Columnist mark shields biography of william

Mark Shields, the longtime Washington Post political columnist who was a fixture of “PBS NewsHour” and a co-host of CNN’s “Capital Gang,” died Saturday morning of kidney failure in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 85.

Shields’ death was confirmed through a message shared by “PBS NewsHour” anchor Judy Woodruff on Twitter. Woofruff praised her colleague “who for decades wowed us with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics” as well as “his sense of humor and mainly his big heart,” she wrote.

Shields was known on-air for his tact and wit in delivering incisive analysis and commentary about U.S. politics and policy battles in Washington. He predated the shouting-heads era of cable news that came in the mid-1990s with the advent of Fox News Channel and MSNBC.

On CNN’s “Capital Gang,” Shields and fellow host Robert Novak joined panelists and fellow columnists from the Beltway set such as the Wall Street Journal’s Al Hunt, Time’s Margaret Carlson and the National Review’s Kate O’Beirne. The conversations were lively but never reached the level of vitriol that has become common in cable news. “Capital Gang” went through several incarnations until it ended in 2005.

Shields’ signed off of his regular Friday night segment of “PBS NewsHour” in December 2020 after more than 30 years with the show. His tenure began during the 1988 presidential election when the broadcast was known as “The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour.”

A native of Weymouth, Mass., Shields graduated from the University of Notre Dame. He served in the Marines before coming to Washington, D.C. Shields started out working in politics for Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire. He also worked on Robert F. Kennedy’s ill-fated pr

CHEVY CHASE, Md. (AP) — Political commentator and columnist Mark Shields, who shared his insight into American politics and wit on “PBS NewsHour” for decades, died Saturday. He was 85.

Shields died at his Chevy Chase, Maryland, home, from kidney failure, “PBS NewsHour” spokesman Nick Massella said.

Shields was a regular on the show starting in 1987, the year the show began, and stepped down from his regular Friday night discussion segment in December 2020. He had collaborated with David Brooks since 2001 to provide analysis and commentary in their weekly Shields & Brooks segment and during election specials and conventions and before that with David Gergen and Paul Gigot, according to “PBS NewsHour.” His tenure there spanned six presidencies.

Brooks tweeted his 2020 tribute to Shields in The New York Times, calling it “an attempt to capture one of the finest and beloved men” he had ever known.

“We’ve had thousands of disagreements over the years, but never a second of acrimony,” Brooks wrote in the piece. “Mark radiates a generosity of spirit that improves all who come within his light.”

Judy Woodruff, “PBS NewsHour” anchor and managing editor, tweeted that she was “heartbroken” to share the news and noted Shields’ wife Anne was at his side at his death.

“Mark Shields had a magical combination of talents: an unsurpassed knowledge of politics and a passion, joy, and irrepressible humor that shone through in all his work,” Woodruff said in a statement. “He loved most politicians, but could spot a phony and was always bold to call out injustice. Along with Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil, he personified all that’s special in the PBS NewsHour.”

For decades, she said, Shields “wowed us with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor and mainly his big heart.”

The Weymouth, Massachusetts, native graduated from the University of Notre Dame and served in the U.S. Marine Corps, according to “PBS NewsHour.” He began his career in Washingto

via the Washington Post:

Mark Shields, a onetime campaign manager who became one of Washington’s most respected political commentators, both as a syndicated columnist and as a genial liberal counterpart to several conservative sparring partners on the “PBS NewsHour,” died June 18 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 85….

The Wall Street Journal once called Mr. Shields one of the “wittiest political journalists in America” and “frequently the most trenchant, fair-minded, and thoughtful.” In a statement, PBS NewsHour host Judy Woodruff said, “Mark Shields had a magical combination of talents: an unsurpassed knowledge of politics and a passion, joy, and irrepressible humor that shone through in all his work.”…

He was, by his own admission, a traditional Massachusetts liberal in the mold of one of his political heroes, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.). He helped organize Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, which was gaining momentum before Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968.

Thereafter, Mr. Shields tended to view politics with a touch of sorrow-filled regret. He often mused that if Kennedy had been elected, he would have become the most inspiring and transformative president in a generation. Instead, Mr. Shields measured the aspirations and achievements of later politicians with a bemused sense of humor, brushed with the disappointment of reality….

In one of his final appearances on “NewsHour” in 2020, Mr. Shields noted that the Democratic Party had traditionally been the political home of lunch-pail, working-class White men. The problem facing the party in the 21st century, he said, “is one of attitude as much as it is of platform. I mean, the Democrats, that were once a shot-and-a-beer party have become a sauvignon blanc party arguing about which wine is more sensitive.”

American political columnist and commentator (1937–2022)

This article is about the American political commentator. For the former deputy police commissioner of Jamaica, see Mark Shields (police officer). For the Australian referee, see Mark Shield.

Mark Stephen Shields (May 25, 1937 – June 18, 2022) was an American political columnist, advisor, and commentator. He worked in leadership positions for many Democratic candidates' electoral campaigns.

Shields provided weekly political analysis and commentary for the PBS NewsHour from 1988 to 2020. His on-screen counterpart from 2001 to 2020 was David Brooks of The New York Times. Previous counterparts were the late William Safire, Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal, and David Gergen. Shields was also a regular panelist on Inside Washington, a weekly public affairs show that was seen on both PBS and ABC until it ceased production in December 2013. Shields was moderator and panelist on CNN's Capital Gang for 17 years.

Early life and education

Shields was born on May 25, 1937, and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in an Irish Catholic family, the son of Mary (Fallon), a schoolteacher, and William Shields, a paper salesman, who was involved in local politics. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy.

Career

In the early 1960s, Shields enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in Florida. He was a lance corporal before he was discharged in 1962.

Shields was based in Washington D.C. from 1965, initially working as an aide to Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire. Shields joined Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968. He later held leadership positions in the presidential campaigns of Edmund Muskie and Morris Udall, and was political director for Sargent Shriver when he ran for Vice President of the United States on the Democra