Sam Donaldson has been a Washington political reporter for more than 50 years, the last 44 as a correspondent and anchor with ABC News.
Donaldson began covering presidential campaigns in 1964, when he was assigned to Barry Goldwater’s campaign. He was ABC’s Capitol Hill correspondent in the 1960s and served as its White House Correspondent during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. He was a regular participant on the network’s Sunday program This Week with David Brinkley and later with Cokie Roberts co-anchored the This Week program. He also co-anchored the network’s magazine program Prime Time Live with Diane Sawyer.
Donaldson is President of the Wilson Counsel, an arm of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Chairman Emeritus of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Board of Advisors and a member of the Board of the American Academy of Achievement.
Donaldson’s native state is New Mexico where he oversees the management of the family farming and ranching business established by his father in the New Mexico territory in 1910. After graduating from High School at New Mexico Military Institute, he earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Texas Western College in El Paso (now the University of Texas at El Paso) and served on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1959.
Donaldson and his wife Jan Smith Donaldson live in McLean, Virginia and Hondo, New Mexico.