Ann Compton to Take Audience Inside the White House

ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton will deliver the 28th annual Frank L. Marcon Lecture at DeSales University tonight at 7:30pm.

Compton has worked at ABC since 1973 and has covered the White House since 1974.

The lecture series was established in 1983 in honor of prominent area businessman Frank L. Marcon. Marcon served on the DeSales University Board of Trustees from 1966 until his death in 1982.

Other notable speakers who have delivered the Marcon Lecture include NBC Today Show anchor Bryant Gumbel, Emmy Award-winning television journalist Charlie Rose and Philadelphia news anchor and author Larry Kane.

Compton’s speech, titled “Inside the White House,” is free and open to the public. Earlier in the day, she will meet with DeSales students for a private question and answer session. There will also be an audience question and answer session following the lecture tonight, for which tickets are still available.

Compton has traveled the globe with presidents, vice presidents and first ladies. She has served as a panelist for presidential debates twice and was assigned as a floor reporter at the 1976 Republican and Democratic national conventions.

An internship at Hollins University led to a full-time position as a television news reporter in 1973, when ABC News hired her. Compton reported from New York for one year before being assigned to cover the White House.

Compton was the first woman assigned to cover the White House by a television news organization and one of the youngest to ever receive the prestigious journalism assignment. In her career she has covered seven presidents and spent four years reporting from Capitol Hill.

Compton’s coverage of September 11 was recognized in ABC News’ Emmy and Peabody awards, and she was part of the team awarded the prestigious Silver Baton Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University award. Another notable fact is that she was the only broadcast reporter allowed to remain on board Air Force One during the dramatic hours when President Bush was unable to return to Washington, D.C.

All achievements aside, the married mother of four has said that her most valued award is a golden statuette from the National Mother’s Day Committee naming her Mother of the Year in 1988.

The lecture is open to the public--free of charge--but tickets are required for admission. For tickets, call 610-282-1100, ext. 1364.