So As I Was Saying . . .: My Somewhat Eventful Life (40 page)

JOEL L. SWERDLOW, PH.D
.,
is an author, editor, journalist, researcher, and educator. A senior writer and editor at
National Geographic
for ten years, he is the author of
To Heal a Nation: The Story of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

Also by
Frank Mankiewicz

Perfectly Clear: Nixon from Whittier to Watergate

U.S. v. Richard M. Nixon: The Final Crisis

With Fidel: A Portrait of Castro and Cuba
(with Kirby Jones)

Remote Control: Television and the Manipulation of American Life
(with Joel Swerdlow)

Also by
Joel L. Swerdlow, Ph.D
.

Remote Control: Television and the Manipulation of American Life
(with Frank Mankiewicz)

To Heal a Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
(with Jan C. Scruggs)

Nature’s Medicine: Plants That Heal

Code Z
(a novel)

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Contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedications

P
REFACE:
A Portrait of Frank Mankiewicz

F
OREWORD:
“If Your Last Name Is Mankiewicz” by Ben Mankiewicz

F
OREWORD:
“Somebody’s Going to Offer You Something” by Josh Mankiewicz

I
NTRODUCTION:
Frank’s “Rosebud” by Joel L. Swerdlow, Ph.D.

1.
   
In Which I Make a Birthday Visit to Robert F. Kennedy’s Grave, Compare Myself to Someone Named Fred Snodgrass, and Mention That Speaking Spanish Led Me to Robert F. Kennedy

2.
   
In Which I Grow Up as a Mankiewicz in Hollywood, Return to Family Dinners—an Algonquin Round Table West, with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Harpo Marx—and Drive into the Hills with My High School Dates

3.
   
In Which I Watch Orson Welles Rehearse Live Radio Broadcasts and Develop a Love for Radio That Later Shapes Much of Today’s NPR

4.
   
In Which “in Three Months and for a Few Thousand Dollars” Herman Mankiewicz Creates
Citizen Kane
and We Learn the Secret of “Rosebud”

5.
   
In Which I Dismiss My Oral History Interviews, Play with “Retronym”—a Word I Invented—and Resent an Attack on My Memory

6.
   
In Which I Return to My Childhood, Discuss Mrs. Moore, My Seventh-Grade English Teacher, Recite Poetry by Memory, Remember Late-Night Arguments About Zionism, and Explain “Unrequited Hatred”

7.
   
In Which I Discuss the Death of My Father and His Obituary Triggers a Search for Why He Was Hated by the Nazi Leader Joseph Goebbels

8.
   
In Which Pearl Harbor Knocks Me Out of America First, James Joyce Enters My Life, as a World War II Infantryman I Learn Spanish, a Mess Sergeant Quotes Gilbert and Sullivan While Serving Broken Ping-Pong Balls, During the Battle of the Bulge I Receive Dry Socks from General Eisenhower, I Fall in Love with a Red Cross Volunteer, and Begin to Worry America Might Have Jumped the Shark

9.
   
In Which I Call Death “the Lady in the Marketplace,” See Obituaries as Literature, Explain What Is Remembered Versus What Is Important, Continue to Quote James Joyce, and Seem to Be Writing My Own Obituary

10.
In Which an Electoral Victory Makes Me a Local Political Boss, I Become a Hollywood Lawyer, and I Work for Indians in Pre-casino Days

11.
In Which I Help Form the Peace Corps, Am Radicalized by What I See in Latin America, Train Volunteers to Be Community Organizers, Become a Chum of Donald Rumsfeld’s, Confront LBJ in the Oval Office, and Receive a Phone Call from Someone Claiming to Be Robert F. Kennedy

12.
In Which I Am Certified by Robert F. Kennedy, I Assure Him That Debating Ronald Reagan Will Be “Easy,” We Visit the JFK Gravesite in Arlington, I Discuss My Favorite RFK Speech, and RFK Runs for President, Making Remarks That Still Haunt, Inspire, and Challenge Us

13.
In Which I Address the Democratic National Convention While Police “Riot,” I Receive Advice from a Supreme Court Justice, a Dead Puppy Is Blamed for Watergate, George McGovern Winning in 1976 Seems Reasonable, and I Say Kind (Personal) Things About Ronald Reagan

14.
In Which the Death of Daily Print Newspapers Makes Me Grumpy and I Bemoan the Loss of “Above the Fold,” “Jump,” and “Op-Ed”

15.
In Which I Carry Messages and Cigars Between Henry Kissinger and Fidel Castro, Clarify Baseball’s New Designated Hitter Rule to Cuban Officials, and Discuss Freedom, JFK, and the “Splendid Marxist Message of
Jaws
” with Castro

16.
In Which I Agree with Hunter S. Thompson About “Truth,” Critique American Journalism, and Initiate America’s Most Popular Radio News Program

17.
In Which I Offer Public Relations Advice (“Tell the Truth, Tell It All, Tell It Now”), Explain Why Rich People Fighting over Money Make the Best Clients, and Show That “Commode” Means Different Things in Different Parts of the United States

18.
In Which the Various Strands Seem to Come Together and My Story Ends—at Least for Now

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Also by Frank Mankiewicz and Joel L. Swerdlow, Ph.D.

Copyright

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

SO AS I WAS SAYING …
Copyright © 2016 by Frank Mankiewicz and Joel L. Swerdlow, Ph. D. Foreword copyright 2016 by Ben Mankiewicz. Foreword copyright 2016 by Josh Mankiewicz. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by James Iacobelli

Cover photographs: pin © Shutterstock; in Beverly Hills © USC Library; serving in WW II © courtesy of the author; with RFK © JFK Library; with Hunter S. Thompson © Associated Press

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Names: Mankiewicz, Frank, 1924–2014, author. | Swerdlow, Joel L., author.

Title: So as I was saying.: my somewhat eventful life / Frank Mankiewicz with Joel L. Swerdlow.

Description: First edition. | New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015041539 | ISBN 9781250070647 (hardback) | ISBN 9781466880979 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Mankiewicz, Frank, 1924–2014. | Journalists—United States—Biography. | Press secretaries—United States—Biography. | Political consultants—United States—Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political. | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts.

Classification: LCC PN4874.M197 A3 2016 | DDC 070.92—dc23

LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041539

e-ISBN 9781466880979

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First Edition: February 2016