He was NBC News' man on the scene amid the chaos in Dallas when President Kennedy was assassinated.
MacNeil died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, his daughter, Alison MacNeil, told the Associated Press.
After Kennedy was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, MacNeil managed to commandeer one of two pay phones in an anteroom and fed NBC anchormen Chet Huntley and David Brinkley updates all day. “I said to a priest, ‘If you delivered the last rites, does that mean he’s dead?'” he remembered, “and he , ‘I delivered the last rites.’ That’s all he would say.”
He moved to London to write plays and made ends meet by working for three months as a reporter for fledgling network ITV, then joined the Reuters wire service, where he stayed for five years as an editor.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Robert MacNeil, longtime anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93MacNeil created and co-anchored the no-frills PBS newscast 'The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour' with his late partner, Jim Lehrer, for two decades.
Read more »
Robert MacNeil, Co-Anchor of 'The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour,' Dies at 93Robert MacNeil, the co-anchor of 'The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour' and a pioneer in television journalism, passed away at the age of 93. Alongside his partner Jim Lehrer, MacNeil maintained a reputation for unbiased reporting and analysis amidst the changing landscape of news media.
Read more »
Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93Veteran newsman Robert MacNeil, who was the creator and first anchor of PBS' “NewsHour” in the 1970s, has died.
Read more »
Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93Veteran newsman Robert MacNeil, who was the creator and first anchor of PBS' “NewsHour” in the 1970s, has died.
Read more »
Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93Veteran newsman Robert MacNeil, who was the creator and first anchor of PBS' “NewsHour” in the 1970s, has died.
Read more »
Robert MacNeil, urbane anchor who founded ‘PBS NewsHour,’ dies at 93He forged a two-decade partnership with Jim Lehrer, his co-anchor on public television.
Read more »