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Frank Mankiewicz, Aide Who Announced Robert Kennedy's Death, Dies

Frank Mankiewicz, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's press secretary, updates the media about Kennedy's condition after being shot in June 1968. Mankiewicz died Thursday at the age of 90.
AP
Frank Mankiewicz, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's press secretary, updates the media about Kennedy's condition after being shot in June 1968. Mankiewicz died Thursday at the age of 90.

Updated at 11:15 a.m. ET

Frank Mankiewicz, a longtime Washington insider who as press secretary to Robert Kennedy in 1968 announced the senator's death by an assassin's bullet and who later served as the head of NPR, has died at age 90.

Mankiewicz, who also worked in President John F. Kennedy's administration and helped direct Sen. George McGovern's unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign, went to work in public relations after leaving NPR in 1983.

NPR's David Folkenflik says Mankiewicz grew up as part of Hollywood royalty. His father, Herman Mankiewicz, co-wrote Citizen Kane (1941) with Orson Welles, and his uncle, Joseph Mankiewicz, directed the 1950 classic All About Eve.

"While he was growing up, frequent guests in his house would have included the Marx brothers, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald [and] Greta Garbo," David tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep.

Regarding his time as the president of NPR (1977-1983), David says Mankiewicz had "great ambitions" for the network, overseeing the creation of NPR's flagship news program Morning Edition, among other things.

But he also left a $6 million deficit and forced a bailout of the network by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as well as its member stations.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: October 23, 2014 at 11:00 PM CDT
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Frank Mankiewicz oversaw creation of All Things Considered.
Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
Dana Farrington is a digital editor coordinating online coverage on the Washington Desk — from daily stories to visual feature projects to the weekly newsletter. She has been with the NPR Politics team since President Trump's inauguration. Before that, she was among NPR's first engagement editors, managing the homepage for NPR.org and the main social accounts. Dana has also worked as a weekend web producer and editor, and has written on a wide range of topics for NPR, including tech and women's health.