Bruce Ladd has had a stellar career in journalism and public service that many NIU J-graduates would envy. His credits include authoring three books, key roles in the passage of the Illinois Open Meetings Law and the drafting of the federal Freedom of Information Act, adviser to President Nixon’s White House press staff, and once being forcibly removed from a “secret” meeting by the police, then later given an apology by the mayor of that DuPage county municipality.

Bruce’s first reporting experience was at the Daily Illini. After transferring to NIU he worked on the Northern Star and became associate editor in 1957-58 during his senior year. His newspaper career includes being editor of the weekly Mt. Morris Index, editor of The Herald in Wheeling, then managing editor of Paddock publications’ weeklies. Next he was selected as one of 15 journalists nationwide to receive a congressional fellowship from the American Political Science Association and a $10,000 stipend from the Ford Foundation.

While working on Illinois newspapers, he also took leave to be press secretary for Chuck Percy’s unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1964. After Bruce met the late Paul Simon, former Illinois weekly publisher and U.S. Senator, they joined forces with the SPJ and Chicago Headline Club to help convince the Illinois Legislature to pass the state’s Open Meetings Law.

After getting a taste of life in Washington, he joined the staff of then-U.S. Rep. Donald Rumsfeld. Serving as the congressman’s representative to the House Government Information Subcommittee, Bruce helped draft the federal Freedom of Information Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.

One of the books Bruce wrote, “Crisis in Credibility: An Investigation into Secrecy and Deceit in the U.S. Government,” exposed the federal government’s onerous information policies, unwarranted secrecy, and attempted “news management” throughout history.

Also during his diverse career, Bruce served as an unpaid adviser to President Nixon’s Communications Director Herb Klein. Returning to Illinois in 1981, he became vice president for Legislative Affairs for Motorola, and later legislative analyst for Winston & Strawn in Chicago.

After retirement in 1998, Bruce and his wife moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., but manages to return to DeKalb frequently enough to serve on the NIU Alumni Board of Directors and keep track of his mother who still lives here.