Wolf Blitzer, BA '70, of Bethesda, Md.

By Barbara A. Byers

Release Date: March 18, 2010 This content is archived.

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Wolf Blitzer

Wolf Blitzer, CNN's award-winning lead political anchor, hosts "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," the network's political news program. One of the most insightful journalists in America today, Blitzer began his career in 1972 with the Reuters News Agency in Tel Aviv, and shortly thereafter became a Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. After more than 15 years of reporting from the nation's capital, Blitzer joined CNN in 1990 as the network's military-affairs correspondent at the Pentagon.

He served as the anchor of "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" for more than a decade, and as CNN's senior White House correspondent covering President Bill Clinton from his election in November 1992 until 1999.

During the 2008 presidential election, Blitzer spearheaded CNN's Peabody Award-winning coverage of the presidential primary debates and campaigns, interviewing all of the nominated candidates during the presidential election cycle, including then-Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.

In addition to politics, Blitzer is also known for his in-depth reporting on international news. In 2003 he reported on the Iraq war from the Persian Gulf region; in 2005 he was the only American news anchor to cover the Dubai Ports World story on the ground in the United Arab Emirates, and that same year he traveled to the Middle East to report on the second anniversary of the war in Iraq. In 2006 he was based in Israel to cover the war between that country and Hezbollah.

Blitzer is the author of two books, "Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter's Notebook" and "Territory of Lies." In addition, he has written articles for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times.

In 1999 Blitzer received a SUNY honorary doctorate in humane letters, and in 2003 he endowed the University at Buffalo David Blitzer Lecture Series in Jewish Studies in honor of his late father David, a Jewish Polish refugee.