Longtime national political reporter Thaddeus L. “Ted” Knap died on Feb. 26. He was 102.
Knap was born in Milwaukee on May 19, 1920, to Polish immigrant parents. His interest in journalism began at an early age. As a young boy, he delivered the Milwaukee Journal, writes Hannah Kirby for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. As a Messmer High School student, he covered the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago for his student newspaper.
Knap graduated from Marquette University in 1940 with a degree in journalism. Following graduation he worked for the Waukesha Daily Freeman as a reporter and city editor for six years. In 1950, he joined the Indianapolis Times as a city desk reporter, later becoming assistant editor and, eventually, city editor of the newspaper. He became the Washington correspondent for the Times, as well as the Evansville (Ind.) Press, around 1963.
During this time, he covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War and the ongoing civil rights movement. On August 28, 1963, he participated in the March on Washington and covered Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
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Knap was president of the White House Correspondents Association during the Watergate Scandal. President Richard Nixon, known for his contentious relationship with the press, would eventually put Knap on his list of enemies, according to his obituary.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 11, at Shorehaven Chapel, 1305 W. Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc.
The family has requested contributions to Marquette University’s Ted Knap Scholarship Fund or the American Red Cross.
