Celebrity Deathwatch: Rowland Evans, Columnist, 79

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/03/23/rowland.evans/index.html

Rowland Evans dead at age 79

March 23, 2001
Web posted at: 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rowland Evans, longtime CNN contributor and nationally
syndicated columnist, died Friday at age 79 after a year-long battle with
cancer.

For almost 20 years, Evans and nationally syndicated columnist Robert Novak
hosted the discussion program Evans & Novak on CNN. Evans and Novak also
co-wrote a political column for 30 years.

"What a reporter and that column always showed it. He developed great
friendships, ranging from President Kennedy to President Johnson to many
others, but he also worked them as sources," said Chairman and CEO of CNN
News Group Tom Johnson.

"As his column showed day in and day out, and as his television show showed
here on CNN, it was a source of news -- the inside news, frequently, of what
was happening in the highest councils of government," Johnson said.

"On behalf of all of us at CNN, ranging from Ted Turner throughout the
entire staff, I want to convey our deepest condolences to Roland's family
and to his many, many friends."

Evans recently explained why he liked to cover political stories.

"Because politics and the impulses of power that direct politicians towards
certain goals and away from other objectives that put them in contest with
each other … the great movements in history come from the soul and heart of
politicians," Evans said.

"And for a reporter to be able to spot the origin as these developments
begin to occur in a political being, in a politician, and to watch how the
politician then tries to sell his view, tries to put it into practice,
mobilize his allies, gains new allies, makes enemies, it's the highest
calling in human nature .. finding out human nature works."

Evans attended Yale University before joining the Marines during World War
II, serving in the Solomon Islands.

He began his newspaper career as a reporter with The Philadelphia Bulletin.

Evans covered Congress and national politics for the New York
Herald-Tribune. He also traveled extensively in Eastern Europe, the Soviet
Union and Asia for the Tribune and national magazines.

His background includes work with the Associated Press, where he covered
Washington D.C., and the Senate. In May 1963, Evans teamed with Novak, then
congressional correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, to write Inside
Report, a political column published four times a week.

In June 1998, The Wall Street Journal's Al Hunt and nationally syndicated
columnist Mark Shields joined the program to form Evans, Novak, Hunt &
Shields. Evans alternated with Hunt and Shields in co-hosting duties with
Robert Novak.

Writing alone and with Novak, Evans had contributed to periodicals such as
Harper's, The Saturday Evening Post, The New Republic, Atlantic Monthly and
other publications. He and Novak were contributing editors for Reader's
Digest.

Evans also co-authored several books with Novak, including "Lyndon B.
Johnson: The Exercise of Power" (1966); "Nixon in the White House: The
Frustration of Power" (1971); and "The Reagan Revolution" (1981).

Since 1966, The Chicago Sun-Times has been the home paper to the column that
is currently syndicated to more than 150 newspapers around the country by
Creators Syndicate.

On May 15, 1993, Evans retired from the column and at the time of his death
wrote only occasionally.

Evans would have turned 80 on April 28.


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