Political Quotes

On the recordOctober 26, 2017
today we remember Richard Dudman, who passed away this August in Blue Hill, ME, at the age of 99. Throughout his long and illustrious career as a journalist, Richard was never one to turn away from a good story, even if chasing it meant putting himself in danger. After college, Richard served his country in the Merchant Marine and the Navy before becoming a reporter for the Denver Post. In 1954, he moved to Washington, DC, to work for the St. Louis Port-Dispatch's Washington bureau. In this position, he would cover the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Watergate Scandal, as well as war and revolution all over the world. Richard will perhaps be most remembered for the time he spent in Cambodia as a prisoner of the Viet Cong. He and his colleagues were mistaken for CIA operatives and were kept captive for 40 long days. Towards the end of their captivity, once it had become clear that the journalists were not, in fact, working for the CIA, their captors began to refer to them not as prisoners of war, but as ``travelers who lost their way.'' It was this experience that inspired Richard to write the well- received ``Forty Days with the Enemy.'' Even after retiring, Richard did not stop reporting. In fact, on his last day at the Post-Dispatch in 1981 Richard raced out of his own retirement party to cover the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.…
Said by
Angus King
Independent · Maine

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