Background
Wieghart, James Gerard was born on August 16, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Oscar Frederick and Mary Catherine (Rill) Wieghart.
Wieghart, James Gerard was born on August 16, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Oscar Frederick and Mary Catherine (Rill) Wieghart.
Bachelor cum laude, University Wisconsin, 1958. Doctor of Letters (honorary), St. Johns University.
After high school, he enlisted in the United States. Army, serving mostly in Alaska, from 1951 to 1954. He worked at the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel, which appointed him as Washington bureau chief in 1966. Around the same time, in 1965 was press secretary for William Proxmire, United States. Senator from Wisconsin.
In 1969, Wieghart joined the New York Daily News, for which he would cover the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations.
He reported on the United States. Department of Defense during the waning years of the Vietnam War (writing from Vietnam for several weeks in 1971) and covered the White House during the Watergate scandal. In 1975 he became the paper"s Washington bureau chief and wrote a thrice-weekly opinion column on which he argued from the left on a wide range of issues, from health care to the Middle East, and parsed presidential politics.
Wieghart then was editor from 1982 to 1984, leaving after the newspaper changed publishers, to take a job as a columnist and national political correspondent for Scripps Howard Newspapers. During the 1984 presidential campaign, he questioned both Walter F. Mondale and Ronald Reagan in the lead-up to the election.
In 1986 he left journalism to serve as staff director for Edward M. Kennedy, United States. Senator from Massachusetts.
The next year he was hired by Judge Lawrence East. Walsh, the independent counsel who was investigating the involvement of Reagan administration officials in two illegal enterprises: the sale of arms to Iran in contravention of United States policy and the diversion of profits from the sale to the Contras, the forces fighting Nicaragua"s leftist government, in spite of a congressional prohibition on providing any aid to the rebels. Foreign two years he was the public information officer for the investigation, which lasted six years, and he helped write and edit the final report in 1993. He returned to Central Michigan University as chairman of the journalism department from 1989 to 1993.
Then he joined the Dilenschneider Group, a New York-based public relations firm, where he worked as a consultant until 2009.
Wieghart died in Clare, in central Michigan. He was 76 and lived in nearby Lake City, Michigan.
Served with Army of the United States, 1951-1954. Member Sigma Delta Chi. Clubs: National Press (governor 1970), Gridiron, Century.
Married Sharon Marie Hulin, August 13, 1955. Children: Michelle, Elizabeth, Bridget, Rebecca.
