The world of American political journalism lost one of its most enduring and influential voices with the death of Jules Witcover, who passed away at his Georgetown home on August 16, 2025. He was 98 years old. Witcover, whose storied career spanned more than six decades, left an indelible mark on the field, chronicling the ebb and flow of national politics from the days of typewriters to the era of smartphones.
According to The Georgetowner and The New York Times, Witcover was born in Union City, New Jersey, on July 16, 1927. He was raised in his mother’s Roman Catholic faith and graduated from Union City High School in 1945. After a brief stint at Columbia College, he served a year in the U.S. Navy before returning to Columbia University on the G.I. Bill. There, he covered sports for The Columbia Spectator and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1949, followed by a master’s from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1951.
Witcover’s early career saw him working for The Hackensack Star-Telegram and The Providence Journal before joining The Star-Ledger in Newark. By 1954, he was promoted to the Washington bureau of Newhouse Newspapers, marking the beginning of a lifelong immersion in the nation’s political heartbeat. His initial plan to become a sports reporter quickly gave way to the allure of politics, which he once described as “just as much fun” due to its combative nature.
Over the next 68 years, Witcover reported for a roster of prominent publications, including The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Star, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and the Newark Star-Ledger. He covered every presidential campaign from 1960 onward, documenting the rise and fall of political titans, the evolution of campaign tactics, and the shifting landscape of American democracy. He was, as media critic Howard Kurtz once put it, a “journalistic institution.”
Witcover’s reputation for shoe-leather reporting and incisive analysis was cemented through his long-running syndicated column, “Politics Today,” which he co-authored with Jack Germond for over 24 years. The column appeared five days a week in The Washington Star until 1981, then in The Baltimore Sun and up to 140 other newspapers until 2005. Even after Germond’s passing in 2013, Witcover continued the column until his retirement in 2022. The partnership with Germond produced not only a widely read column but also four books dissecting the drama and minutiae of presidential campaigns.
Colleagues and critics alike regarded Witcover as one of the nation’s premier political reporters, rivaling the likes of R.W. Apple Jr. of The New York Times and David Broder of The Washington Post. His work went beyond surface-level coverage, delving into the history, ethics, and behind-the-scenes machinations that shape American politics. “Mr. Witcover ‘is old-fashioned in the sense of being possessed of an empirical eye,’” wrote Sidney Blumenthal in a New York Times review, adding that Witcover enjoyed politics, sought to understand the motivations of politicians, and observed events to see how they played out, rather than using them as mere fodder for clever turns of phrase.
Witcover’s eyewitness accounts placed him at some of the most pivotal moments in modern political history. He was present during the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the turbulent days of the civil rights movement. In 1968, he was only steps away when Senator Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot after winning the California Democratic primary. Reflecting on that night, Witcover wrote, “another hour of mindless tragedy in a nation that cannot or will not keep weapons of death from the hands of madmen who walk its streets.” His coverage of that event led to his first book, “85 Days: The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy,” published in 1969.
Witcover’s literary output was formidable. He authored more than a dozen books on politics and politicians, including “Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976,” which chronicled the Carter-Ford campaign and was lauded as a definitive account of the era. With Germond, he co-wrote “Blue Smoke & Mirrors,” “Wake Us When It’s Over,” “Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars?” and “Mad as Hell,” each offering an insider’s perspective on the shifting fortunes of presidential hopefuls. He also wrote “No Way to Pick a President: How Money and Hired Guns Have Debased American Elections,” “Party of the People: A History of the Democrats,” and biographies of Vice Presidents Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Spiro T. Agnew.
His memoir, “The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat,” published in 2005, offered a candid look at the joys and challenges of a life spent on the campaign trail. “I’m not complaining, because for the last 50 years and more I’ve had a lively time being a fly on the wall at some of the great and small scenes of contemporary American history and politics,” Witcover wrote. He described thousands of hours spent on whistle-stop trains, press buses, and planes, often sacrificing sleep for the sake of the story.
Witcover’s adaptability to technological change was notable, though not always enthusiastic. He traded his manual typewriter for a computer and eventually a laptop, but he was famously averse to taking incoming calls on his cellphone—even from editors. In a 2004 interview with The New York Times, he lamented how technology had “impinged on reporting,” eroding the close relationships reporters once built with candidates. “Rather than take a chance, they don’t do it,” he said, referring to politicians’ reluctance to engage in candid conversations with the press in the digital age.
Witcover’s personal life was as full as his professional one. He married Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, an author, in 1997, and had four children from previous relationships. His survivors include his wife, his children Amy Witcover-Sandford, Paul Witcover, Julie Witcover, and Peter Young, as well as three grandchildren. The death was confirmed by his daughter Amy Witcover-Sandford, who, like many others, recognized the legacy her father left behind.
Even in his final years, Witcover remained engaged in the political discourse, penning a column in defense of Joe Biden in 2023 that appeared in The Georgetowner. Neighbor Edward Segal, who interviewed Witcover for his 2024 book “Whistle-Stop Politics: Campaign Trains and the Reporters Who Covered Them,” recalled his generosity and insight, noting, “I was honored that he agreed to write the foreword to the book.”
Memorial services for Jules Witcover have not yet been announced. As the world of journalism reflects on his passing, it’s clear that his empirical eye and passion for the political arena will be missed by colleagues, readers, and the many public figures whose stories he so meticulously chronicled.
