Jackie Judd in one of her final appearances on World News Tonight.

provided by Jackie Judd

Monica Lewinsky emerged from more than a decade of silence with an essay in Vanity Fair this month that contained the line, "It's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress."

The dress was, perhaps, the most salacious part of the most scandalous story of the 1990s: President Bill Clinton and his sexual relationship with the White House intern.

And it was Bethesda resident Jackie Judd, reporting at the time for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, who brought the blue dress to the attention of America.

"More than any other story I reported, that one drew more heat than anything else," said Judd, who was a radio and television reporter for more than 25 years.

It was Jan. 23, 1998, two days before news broke about a relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky. Judd was working with her investigative producer, Chris Vlasto. The two had been covering investigations of Clinton since Whitewater. News of a possible presidential-stained dress had been percolating since Matt Drudge, the Internet blogger who made a name for himself during the scandal, mentioned its existence, according to a February 1998 CNN report.

But it was Judd who first went live, reporting about the dress on ABC News. "Lewisnky says she saved, apparently as a kind of souvenir, a navy blue dress with the president's semen stain on it," Judd reported, attributing the story to "someone with specific knowledge of the events."

Judd still won't reveal who told her about the dress, but media reports at the time indicated the source was Lucianne Goldberg, a literary agent who was close to scandal star Linda Tripp, according to the Village Voice.

Monica Lewinsky's blue dress.Judd said she never saw the dress before reporting on it, but confirmed its existence through multiple sources. Despite her confidence in the accuracy of the report, she said the days that followed were nerve-racking. The dress was perhaps a questionable detail to add to the story, but for Judd it represented "the physical evidence that what [Lewinsky] was alleging was true."

Yet, after Judd broke the story, other reporters didn't follow.

"In journalism, you want to be first," Judd said, "but you want company pretty soon after that. You want other reporters to report and confirm what you just reported. And that didn't happen with the blue dress. We were out there alone for a while."

Judd said some people just had trouble believing the story. Why would someone keep this kind of memento? Why didn't Lewinsky wash the dress? "We were attacked by people not only in the political sphere, but other reporters also took shots at us," Judd said.

Robert Scheer of the Los Angeles Times wrote a week after Judd broke the story, "There was no blue dress…but America's mass media fell for the lurid tales of two political hustlers out to humiliate the president of the United States."

As we know now, the dress did exist. In July 1998, after the FBI granted Lewinsky immunity from prosecution, she gave prosecutors a dark blue dress that was later confirmed to have the president's DNA on it.

"It was obviously eventually proven right," Judd said. "We never had to retract the story."

In October 1998, the Pew Research Journalism Project wrote about the media's coverage of the dress, saying, "ABC's early reporting turned out to be highly accurate."

After that, Judd said she remembers one significant moment with Clinton. It was at the Radio-Television News Directors Association Awards. The president and Hillary Clinton both were in attendance.

An interesting scene occurred when Judd and Vlasto were announced as recipients of an award for their coverage of the scandal. "Talk about awkward," Judd said. "Chris and I walked up to the stage to accept the award and shook hands with the president. Awkward doesn't begin to convey how awkward it was."

Judd said she hopes Lewinsky can redefine some of her legacy by returning to the spotlight. "So many people [that were involved in this story] have gone on to great and rewarding and fulfilling things. The president has gone on to do great things. Who would want to deny her of having the life she wants to have?"

Judd, who retired from reporting in 2003, acknowledges the role the story played in her life.

"I've had a successful, fulfilling career," she said. "But I think what I'll be remembered more for than anything else is the blue dress. It's an odd footnote to my life, is what I would say."