Frank Conniff (journalist)

For his son, the American comedian, see Frank Conniff.
Frank Conniff
Born(1914-04-24)April 24, 1914
Danbury, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedMay 25, 1971(1971-05-25) (aged 57)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Journalist, editor
Years active1956–1971
ChildrenFrank Conniff
AwardsPulitzer Prize for International Reporting

Frank Conniff (/kɒnˈnɪf/ kon-NIF;[1] April 24, 1914 – May 25, 1971) was an American journalist and editor who won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1956.[2]

Conniff was born in Danbury, Connecticut. His first newspaper job was as a copyboy with the Danbury News-Times. He went to college at the University of Virginia, and after covering sports for one year in Danbury, joined Hearst Newspapers in New York. He was also a combat reporter during World War II in Africa and Europe, and covered the Korean War in 1950–51.[1] In 1958 he became general director of the Hearst Headline Service, which provided news features, and contributed a Washington column. In New York he later wrote the "Conniff's Corner" column.[1] While Hearst would introduce Conniff as their "house Democrat," Conniff also supported Joseph McCarthy, as Hearst Newspapers were a McCarthy supporter. He unsuccessfully challenged Republican Congressman Ogden Reid of New York's 26th congressional district in the 1964 election.[1][3][4]

Conniff interviewed Nikita S. Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union, in Moscow in 1955 for Hearst's International News Service, earning him a 1956 Pulitzer Prize, which he shared with William Randolph Hearst, Jr. and Joseph Kingsbury Smith for a series of exclusive interviews with leaders of the Soviet Union.[2] (In 1959 Smith became publisher of the New York Journal-American.)[5]

Conniff was editor of Hearst Newspapers's World Journal Tribune of New York from 1966 to 1967, when the newspaper ceased publication. He was also national editor of Hearst Newspapers.[6] He had a stroke shortly after the close of the World Journal Tribune from which he partly recovered.[2]

He was a regular panelist on the NBC game show, Who Said That?, along with H. V. Kaltenborn, Peggy Ann Garner, Deems Taylor, and Boris Karloff.

Conniff died of a heart attack at age 57 in New York on May 25, 1971.[1]

His son Frank Jr. is a comedic actor and writer.

  1. ^ a b c d e (27 May 1971). Frank Conniff, Pulitzer Winner, Dead, The New York Times
  2. ^ a b c 1972 Britannica Book of the Year, 1972 (the book covers events of 1971), "Obituaries" article, page 521
  3. ^ (11 March 1964). Hearst Executive Chosen to Oppose Reid for House, The New York Times
  4. ^ Folsom, Merrill (13 October 1964). Reid and Conniff Irk Mitchell by Liberal Views in 26th, The New York Times
  5. ^ New York Times obituary of Joseph Kingsbury Smith published on February 5, 1999
  6. ^ (9 April 1957). Hearst Promotes 3: Conniff Made National Editor of Newspaper Group, The New York Times