William Madden Plante (January 14, 1938 – September 28, 2022) was an American journalist and correspondent for CBS News. He joined the network in 1964. Plante was noted for being the network's senior White House correspondent for over three decades.
Plante was posthumously awarded the Dunnigan-Payne Prize for lifetime career achievement on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Early life and education
Plante was born in Chicago on January 14, 1938. His father, Regis, was employed as a field engineer for a heating company; his mother, Jane (Madden), worked as a school administrator. Plante attended Loyola Academy in his hometown, graduating in 1955. He was sent to South Vietnam later that year to report on the Vietnam War, the first of four tours as a correspondent.
In March 1965, Plante went to Selma, Alabama and was there when state troopers assaulted marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in what was later dubbed "Bloody Sunday". He anchored CBS Sunday Night News from 1988 to 1995 and also reported for CBS This Morning and the CBS Evening News.
Personal life
Plante's first marriage was to Barbara Barnes Orteig. They eventually divorced and he later married Robin Smith in 1987.