Frank Fabian Mankiewicz II (May 16, 1924 – October 23, 2014) was an American journalist, political adviser, president of
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, and public relations executive.
Life and career
Frank Mankiewicz was born in New York City
and grew up in
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...
, the son of Sara (Aaronson) and
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
Herman J. Mankiewicz, who co-wrote ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...
''. His uncle,
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, directed such films as ''
All About Eve
''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story (and subsequent 1949 radio drama) "The Wisdom of E ...
'' and ''
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...
''. His brother was television writer
Don Mankiewicz. They grew up near the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...
, and
Harpo Marx was a presence at Mankiewicz family Passover Seders. "He would pick up the Paschal lamb bone and lead a parade around the table," Frank Mankiewicz recalled.
After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, he briefly attended
Haverford College
Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...
before dropping out to join the army infantry during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He fought in the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...
.
After the war, Mankiewicz received a bachelor's degree in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
from
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
in 1947; a master's degree from the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...
in 1948; and an
LL.B. from
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
in 1955. He was president of
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
from 1977 to 1983, overseeing the creation of ''
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
'' and the expansion of the network. He resigned due to a $6 million debt that required NPR to be bailed out by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting and member stations. He had also served as regional director for the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...
in Latin America, presidential campaign press secretary in 1968 to
U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and campaign director for 1972 Democratic presidential nominee
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...
.
Mankiewicz is a recurring figure in
Hunter S. Thompson's ''
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72''. Thompson described Mankiewicz more positively than many other political operatives, though Mankiewicz was outraged by Thompson's characterization of him as a "rumpled little man who looked like a used-car salesman."
RFK assassination
On June 5, 1968, at the
Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, having won
the California primary election during
his 1968 campaign for the
U.S. presidency and given his victory speech,
was gunned down just after midnight in the kitchen area as he was heading for a press conference. The Senator was taken first to Central Receiving Hospital, then
Good Samaritan Hospital. Once Kennedy was admitted to GSH, news correspondents set up temporary press headquarters in a nearby gymnasium.
Throughout the day, Mankiewicz provided medical bulletins to the news media as received. One of his first reports came after 7 a.m., approximately four hours after surgery was completed to remove fragments of the bullet from Kennedy's brain; Mankiewicz reported that his vital signs were impaired but the senator was breathing on his own. However, by 1:30 p.m., Kennedy's condition had been downgraded from "critical" to "extremely critical". Several hours later, Mankiewicz returned to the news media headquarters with this report:
The team of physicians attending Senator Robert Kennedy is concerned over his continuing failure to show improvement during the post-operative period. Senator Kennedy's condition is still described as extremely critical. There will be no further regular bulletins until early tomorrow morning.
At 1:59 a.m. the next morning, a physically and emotionally exhausted Mankiewicz appeared before the news media and, remaining composed, relayed what turned out to be the final report:
I have, uh, a short—I have a short announcement to read, which I will read, uh—at this time. Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died at 1:44 a.m. today, June 6, 1968. With Senator Kennedy at the time of his death were his wife Ethel, his sisters Mrs. Stephen Smith, Mrs. Patricia Lawford, his brother-in-law Mr. Stephen Smith, and his sister-in-law Mrs. John F. Kennedy. He was 42 years old. Thank you.
Later years
His work in politics earned him a place on the
master list of Nixon's political opponents. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the
U.S. House of Representatives in
Maryland's 8th congressional district in 1976.
In 1974, Mankiewicz acted as a secret emissary, carrying messages from
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
to
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
, and then reporting back to Kissinger. In January 1975, Mankiewicz and
Lawrence Eagleburger held a clandestine meeting with Castro's representative
Ramón Sánchez-Parodi at
LaGuardia airport
LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the North Shore (Long Island), northwestern shore of Long Island, bord ...
. This secret diplomacy failed to produce a political breakthrough.
In 1984, Frank Mankiewicz wrote for ''Quarante'' magazine owned by Kathleen Katz of Arlington. A piece he wrote for ''Quarante'' in 1985 was one of the first to point out how television coverage of politics had changed. The article was titled, "Politics and Media: In Search of An Angle". He wrote:
As part-time advisor to Senator Gary Hart's presidential campaign in 1984—the first I had participated in actively since 1972—I was struck by the minutiae of the press's questions. The authorship of a speech—the identity of the speechwriters—seemed far more important than its content. Strategy was a primary concern—which votes are being sought? How much money has been raised for television commercials? Who will produce the commercials? ... Rarely if ever does the question turn on such things as "does he have the right ideas?" or "would he make a strong—or even good—president?"
Mankiewicz lived in Washington, D.C., with his second wife, novelist Patricia O'Brien, who also writes under the pseudonym of Kate Alcott. His son
Josh Mankiewicz is an
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
correspondent, while his son
Ben Mankiewicz is a
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...
host and a host on ''
The Young Turks'', who also served from September 2008 to September 2009 as co-host (with
Ben Lyons) of ''
At the Movies''.
Both Josh and Ben Mankiewicz live in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
Anti-metrication
According to Mankiewicz, he prompted
Lyn Nofziger's efforts to halt the 1970s
U.S. metrication effort, who convinced President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
to shut down the
United States Metric Board.
Books
In 2016, Mankiewicz's memoir was published ''So as I Was Saying ... My Somewhat Eventful Life'', with coauthor Joel Swerdlow (
Thomas Dunne Books
Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction.
History
The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...
).
Electoral history
Death
Mankiewicz died in Washington, D.C., on October 23, 2014, at the age of 90.
His son, Ben, stated that he died of internal bleeding,
while son Josh, an
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
correspondent, and family spokesman
Adam Clymer, a former ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reporter, both said the reason for his hospitalization had been heart and lung problems, and that he had died of heart failure.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mankiewicz, Frank
1924 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American journalists
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American male journalists
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American people of German-Jewish descent
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Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery
Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California
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Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Haverford College alumni
Jewish American journalists
Jewish American non-fiction writers
Journalists from New York City
Mankiewicz family
Mass media people from Beverly Hills, California
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Metrication in the United States
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