Ann Compton retiring from ABC News after 4 decades

Aug 15 (TheWrap.com) - Ann Compton, who has covered six presidents for ABC News, is retiring after four decades with the network.

Compton, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, has had a career that included being the sold broadcast reporter to remain with President George W. Bush on Air Force One when he was unable to return to Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Weeks after President Nixon's resignation 40 years ago, she became the first woman to cover the White House full-time for a TV network.

Covering eight presidential campaigns, she served as a panelist for presidential debates in 1988 and 1992 and covered the 1976 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. In 2000, she became chief Washington correspondent for ABCNews.com, where she wrote and anchored a daily political column, "On Background."

She was part of the team that won the Silver Baton Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award for 9/11 coverage. That coverage also won Emmy and Peabody Awards. In 2005 she was inducted into the Museum of Broadcasting's Radio Hall of Fame, and in 2000 she joined the the Society of Professional Journalists' Journalism Hall of Fame.

Politico first reported her retirement, which was confirmed to TheWrap by a person familiar with her plans.