Catherine Mackin

Background

Mackin was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.

Education

She graduated magna cum laude in June 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and minors in economics and history.

Career

In 1976 she became the first woman to regularly anchor an evening network newscast alone. In the early 1970s she anchored a World Rally Championship-television newscast and in 1972 became National Broadcasting Company"s first female correspondent to serve as a floor reporter at the national political conventions. A year later she transferred to the University of Maryland at College Park.

While a student there, she worked for the now defunct Free State Press, a weekly paper published in suburban Washington, District of Columbia After graduation, Mackin obtained a position at the Baltimore News-American.

Beginning as a general assignment reporter, she held a variety of positions before she left the paper in 1963. Between 1960 and 1962 she made guest appearances on both a Baltimore news panel show and on a morning variety show.

From 1963 until 1969, Mackin was employed by the Hearst Newspapers in their Washington Bureau. During the six years she worked for Hearst, she covered the Justice Department, numerous elections, and presidential campaigns, polishing the talents that would make her a successful national news correspondent.

In 1967, Mackin became one of the earliest women to receive a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University, where she studied the history of political institutions.

Hired by National Broadcasting Company in 1969, she anchored a half-hour newscast at World Rally Championship-television, the Washington affiliate of National Broadcasting Company, in addition to her reporting responsibilities. Mackin received national attention three years later when she became that network"s first woman floor reporter at the Democratic and Republican presidential conventions. Her work contributed to the subsequent award of an Emmy to the National Broadcasting Company news team for its coverage.

After a brief stint in Los Angeles, Mackin returned to Washington District of Columbia, to become the Sunday evening anchor and congressional correspondent in 1974.

When Barbara Walters left The Today Show in 1976, Mackin was one of six candidates who were tested on air to replace her. On December 12, 1976, Mackin took over the National Broadcasting Company"s Sunday Night News, becoming the first woman to solely anchor an evening network newscast on a regular basis.

American Broadcasting Company News President Roone Arledge offered Mackin a salary of $100,000, an unprecedented salary for a national correspondent. In September 1977 she joined American Broadcasting Company as their Washington correspondent, temporarily covering the Senate.

She also worked on a 20/20 story about drunk driving, for which she received another Emmy in 1981.

Assigned to the 1980 presidential campaign, Mackin spent a good portion of the year following Senator Edward Kennedy around the country. She died in Baltimore, aged 43.

Achievements

• She won a four-year scholarship to the Institute of Notre Dame before entering Washington College in 1956.

Membership

Catherine Mackin was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi women"s social fraternity.