Frank Conniff (journalist)

For his son, the American comedian, see Frank Conniff.

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]

Frank Conniff
Born	(1914-04-24)April 24, 1914 Danbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	May 25, 1971(1971-05-25) (aged 57) New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Journalist, editor
Years active	1956–1971
Children	Frank Conniff
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting

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.

References

1. (27 May 1971). Frank Conniff, Pulitzer Winner, Dead, The New York Times
2. 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