Sandy Hume

Alexander Britton Hume Jr. (September 2, 1969 – February 22, 1998), known as Sandy Hume, was an American journalist. He worked for The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C. He was the son of Brit Hume (former Fox News Channel managing editor) and Clare Jacobs Stoner.[1]

Sandy Hume
Born
Alexander Britton Hume, Jr.

(1969-09-02)September 2, 1969
Washington D.C., U.S.
DiedFebruary 22, 1998(1998-02-22) (aged 28)
Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide
Resting placeOak Hill Cemetery
Washington, D.C.
Alma materMiddlebury College
OccupationJournalist for The Hill
Notable credit(s)
The aborted 1997 coup by Rep. Bill Paxon against Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich

Career

Born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area, Hume attended Middlebury College in Vermont, lettered in varsity lacrosse for the Panthers, and graduated with honors.[1] He embarked on a career in journalism, and broke the story of the aborted 1997 coup by U.S. Rep. Bill Paxon (R-NY) against Speaker Newt Gingrich. Another of the plotters, Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), scuttled the coup when he learned that Paxon, and not he, would replace Gingrich. Armey reportedly later disavowed the whole attempt when he learned that he would not be the one to become speaker.

Veteran Washington reporter and commentator Robert Novak called Hume's Republican coup story "perhaps the greatest expose of behind-the-scenes Capitol Hill machinations that I had seen in half a century of Congress-watching." When Republican spin-doctors claimed that they merely wanted to warn Gingrich about the coup, Novak wrote that "after extensive checking of sources, I am convinced that Hume's reporting was 100 percent correct." Brit Hume stated that Sandy Hume posted Novak's column confirmation column on his wall. When Sandy Hume died in 1998 at age 28, he had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and had been pursued by U.S. News and Fox News.[2]

Death

Hume committed suicide in his apartment in Arlington, Virginia. In the months before his death, Hume, an alcoholic, began drinking again. The night before his suicide, he was jailed for drunk driving and tried to hang himself in the U.S. Park Police jail cell. He was evaluated at a psychiatric facility and released. He went home and took his life with a hunting rifle after leaving a lengthy note expressing shame at the previous night's events.[3][4]

Sandy Hume Memorial Award

The National Press Club honors Hume's memory with the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, awarded annually.[5]

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References
  1. Weil, Martin (February 24, 1998). "Sandy Hume, Capitol Hill reporter and TV anchor's son, dies at 28". Washington Post. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  2. Robert Novak (2007). The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington. New York: Crown Forum. pp. 542–544.
  3. Tapper, Jake (March 13–19, 1998). "Suicide Watch". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 2017-08-26. (Vol. 18, #11)
  4. Kurtz, Howard (April 19, 2006). "Moving to the Right: Brit Hume's Path Took Him From Liberal Outsider to The Low-Key Voice of Conservatism on Fox News". Washington Post. p. C01. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  5. National Press Club. "National Press Club Journalism Awards". Retrieved 2015-07-05. This award honors excellence and objectivity in political coverage by reporters 34 years old or younger. It is named in memory of Sandy Hume, the reporter for The Hill who broke the story of the aborted 1997 coup against House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
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