News Article

Cokie Roberts to Receive 2019 National Archives Foundation Highest Honor

May 15, 2019

The National Archives Foundation named Cokie Roberts as the 2019 recipient of its Records of Achievement Award in recognition of her commitment to chronicling the American story as an award-winning journalist, historian, political commentator and bestselling author. Cokie Roberts will receive the award at the Foundation’s annual Gala, held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 13, 2019.

With more than five decades in journalism, Cokie Roberts has been recognized with numerous awards, including three Emmys. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and named one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting by the American Women in Radio and Television. In addition to her broadcast honors, she has written six New York Times bestsellers and told the stories of women who are too often left out of U.S. history books.

“An esteemed journalist and storyteller of our nation’s past and present, as well as a lifelong advocate for the National Archives, Cokie Roberts embodies the personal passion for American history associated with the Records of Achievement Award,” said National Archives Foundation Chair and President James Blanchard. “As we celebrate of the centennial of the 19th Amendment and women’s voting rights this year with the National Archives exhibition, Rightfully Hers, we honor Cokie Roberts for bringing the women’s experience alive for Americans of all ages.”

“As a journalist, political commentator and historian, Cokie Roberts has spent her lifetime learning about and telling us the stories of women and their roles in our government. Her work reminds us that it has not been that long since women have been permitted to participate in our government. Her own mother, she notes, who was born before women had the right to vote, became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Louisiana, and went on to serve nine terms,” said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero.

“Her work extends far beyond the scope of well-known politicians and suffragists, often looking instead to ordinary women and their influence in the age before they could legally vote. I am personally pleased that we are honoring a woman, who wields considerable influence herself and who has done so much to highlight the contributions of other women throughout the life of our nation,” he added.

The Records of Achievement Award is the highest honor given by the National Archives Foundation to an individual whose contributions have fostered a broader national awareness of the history and heritage of the United States as exemplified in National Archives’ records. Previous recipients of the Foundation’s award include: First Lady Laura Bush, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Ken Burns, David M. Rubenstein, the late John Hope Franklin, David McCullough, Tom Brokaw, Annette Gordon-Reed, Brian Lamb and C-SPAN, James McPherson, Robert Edsel, Taylor Branch, and the stars and creators of the Broadway musical “Hamilton”: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Ron Chernow.

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About Cokie Roberts

Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and NPR. In her more than forty years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting. In addition to her reporting, Ms. Roberts has written six New York Times bestsellers, most dealing with the roles of women in U.S. history.

Ms. Roberts’s books about women in American history: “Founding Mothers,” published in 2004 and “Ladies of Liberty” in 2008, and “Capital Dames” in 2015, about women and Washington in the Civil War—all rated as New York Times bestsellers, along with her children’s book “Founding Mothers,” illustrated by Caldecott award winner Diane Goode. Ms. Roberts and her husband Steven V. Roberts collaborated on the children’s version of “Ladies of Liberty,” published in December 2016.

Cokie Roberts holds more than thirty honorary degrees, serves on the boards of several non-profit institutions and President Bush appointed her to his Commission on Service and Civic Participation. In 2008 the Library of Congress named her a “Living Legend,” one of the very few Americans to have attained that honor. She is the mother of two and grandmother of six.

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