February 24, 1999
Longtime ABC News Director Richard B. Armstrong will be the recipient of the Directors Guild of America's 1999 Lifetime Achievement in News Award, DGA President Jack Shea and Awards Committee Chairperson Howard Storm announced today. The award will be presented at the 51st Annual DGA Awards on March 6, 1999.
Armstrong was a news director for over forty years, beginning at WMAL in Washington, DC from 1953 to 1962. In 1962 he became the Washington Director for ABC News, a position he held for twenty years. In this position he directed America Held Hostage, the show that would eventually become Nightline. From 1982 to 1987 Armstrong was the Washington Director for Good Morning America, and from 1988 to 1993 he directed This Week with David Brinkley.
Among the other shows Armstrong directed are Barbara Walters' White House Tour with President & Mrs. Ford, Barbara Walters' White House Tour with President & Mrs. Carter, Frank Reynolds' Interview at the White House with President Carter and Frank Reynolds' Interview at the White House with President Reagan.
In addition, Armstrong served as the director of the network pool coverage for: the Apollo 11 Splashdown in the Pacific and President Nixon greeting Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins in 1969; the Senate Watergate Hearings in 1974 (Senate Caucus Room coverage); the 1976 Ford/Carter Debate in Philadelphia; Pope John Paul's Mass on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1979; the House of Representatives Iran Contra Hearings in 1987; the US/Soviet Summit Meetings between Bush and Gorbachev at the White House East Room & South Lawn in 1989; and the Judge Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill Hearings in 1991.