40 Facts About Judy Woodruff

Judy Carline Woodruff was born on November 20,1946 and is an American broadcast journalist who has worked in network, cable, and public television news since 1976.

Judy Woodruff was the anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour through the end of 2022.

Judy Woodruff has interviewed several heads of state and moderated US presidential debates.

Judy Woodruff was named White House correspondent for NBC News in 1976, a position she held for six years.

Judy Woodruff moved to CNN in 1993 to host Inside Politics and CNN WorldView together with Bernard Shaw, until he left CNN.

Judy Woodruff left CNN in 2005, and returned to PBS and the NewsHour in 2006.

In May 2022, Judy Woodruff announced that she would step down as the NewsHour anchor at year's end, and her final day as anchor was on December 30,2022.

Judy Woodruff grew up as an army brat, and because of that moved multiple times during her childhood, attending seven schools between kindergarten and seventh grade.

Judy Woodruff moved from Oklahoma to Germany when she was five years old.

Judy Woodruff attended Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, starting in 1964, initially pursuing a degree in mathematics.

Judy Woodruff was active in the student government of Duke, and was a member of the sorority Alpha Delta Pi.

Judy Woodruff graduated from Duke with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1968.

Judy Woodruff served on Duke's board of trustees between 1985 and 1997.

Judy Woodruff applied for her first job in journalism during the spring break of her senior year at Duke.

Judy Woodruff was hired as a secretary at the news department of the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia, and began working after she graduated in 1968.

Judy Woodruff left the affiliate after a year and a half to move to the local CBS affiliate WAGA-TV in 1970, working as a reporter.

Judy Woodruff covered the Georgia State Legislature, and anchored the noon and evening news.

Judy Woodruff was assigned to cover Jimmy Carter's successful 1976 presidential campaign for NBC, when Carter was not yet seen as a major contender.

Judy Woodruff had already covered Carter's second gubernatorial campaign in 1970 for WAGA.

Judy Woodruff traveled with Carter's presidential campaign until she was taken off the campaign trail halfway through 1976.

Judy Woodruff continued covering the White House into the Reagan presidency until 1982.

Judy Woodruff left Frontline in 1990 to spend more time with her family and at the NewsHour.

Judy Woodruff was first asked to work for CNN by Tom Johnson at the end of 1992, and took the job four months later after some initial hesitation.

In June 1993, Judy Woodruff started anchoring the political talk show Inside Politics, that aired on weekdays, together with Bernard Shaw, and the international news program The World Today together with Frank Sesno.

Judy Woodruff remained co-anchor of WorldView until it went off the air in 2001.

Judy Woodruff was the sole anchor of the 1996 documentary series Democracy in America as well.

Judy Woodruff moderated three Republican presidential primary debates and one Democratic debate during the 2000 campaign season and one Democratic debate during the 2004 campaign season.

Judy Woodruff left CNN in June 2005, after her contract expired, in order to teach, write, and work on a long-form television project.

Judy Woodruff was a visiting fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University in the fall of 2005, and taught a course at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University on media and politics in the fall of 2006.

Judy Woodruff hosted the Bloomberg election night coverage of the 2006 midterms.

Judy Woodruff returned to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as a special correspondent that same year, and became a senior correspondent a few months later in February 2007.

When Ifill died in November 2016, Judy Woodruff became the sole anchor of the NewsHour.

Judy Woodruff's measured delivery, with her hands clasped and her voice low, stands as a counterweight to a haywire era of American news.

In May 2022, Judy Woodruff announced that she would step down as the NewsHour anchor at the end of the year, but planned to continue contributing to the program as senior correspondent.

Judy Woodruff has served on its board of directors, and is part of its advisory council.

Judy Woodruff is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former member of the Knight Commission.

In 2003, Judy Woodruff was inducted into the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Judy Woodruff is married to Al Hunt, a columnist and former reporter, and they live in Washington, DC, with another residence in nearby Maryland.

Judy Woodruff gave birth to Jeffrey about five hours after appearing on air.

Jeffrey was born with a mild case of spina bifida, and became disabled and brain damaged after surgery in 1998, which caused Judy Woodruff to reduce her workload at CNN.