Alexander Britton Hume Jr. (September 2, 1969 – February 23, 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 Alexander Britton Hume (born June 22, 1943), known professionally as Brit Hume, is an American journalist and political commentator. He had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to '' World News Tonight with Peter Jennings'', ''N ...

(former

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

managing editor) and

Career

Born and raised in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

area, Hume attended

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, lettered in varsity

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

for the Panthers, and graduated He embarked on a career in journalism, and broke the story of the aborted 1997 "coup" by U.S. Rep.

Bill Paxon Leon William Paxon (born April 29, 1954) is an American lobbyist and former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. From 1989 to 1999, he served five terms in Congress. Early life Paxon was born in Akron, New Yo ...

(R-NY) against Speaker

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...

. Another of the plotters, Majority Leader

Dick Armey Richard Keith Armey (; born July 7, 1940) is an American economist and politician. He was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Texas's (1985–2003) and Party Leaders of the United States House of Representatives, ...

(R-TX), reportedly scuttled the coup when he learned that Paxon, and not he, would replace Gingrich. Veteran Washington reporter and commentator

Robert Novak Robert David Sanders Novak (February 26, 1931 – August 18, 2009) was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving in the ...

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 The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

and had been pursued by ''

U.S. News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (''USNWR'', ''US NEWS'') is an American media company publishing news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. The company was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and ...

'' and

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Death

Hume committed suicide in his apartment in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

. In the months before his death Hume, an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

, began drinking again. The night before he died he was jailed for

drunk driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is in ...

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 killed himself with a hunting rifle after leaving a lengthy note expressing shame at the previous night's events. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in

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.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hume, Sandy 1969 births 1998 deaths 1998 suicides 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male journalists The American Spectator people Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Journalists from Washington, D.C. Suicides by firearm in Virginia Middlebury College alumni