Neil MacNeil was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 journalist

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

.

Career

He began in journalism as a local reporter on The New York Times. In 1949 he came to Washington as a congressional correspondent for the United Press, until 1958 when he joined TIME Magazine where he worked for nearly 30 years reporting on Congress, and served as chief Congressional correspondent. For TIME Magazine, MacNeil reported many cover stories, including on such members of Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 as Sam Rayburn

Sam Rayburn

Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...

, Mike Mansfield

Mike Mansfield

Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...

, Lyndon Johnson, the Kennedy brothers - John F.

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

, Robert F., and Edward M.

Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...

 - Everett Dirksen

Everett Dirksen

Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate...

, Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

, Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...

, William Fulbright, Robert Byrd

Robert Byrd

Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010...

, and Howard Baker

Howard Baker

Howard Henry Baker, Jr. is a former Senate Majority Leader, Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, White House Chief of Staff, and a former United States Ambassador to Japan.Known in Washington, D.C...

. He appeared on such programs as NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

’s “Meet The Press

Meet the Press

Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...

” and ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

’s “Face The Nation

Face the Nation

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...

.”

For three years starting in 1964, MacNeil made a weekly report, “MacNeil on Congress,” for the Eastern Educational Television Network, a program enlarged in 1967 into “Washington Week in Review” on National Public Television. He was a weekly regular on that program until 1978.

He wrote three books: Forge of Democracy: The House of Representatives, 1963; Dirksen: Portrait of a Public Man, 1970, and The President’s Medal 1789-1977, 1977, a study of presidential inaugural medals

Presidential Inaugural Medals

Presidential Inaugural Medals have a long history in the United States. The tradition can be traced back to first president, George Washington, and continues on today with President Barack Obama.-History:...

. At the time of his death, MacNeil was completing a fourth book, tentatively titled Call The Roll: A Candid History of the United States Senate.

For many years he served on the executive committee of the Congressional Periodical Press Galleries. In 1980 he won the Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting on Congress.

In 1976 MacNeil served as chairman of the United States Assay Commission

United States Assay Commission

The United States Assay Commission was an agency of the United States government from 1792 to 1980. Its function was to annually supervise the testing of the gold and silver coins produced by the United States Mint to ensure that they met specifications...

, a citizens’ group annually appointed by the President to test the validity of the government’s coinage, a commission originally created by George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 during his administration and abolished in 1977 by President Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 as an economy measure.

Personal

In 1939, as a boy of 16, MacNeil suffered a fractured skull in a batting practice accident, and after that he had to wear a special protective helmet made for him by the Davega Sports Company whenever batting, by odd chance one of the first batting helmet ever made, now housed at Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York.

In 1976 and 1977 MacNeil was president of the Clan MacNeil

Clan MacNeil

Clan MacNeil, also known in Scotland as Clan Niall, is a highland Scottish clan, particularly associated with the Outer Hebridean island of Barra. The early history of Clan MacNeil is obscure, however despite this the clan claims to descend from the legendary Niall of the nine hostages...

 Association of America.

Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society

American Antiquarian Society

The American Antiquarian Society , located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and national research library of pre-twentieth century American History and culture. Its main building, known also as Antiquarian Hall, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark...

, 1974, and the Massachusetts Historical Society

Massachusetts Historical Society

The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history...

, 1977, MacNeil served as a trustee of the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire, since 1975. He was a member of the National Press Club.