As the first woman assigned to cover the White House on network television and with 41years on the air for ABC News, her longevity and impact are unparalleled. Compton’s career spanned seven presidents and 10 presidential campaigns. President Barack Obama announced her retirement when calling on her at a West Wing news conference saying, “Ann Compton, everybody here knows, is not only the consummate professional but is also just a pleasure to get to know.”
Traveling with President George W. Bush on September 11, 2001, Ann was the only broadcast reporter allowed to remain on Air Force One to report on behalf of all the press during the chaotic hours following the terrorist attacks when the President was unable to return directly to Washington. For that coverage Compton received special recognition in the awards bestowed on ABC’s coverage, including an Emmy, a Peabody, and the Silver Baton from the DuPont awards at Columbia University.
Her colleagues elected Compton as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association for 2007-2008 and chair of the Radio-Television Correspondents' on Capitol Hill in 1987-1988. The Commission on Presidential Debates selected Compton to serve as a debate panelist in 1988 and 1992.
After retiring from daily coverage in 2014, Compton reignited her legendary career by returning to ABC to cover the 2016 political conventions, as well as accepting a fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics focusing on media coverage of the 2016 election.
She has been inducted into six halls of fame and has received five honorary university degrees. Ann is married to Dr. William Hughes, a physician in Washington,D.C., and they are the parents of three sons and a daughter and the proud grandparents of nine.Compton says her most valued award is a golden statuette bestowed by the National Mothers' Day committee naming her a “Mother of the Year” in 1988.
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