was that day like for you and what, if anything, did it show you about role of the presidency?
The day seems like yesterday to me, dramatic and horrifying. I had already covered the White House for more than 25 years and knew a military doomsday scenario was unfolding to protect the constitutionally-elected civilian government. President Bush was furious and demanded to fly back to Washington but with the Pentagon in flames he didn’t make it home until 7pm that night, nearly 11 hours later. I watched a man and a legacy defined that day and in the years of war that followed. Presidents are not defined by their campaign promises, but by the crises which roll, unbidden, into their path, often in that vulnerable first year in office.
What do you think the “Future of Politics” will look like?
Ask me that on the final day of my Study Group – Wednesday, November 9th. We will then know who is to become president and hopefully the political leadership of the next Congress. Both political parties will be forced to reinvent themselves and Americans might take until 2020 and beyond to realign their allegiances. Either way, students who are undergraduates at Harvard in 2016 will be moving into leadership ranks by then.
Join Ann's study group on Wednesdays at 4pm. And follow her on Twitter @anncompton.