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Mark Shields, a former campaign manager who has become one of Washington’s most respected political commentators, both as a syndicated columnist and a good liberal colleague of several conservative sparring partners at PBS NewsHour, died June 18 at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. was 85.
The cause is kidney disease, said his daughter Amy Doyle.
Mr Shields spent more than a decade working on Capitol Hill and leading Democratic political campaigns before turning to comment in 1979 when he joined The Washington Post’s editorial board. He soon became a nationally syndicated columnist and a regular feature on television panel shows, eventually spending 33 years as a commentator on what is now PBS NewsHour.
The Wall Street Journal once called Mr. Shields one of “America’s smartest political journalists” and “often the most persistent, fair and considerate.”
By his own admission, he was a traditional Massachusetts liberal in the image of one of his political heroes, Senator Robert F. Kennedy (DN.Y.). He helped organize Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, which was gaining momentum before Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968.
Mr Shields then tended to look at politics with a hint of grief. He often thought that if Kennedy was elected, he would become the most inspiring and transformative president in a generation. Instead, Mr. Shields was left to measure the aspirations and achievements of later generations of political figures, usually presenting his views with a confused sense of humor, overwhelmed by frustration with reality.
Despite his liberal leanings, he was among the first experts to predict Ronald Reagan’s victory over incumbent President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
At various times in his career, Mr. Shields was associated with conservative commentators Robert Novak, David Gergen, Paul Gigot, and for nearly 20 years, New York Times columnist David Brooks. Mr. Shields interviewed Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the air and in an increasingly rare display of bipartisan camaraderie, remained friends with almost all of them, even after sometimes heated political differences.
In 2012, he and Brooks received the first ever award for “civility in public life” from Allegheny College. Accepting the honor, Mr Shields said his impartial approach was encouraged on NewsHour, first by hosts Robert McNeill and Jim Lehrer, and later by Judy Woodruff and Gwen Yefill.
Gwen Yifil, who overcame barriers as a black journalist, has died at the age of 61
He said that he strives to remember that “in any discussion, that the person on the other side probably loves his country as much as you love our country; that they care about the future of their children and grandchildren as much as you do; that they value the truth as much as you do; and that you are not demonizing someone on the other side. ”
This is an evolving story. A full obituary will follow.
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