[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 173 (Thursday, October 26, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6845-S6846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING RICHARD DUDMAN

  Mr. KING. Madam President, today we remember Richard Dudman, who 
passed away this August in Blue Hill, ME, at the age of 99. Throughout 
his long and illustrious career as a journalist, Richard was never one 
to turn away from a good story, even if chasing it meant putting 
himself in danger.
  After college, Richard served his country in the Merchant Marine and 
the Navy before becoming a reporter for the Denver Post. In 1954, he 
moved to Washington, DC, to work for the St. Louis Port-Dispatch's 
Washington bureau. In this position, he would cover the assassination 
of John F. Kennedy and the Watergate Scandal, as well as war and 
revolution all over the world.
  Richard will perhaps be most remembered for the time he spent in 
Cambodia as a prisoner of the Viet Cong. He and his colleagues were 
mistaken for CIA operatives and were kept captive for 40 long days. 
Towards the end of their captivity, once it had become clear that the 
journalists were not, in fact, working for the CIA, their captors began 
to refer to them not as prisoners of war, but as ``travelers who lost 
their

[[Page S6846]]

way.'' It was this experience that inspired Richard to write the well-
received ``Forty Days with the Enemy.''
  Even after retiring, Richard did not stop reporting. In fact, on his 
last day at the Post-Dispatch in 1981 Richard raced out of his own 
retirement party to cover the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. 
From his home in Ellsworth, ME, Richard continued to contribute to the 
Post-Dispatch and wrote editorials for the Bangor Daily News until 
2012.
  In retirement, Richard and Helen, his wife of 69 years, were active 
and constructive members of the Maine community. Ellsworth City 
councilor Gary Fortier, a friend of the couple, described them as 
``true givers,'' saying that ``Ellsworth is a much better place because 
they have been part of it.'' Richard and Helen received the Golden 
Eagle Award from the Boy Scouts of America in 2014 in recognition of 
their outstanding community service.
  Richard's dedication to covering the news, regardless of how far from 
home it occurred, won him the prestigious George Polk Award in 
Journalism in 1993. In 2014, in recognition of that same dedication, 
Richard was inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame. I 
am pleased to be just one of many to remember and praise the many 
achievements of Richard's career. The State of Maine was incredibly 
lucky to have him for the time that we did. He will be deeply missed.

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