Biographical Data

MacNeil, Robert Breckenridge Ware

Personal Image

Photo Credit: Michael Price

 
 
Title Naval Cadet (UNTD) (RCN(R))
Official Number U-46457
 
Birth 19/01/1931 Death 12/04/2024
Place Montreal Place New York
Area QC Area NY
Country Canada Country USA
 
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Biography
He was the son of Lieutenant-Commander Robert MacNeil RCN and the brother of Vice-Admiral H.M. MacNeil RCN. He attended Dalhousie University and later graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa in 1955. He began working in the news field at ITV in London, then for Reuters and then for NBC News as a correspondent in Washington, D.C. and New York City. He a novelist and formerly was a television news anchor and journalist who paired with Jim Lehrer to create The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1975. MacNeil has also written several books, many about his career as a journalist, but, since his retirement from NewsHour, MacNeil has also dabbled in writing novels.
 
Military Service
He was appointed as a Naval Cadet (UNTD) RCN(R) (With seniority dated 16/02/1950). He served in HMCS Scotian for UNTD 1949-1950. (He was released.)
 
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Anecdotes
A September 20th, 1982 interview with People Magazine "The son of a Canadian naval officer who later became a diplomat, MacNeil grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, certain he would go to sea - until he flunked part of his naval college entrance exam. "When that happened, the bottom dropped out of both my world and my father's," he recalls. (His younger brother Hugh is now commander of NATO's Atlantic standing naval force.) " On November 22, 1963 Robert MacNeil was in the Presidential Motorcade covering the trip to Dallas for NBC News. Amongst other locales he was up on the grassy knoll, in front of the Schoolbook Depository and at Parkland Hospital. In 1973 Robert MacNeil covered the Senate Watergate Hearings for PBS. In 1975 - 1995 he was co-host of the The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour - on PBS.
 
References
Government of Canada The Canadian Navy List Ottawa ON; Bill Clearihue (Nominal List UNTD); http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20083146,00.html; https://navalreserveassociationofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/MacNEIL_Robert_Breckenridge_W_UNTDA_BioG.pdf (website viewed 14/04/2024);
Last update
2024-04-14 00:00:00

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