McDowell was a writer for the university student newspaper, The Columns (published during the summer session after World War II). He became editor-in-chief in his sophomore year. He wrote a weekly column called "Reporter at Large" and on July 31, 1946, wrote his first-ever column on national politics — reporting on a single day of a visit to the U.S. Senate Office Building. There he saw "the gentlemen of the press" "glancing significantly at one another" during a discussion of how a Democratic Congressman's gift of a $2,500 contribution from a Republican businessman had nothing to do with a "juicy war contract" which a constituent of the latter had received — as well as a speech about "the great injustice being done" to Wyoming's wool growers without federal subsidies. The student journalist's column had all the tone and style of McDowell's career to follow.Link to download The Columns, Aug. 2, 1946: After graduate school, McDowell moved to
Richmond, Virginia, and joined the staff of the
Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he would remain his entire career, retiring in 1998. He covered local news and was then assigned to the State Capitol, where he reported on the General Assembly and state politics. In 1954, McDowell began to write a syndicated column that appeared three or four times per week and would span the remainder of his career. He was assigned to Washington, D.C., in 1965, and relocated to Alexandria. McDowell wrote three books:
Campaign Fever, a journal of the 1964 presidential election; and two collections of humor columns,
One Thing After Another (1960) and
What Did You Have in Mind? (1963). He was also a panelist on PBS' "Washington Week in Review" for 18 years, beginning in 1978, and was a writer, narrator and host for other PBS programs, including "Summer of Judgment: The Watergate Hearings," "Richmond Memories" and "For the Record." McDowell also provided voice-overs for the productions
The Civil War and
Baseball by
Ken Burns. McDowell was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in 1988, and awarded the Fourth Estate Award by the National Press Club in 1996. He married Ann G. Webb of Ashland, Virginia. McDowell lived with his wife in
Alexandria, Virginia, until they moved to Virginia Beach after his retirement. He died on November 5, 2010, at age 84, due to complications of a stroke, and is buried at
Oak Grove Cemetery (Lexington, Virginia) in
Lexington, Virginia. == References ==