Greta van Susteren  [1954]

Television and Radio Communication

 

Greta Van Susteren is a journalist and well known television personality, currently on the Fox News Channel, and earlier, from 1991 to 2002, on the CNN Channel. Van Susteren started her journalistic career, on CNN, as a legal analyst, and first came into prominence with the William Kennedy Smith trial in 1991. Later she covered the O. J. Simpson trial, and through that exposure became widely respected as a legal analyst. Following the two trials she was given a co-anchor spot by CNN, with political analyst Roger Cossack, on the legal affairs news show, Burden of Proof.

Van Susteren was well prepared for her journalistic career, especially for the legal specialty. She had graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1972 with a degree in economics. Later she entered the Georgetown Law School, and earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1979, and a Master of Laws degree in 1982. While associated with Georgetown University, Van Susteren became the first Stuart Stiller Fellow at the Georgetown Law Center. She was also honored, by the Stetson Law School, with an honorary doctorate degree. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown Law Center from 1984 to 1999.

Van Susteren was actively exposed to controversial politics at an early age. Before she was born and while she was a child, her father was actively involved in the election of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Her father, Urban Van Susteren, a County Judge, was campaign manager for McCarthy’s messy 1946 campaign. The campaign won the seat for McCarthy and unseated the incumbent, Senator Robert M. Lafollette, Jr. Although Greta was clearly not around for the campaign, she was around when McCarthy stayed at the Van Susteren home, while he was away from Washington, visiting his constituents.

Greta was not the only one in her family who had a fair amount of public exposure. Her sister, Lisa Van Susteren, a psychiatrist, ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Senate seat in Maryland in 2006. Her mother, Margery Van Susteren is a children’s book author, her brother, Dirk Van Susteren is a journalist and editor of the Rutland, Vermont, Herald, and the Barre-Montpelier-Times Argus, also in Vermont, and Greta’s husband, John P. Coale, is a successful attorney in Washington, D. C.

Van Susteren has received several awards for her performance as a national journalist and television anchor. Forbes Magazine named her to the list of 100 powerful women. Seton University awarded her the 2000-2001 Sandra Day O’Connor Medal. And the American Bar Association honored her with the Presidential Award for “Excellence in Journalism”. She was also awarded the 2002 first place National Headliners Award, as part of an investigative team covering the “Attack on America”.

Since she joined the Fox News Channel, Van Susteren has become one of the network’s more popular personalities, comparable to Bill O’Reilly and Hannity and Colmes. Van Susteren is still relatively young in the news division category of the networks, and can look forward to an even more successful journalistic career in the future.

 

REFERENCES

Greta Van Susteren FNC Bio

Greta Van Susteren, www.nndb.com/people/204/000024132/

Greta Van Susteren, Wikipedia

 

E-BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON; GOOGLE: Kindle Store Pegels

 

PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS, CURRENT AND HISTORIC

EIGHT PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICAN FAMILIES: THE ROOSEVELTS, VANDERBILTS AND OTHERS, 2015

FIFTEEN PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICAN FAMILIES: THE VAN BURENS, KOCH BROTHERS, VOORHEES AND OTHERS, 2015

PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS IN U.S. GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS, 2015

 

DUTCH PEGELS INVOLVED IN WARS

ALLIED EUROPE CAMPAIGN—1944/1945: TACTICAL MISTAKES, 2017

THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS: MEMOIRS, 2017

FRENCH REVOLUTION, NAPOLEON AND RUSSIAN WAR OF 1812, 2015