Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News (1989–1996) Chief Political Analyst for Fox News (2008–present) Host of Special Report (1996–2008) Host of On the Record (2016)
He was born in Washington, D.C., the son of George Graham Hume and Virginia Powell (née Minnigerode) Hume. Through his father, Hume is of part Scottish descent, descended from George Home (1698–1760), a son of the 10th Baron of Wedderburn exiled to Virginia in the aftermath of the First Jacobite Rebellion.[4]
In 1971, Grossman Publishers published Hume's first book, Death and the mines: Rebellion and murder in the United Mine Workers, a work revolving around complicity of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, coal companies, and the United Mine Workers union resulting in the mistreatment of average miners.[9][10]
In 1973, Hume became Washington editor of MORE magazine, a press criticism journal,[13] and in 1974 Doubleday published his second book, Inside Story.[14]
Brit Hume and Chuck Norris pose in the George Bush Presidential Library Classroom in College Station, Texas, at President Bush's 80th birthday celebration
In 1996, Hume left ABC for the Fox News Network for which his wife had recently become chief of the Washington bureau.[7][13] At his last news conference as ABC's chief White House correspondent, President Clinton told him, "I think all of us think you have done an extraordinary, professional job under Republican and Democratic administrations alike."[8] Hume became Fox News's Washington managing editor.
After he began at Fox News, Hume was in discussions about starting a Washington-based television news program for the 6 p.m. timeslot. The Lewinsky scandal began during January 1998, and Hume's wife told him the story was so well known that he should start the show immediately. Special Report with Brit Hume debuted that evening in that timeslot.[8]
Hume said of the start of his time at Fox that "we made some progress and developed some audience and the Lewinsky scandal brought a lot of interest and the 2000 election brought a lot of interest, but what really did it was the Florida recount – that was tremendous for us because the people who were worried about how that would come out wanted some place where they could trust the coverage, people who were conservatives or Republicans or neither but worried. And we really made an effort to cover that story well. And that built our audience."[15]
The show was the number one cable news program in the 6:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot for several years.[16]
In July 2008, it was announced that Hume would retire as anchor of Special Report at the end of the year, but he would remain on Fox News in a different role.[17] On December 23, 2008, he hosted his final episode as anchor of Special Report, announcing that Bret Baier, then the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, would be his replacement. Hume also announced that he would remain with Fox News as a senior political analyst and regular panelist for the program Fox News Sunday.
On January 3, 2010, Hume on Fox News Sunday, advised embattled golfer Tiger Woods to convert to Christianity to attempt to end his problems. Hume's comments were made after the revelation of Woods' habitual adultery and the resulting deterioration of his relationship with his family.[18]
On the Record (2016)
On September 6, 2016, Hume was named the anchor of On the Record after that show's longtime anchor, Greta Van Susteren, abruptly left Fox News. He served as the program's anchor through the end of the 2016 elections.[19] Hume's first show as host of On the Record drew 2.4 million viewers, a double-digit increase over Van Susteren's average viewing audience in 2016.[20] On November 4, 2016, it was announced that Tucker Carlson would host a new show in the former On the Record timeslot from November 14, 2016.
2020 U.S. presidential election
In late May 2020, Hume criticized presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during the coronavirus pandemic while suggesting that it was positive for President Donald Trump to not wear one.[21] In September 2020, Hume claimed that Biden was "senile".[22][23]
Hume is a conservative,[25] remarking in 2006: "Sure, I'm a conservative, no doubt about it. But I would ask people to look at the work."[8]
Hume is divorced from his first wife, Clare Jacobs Stoner.[26] Their son, Sandy Hume, was a reporter for the newspaper The Hill and first publicized the story of the failed 1997 political attempt to replace Speaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich. In February 1998, Sandy Hume died by suicide. The National Press Club honors his memory with its annual Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism.[8][27] Brit Hume has said that he committed his life to Jesus Christ "in a way that was very meaningful" to him in the aftermath of his son's suicide in 1998.[28]
Brit Hume's daughter,[29] Virginia Hume (born 1965[30]), was a contributor to The Weekly Standard.[31] She worked for 25 years as a public relations, political communications and traditional marketing professional.[32] Her political experience includes serving as a deputy press secretary for the Republican National Committee in 1996.[33]
In 1993, Hume married Kim Schiller, who was a Fox News vice president and Washington bureau chief before she retired in 2006.[26]
^Wallace, Lena (May 26, 2014). "Brit Hume to be 2014 Speaker". The Yellow Jacket. Randolph-Macon College. Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2014.