Connie Lawn
{{short description|American journalist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Connie Lawn
| post-nominals = {{Post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZMh|size=100%}}
| image = Connie Lawn in 2007.jpg
| caption =
| birthname = Constance Ellen Lawn
| birth_date = {{birth date|1944|05|14}}
| birth_place = Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and given age|2018|4|2|73}}
| death_place = Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
| education =
| occupation = Radio journalist, member of
the White House press corps
| years_active = 1967–2018
}}
Constance Ellen Lawn {{Post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZMh}} (May 14, 1944 – April 2, 2018) was an American broadcast journalist. Lawn had a brief career in politics, working for a congressman and the 1968 Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign before entering journalism.
She reported from Washington for several international clients and was appointed an honorary Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2012 in recognition of her work. At the time of her death she was the longest-serving White House correspondent.
Early life
Of Russian Jewish descent, Lawn was born in New Jersey to Howard Martin Lawn (1911–2000), a businessman who was president of Parkmobile Inc., and the Equity and Capital Company,{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/lawn/69|title=Howard M. Lawn (1911–2000)|date=July 23, 2011|publisher=Genealogy.com|author=Reinhardt, Charlene}} and Pearl H. Bergman (1913–1989), a chemist and homemaker. Both her parents were staunch Democrats.{{sfn|Myers|2000|p=289}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/obituaries/connie-lawn-independent-white-house-reporter-dies-at-73.html|title=Connie Lawn obituary|date=April 3, 2018|author=Slotnik, Daniel E.|work=The New York Times}}
Her paternal grandfather, Sal Simon Lawn (1884–1969),{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/lawn/70|title=Re: Sal Lawn (1884–1969)|date=July 23, 2011|publisher=Genealogy.com|author=Reinhardt, Charlene}} was a Republican, who served as sergeant-at-arms for the Second Judicial Court and was a veteran of World War I.{{sfn|Myers|2000|p=288}}
Lawn was raised with her brother, Richard, and elder sister, Margo Rose (1940–1981).{{sfn|Myers|2000|p=289}}{{cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Margo-Neumann/6000000017176380370|title=Margo Neumann|date=December 2016 |publisher=Geni.com|access-date=April 5, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/us/entry/13633466|title=Long Branch Day For Connie Lawn|date=December 14, 2016|author=Lawn, Connie|work=HuffPost}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
She was the first and only girl to play for the Long Branch Little League in 1956. In 1962, Lawn graduated from Long Branch High School, and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in political science from Simmons College in 1966; she later moved to Washington, D.C. She was also a graduate of the L'In stitut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/12/archives/constance-e-lawn-is-married-here.html|title=Constance E. Lawn Is Married Here|work=New York Times Archives|date=November 12, 1973|access-date=April 5, 2018}}
Political and reporting career
Lawn briefly worked for a U.S. congressman {{Who|date=April 2018}} and served as a volunteer for Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential campaign before becoming a reporter for a news station in Washington, D.C. She spent her career as an unaffiliated journalist, unlike many of her fellow White House correspondents, and was the founder and sole employee of Audio Video News.
She reported for several clients in the United States and around the world. Her international radio clients included networks in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, and South Africa. In the 2012 New Year Honours, she was appointed an honorary Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her services to New Zealand–United States relations.{{Cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1804/S00013/connie-lawns-obituary-april-2-2018.htm|title=Connie Lawn's Obituary|date=April 2, 2018|work=Scoop.co.nz|access-date=April 5, 2018}}
This included writing articles for the US market promoting tourism to New Zealand and its ski resorts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/353952/veteran-white-house-reporter-connie-lawn-dies-aged-73|title=Veteran White House reporter Connie Lawn dies aged 73|work=Radio New Zealand|date=April 3, 2018|access-date=April 3, 2018}} Lawn also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Press Club of New Zealand and had a champion race-horse named after her in that country.
Lawn covered Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, travelling with him across the United States. She conducted one of the last interviews with Kennedy before his assassination in Los Angeles on June 5 of that year. Later that year, whilst reporting on the riots and protests around the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Lawn was beaten by Chicago police officers. She covered the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia from Prague, the Watergate scandal of 1972, and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981. At around the time of the 1982 Lebanon War, Lawn avoided an attempted abduction in Lebanon by hitting her attacker in the face with a bag and escaping to Israeli soldiers.
At the time of her death Lawn was the longest-serving White House correspondent. She attended her last press briefing on December 14, 2017, a few months before her death.
Personal life
Lawn's first marriage was in November 1973{{sfn|Lawn|2000|p=114}} to Stephen Rappaport, a certified public accountant.{{sfn|Lawn|2000|p=114}} They had two sons; their marriage later ended in a divorce. She married Charles A. Sneiderman in 2000.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/us/author/connie-lawn|title=Connie Lawn|work=HuffPost|access-date=April 5, 2018}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011, and died on April 2, 2018, aged 73, in Falls Church, Virginia. In addition to her husband, she is survived by a brother, Richard Lawn; two sons from her first marriage, Daniel and David Rappaport; and two grandchildren.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book|last=Lawn|first=Connie|year=2000|title=You Wake Me Each Morning|publisher=Writers Club Press|isbn=9780595155279|location=San Jose [Calif.]|oclc=48017962}}
- {{cite book|last=Myers|first=William Starr|year=2000|title=Prominent Families of New Jersey|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company|isbn=9780806350363|location=Baltimore|oclc=46488954}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawn, Connie}}
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American radio reporters and correspondents
Category:Honorary officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Virginia
Category:Long Branch High School alumni
Category:Journalists from New Jersey
Category:American women radio journalists
Category:20th-century American women journalists
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:21st-century American women journalists
Category:21st-century American journalists