Susan Swain retired from C-SPAN as co-CEO in 2025 after a 40-year career. In addition to her management and editorial responsibilities, Susan served as a principal on-camera interviewer for the network's signature public affairs coverage and many special history series.

 

Her interest in the lives and contributions of First Ladies developed as she covered every presidential administration from Reagan through Biden, and blossomed during a year-long stint as moderator of C-SPAN's "First Ladies: Influence and Image" series. After the series ended, Susan edited her interviews into a collection titled "First Ladies: Presidential Historians on the Lives of 45 Iconic American Women," which was published by  PublicAffairs.

 

Susan edited other relevant titles drawn from C-SPAN series, including: "The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America's Best --and Worst -- Chief Executives" and "Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on our Sixteenth President," also published by Public Affairs, a division of Hatchett Books.