Robert Novak's Biography

Robert D. Novak (1931-2009) was born Feb. 26, 1931, in Joliet, Ill. Robert Novak's first newspaper jobs were as a reporter for the Joliet (Ill.) Herald-News and the Champaign-Urbana (Ill.) Courier, where Robert Novak worked while attending the University of Illinois (1948-1952).

Following service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Robert Novak joined the staff of the Associated Press, where Robert Novak worked in bureaus in Omaha, Lincoln, Indianapolis and later Washington, D.C., where Robert Novak covered Congress.

In 1958, Robert Novak left the AP for a position in the Washington Bureau of the Wall Street Journal as Senate correspondent and political reporter, becoming chief congressional correspondent for the Journal in 1961.

On May 15, 1963, Robert Novak teamed up with the late Rowland Evans, then congressional correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, to write the political column "Inside Report." One of the longest-running syndicated columns in the nation, it is distributed by Creators Syndicate to more than 300 newspapers nationwide.

After 30 years on "Inside Report," on May 15, 1993, Rowland Evans retired from the column, which Novak is now writing three times a week.

"Inside Report" was noted for its rapidly moving dateline and its hard-hitting analysis of national and international developments. The Chicago Sun-Times has been the home newspaper to the column since 1966.

In the course of his career as a columnist, Robert Novak crisscrossed the country numerous times to test grass-roots sentiment for local campaigns and national conventions. Robert Novak traveled around the globe to report wars, revolutions, and international conferences and to interview leaders in every part of the world -- his 1978 trip to China included an exclusive interview with Deng Xiaoping that opened the way for normalization of U.S.-Chinese relations.

Robert Novak also co-authored the following books with Evans: Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power, a political biography of President Johnson; Nixon in the White House: The Frustration of Power, a comprehensive study of the first two and one half years of the Nixon administration; and The Reagan Revolution, an analysis of Ronald Reagan's blueprint to transform the U.S. government.

An esteemed television personality as well, Robert Novak appeared on and serves as co-executive producer of CNN's political roundtable -- "Capital Gang." Robert Novak was also an occasional co-host on CNN's "Crossfire" program and often appears as an interviewer on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Robert Novak was a Radford Visiting Professor of Journalism at Baylor University in 1987.