Tom DeFrank Biography

It has been said that Mr. DeFrank's reporting is "riveting." According to ABC News, he is "legendary," "excellent, well-connected, and influential." He is regarded as "one of the unsung stars of Washington journalism," according to the American Journalism Review. He was listed as one of the greatest political ghostwriters in the nation by The New York Times. And Gerald R. Ford, the president, termed him "one of the best reporters I've ever worked with. Everyone I know agrees that you are, dependable, and professional." For "his exclusive reporting as well as his ability to cram vivid commentary into short areas," Tom DeFrank received an award from The White House Correspondents' Association in 2007. Write it When I'm Gone, Mr. DeFrank's book on 30 years of private chats with President Ford, was a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller when it was published in November 2007. Tom DeFrank was awarded the Gerald R. Ford Prize in 2006 for his outstanding reporting on the Presidency. When announcing their decision, the judges stated: "His reporting on the White House revealed a particularly good understanding of the connections between leaders and how these connections affected official policy. His writing was dependably precise, fair-minded, and frequently ahead of his rivals." In his 40 years as a Washington correspondent, Mr. DeFrank has covered eleven presidential campaigns, the most recent being the one for 2008. He covered the impeachment of one president, the resignation of another, and two assassination attempts on a third president. For a quarter of a century, Tom DeFrank covered the White House for Newsweek, where he also spent twelve years as deputy bureau chief. He has covered eight Presidents since being assigned to the White House beat in 1970: Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. He has spent more time covering the White House than anybody other, second only to Helen Thomas, and he continues to do so. Since covering George W. Bush in 1987, he conducted 22 interviews with him. The notorious Republican political consultant Ed Rollins' 1996 best-selling biography, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, is co-authored by Mr. DeFrank. Additionally, he co-wrote Quest for the Presidency 1992, Newsweek's critically acclaimed, behind-the-scenes look at the Clinton-Bush race, which was released in 1994, and The Politics of Diplomacy, the memoirs of former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. In addition, to Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Larry King Live, The Beltway Boys, Washington Week in Review, Fox News, The Charlie Rose Show, Fox & Friends, and C-SPAN, Tom DeFrank has been on other public affairs television shows. Since 1968, when he went on his first presidential trip with Lyndon Johnson as a Newsweek intern, Mr. DeFrank has been studying the presidency. Between 1970 and 1972, he frequently travelled with Richard Nixon. In the fall of 1973, he was tasked with covering Vice President Gerald Ford. He was posted to the White House a few months before Nixon's resignation and stayed there until Ford became president in August 1974. He saw both of Ford's assassination attempts in 1975 firsthand. Tom DeFrank has covered 16 summits between the United States and Russia, starting with the famous Ford-Brezhnev encounter in Vladivostok in 1974. He is a past president of the White House Correspondents' Association and has been a White House correspondent in 48 nations and all 50 states. Reporting on legislative and military matters, Mr. DeFrank covered the release of American POWs from Vietnam in 1973 at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. He traveled to Saudi Arabia in November 1990 and December 1990 with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and General Colin Powell to report extensively on the Persian Gulf War. Only Tom DeFrank, a newsmagazine journalist, has been recognized with both of the White House Correspondents' Association awards for outstanding coverage of the President. He has also shared in a number of other reporting honors, including the 1987 Reagan-Gorbachev summit reporting prize from the Overseas Press Club and the 1992 presidential campaign reporting National Magazine Award from Newsweek. Tom DeFrank served as a public affairs officer on active duty at the Pentagon from 1968 until 1970. He worked as a correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bryan Daily Eagle, and Minneapolis Star before joining Newsweek. Tom DeFrank is an Arlington, Texas native who graduated with high honors from Texas A&M University and served as the university newspaper's editor. He also holds a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.

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