Print journalism Hume worked first for
The Hartford Times newspaper company, and later for
United Press International and the newspaper
Baltimore Evening Sun. He then worked for syndicated columnist
Jack Anderson from 1970 to 1972. Hume reported a story for Anderson's column "Washington Merry-Go-Round" that after
ITT Corporation had contributed $400,000 to the
1972 Republican National Convention, President
Richard Nixon's
Department of Justice settled the
antitrust case against ITT. Anderson published a series of
classified documents indicating the
Nixon administration, contrary to its public pronouncements, had favored
Pakistan during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. After the revelations, Anderson and his staff, including Hume and his family, were briefly surveilled by the
Central Intelligence Agency in 1972. The agents observed his family going about its daily business.
The documents were revealed during President
Gerald Ford's administration by congressional hearings and as a result of a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and the so-called '
Family Jewels' revelations. In 1973, Hume became Washington editor of
MORE magazine, a press criticism journal,
1973–1996: ABC News In 1973, Hume started working for
ABC News as a consultant, and in 1976, he was offered a job as a correspondent, covering the
U.S. House of Representatives and
U.S. Senate for 11 years. In 1979, Hume earned television's first
Academy Award nomination for his work on
The Killing Ground for ABC's
Close-Up documentary program. Hume was assigned to report on
Walter Mondale's
1984 presidential campaign, and
George H. W. Bush's
1988 presidential campaign. In 1989, he became ABC's chief
White House correspondent,
1996–present: Fox News pose in the George Bush Presidential Library Classroom in College Station, Texas, at President Bush's 80th birthday celebration In 1996, Hume left ABC for the Fox News Network for which his wife had recently become chief of the Washington bureau. The show was the number one cable news program in the 6:00 p.m.
Eastern timeslot for several years. In July 2008, it was announced that Hume would retire as anchor of
Special Report at the end of the year, but he would remain on Fox News in a different role. On December 23, 2008, he hosted his final episode as anchor of
Special Report, announcing that
Bret Baier, then the chief
White House correspondent for Fox News, would be his replacement. Hume also announced that he would remain with Fox News as a senior political analyst and regular panelist for the program
Fox News Sunday. On January 3, 2010, Hume on
Fox News Sunday, advised embattled golfer
Tiger Woods to
convert to
Christianity to attempt to end his problems. Hume's comments were made after the revelation of Woods' habitual adultery and the resulting deterioration of his relationship with his family.
On the Record (2016) On September 6, 2016, Hume was named the anchor of
On the Record after that show's longtime anchor,
Greta Van Susteren, abruptly left Fox News. He served as the program's anchor through the end of the 2016 elections. Hume's first show as host of
On the Record drew 2.4 million viewers, a double-digit increase over Van Susteren's average viewing audience in 2016. On November 4, 2016, it was announced that
Tucker Carlson would host a new show in the former
On the Record timeslot from November 14, 2016.
2020 U.S. presidential election In late May 2020, Hume criticized presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during the coronavirus pandemic while suggesting that it was positive for President Donald Trump to not wear one. In September 2020, Hume claimed that Biden was "senile". Hume joined
Chris Wallace,
Juan Williams, and
Dana Perino in
Bret Baier and
Martha MacCallum's election night coverage of the
2020 United States Presidential election on
Fox News. ==Personal life==