Wolf Blitzer

As one of the most recognizable journalists on CNN, Wolf Blitzer is welcomed to the living rooms of millions of homes across the country. While he started with the cable news network as a field correspondent in the early 1990s, Blitzer was best known as host of the "The Situation Room" and "CNN Newsroom." He was born Wolf Isaac Blitzer born on March 22, 1948 in Augsburg, Germany. His family moved to the United States and raised him in Buffalo, New York.

After graduating high school, Blitzer aggressively pursued his degrees. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Buffalo in 1972, then followed it up with a Masters of Arts in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University of Advanced International Studies just two years later. During his time at Johns Hopkins, Blitzer studied abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It was then that Blitzer started his career in journalism.

While he was in Israel, Blitzer joined the Tel Aviv bureau of Reuters before joining the Jerusalem Post as a Washington correspondent. Fluent in Hebrew, Blitzer was ideallly suited for the job, covering both American politics and on-going developments in the Middle East. Meanwhile, he became a regular contributor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as the editor of their month publication.

In 1977 during a White House press conference, Blitzer elicited Anwar Sadat's first public acknowledgement that peace between Egypt and Israel was possible. Blitzer's bold reporting gained recognition when he covered the arrest and trial of Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew who was charged with international espionage. He was the first journalist to interview Pollard and later published a book about the entire affair titled Territory of Lies. After nearly twenty years as a reporter for Jerusalem Post, Blitzer was eager to tackle the news as an anchorman.

In May of 1990, Blitzer left Jerusalem Post to join CNN as the cable network's military affairs reporter. After two years reporting for CNN, he became the network's White House correspondent. He held the position until 1999, during which he won an Emmy for his coverage of the 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist bombing. Beginning in 1998, he started hosting his own Sunday morning interview show titled "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" (CNN 1998-2009). Two years later, he starred in his own newscast "Wolf Blitzer Reports" (CNN 2000-05).

As Blitzer continued to become the journalistic face of CNN, he covered every major event including the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (for which he was given the Edward R. Murrow Award), Hurricane Katrina, and presidential elections. In 2005, CNN replaced "Wolf Blitzer Reports" with "The Situation Room," placing the anchorman as the new show's host and the network's lead political anchor. Blitzer also appeared on "Celebrity Jeopardy!" (ABC 1984- ) where he finished the "Double Jeopardy" round with -$4,600.