Rod MacLeish, a political commentator on radio and television for four decades who also wrote non-fiction books and several novels, died July 1 at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 80.
Mr. MacLeish spent many years as chief commentator for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. Starting in 1976, he went on to do commentary for CBS News, National Public Radio, the Christian Science Monitor and other media organizations.
At Westinghouse he was posted in Washington, Europe and the Middle East, and foreign affairs became a specialty. He received some of his finest book reviews for “The Sun Stood Still” (1967), a firsthand account of the Arab-Israeli conflict that showed the fears and humiliations driving both sides to battle.
He wrote in one passage: “In the abstract, war retains the objectives of politics–security, acquisition, deterrence and the imposition of the national will. Specifically, it raises the problem of murder to a level of such magnitude that murder ceases to be a problem and becomes an achievement.”
Mr. MacLeish wrote about a dozen books on a variety of themes, including Cold War suspense (“Crossing at Ivalo”), a darkly humorous juvenile adventure (“The First Book of Eppe”), fantasy (“Prince Ombra”) and suburban drama (“A Time of Fear”).
His novel “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (1976) focused on a man driven insane.
“I got a call from a guy in Idaho who said he’d read my book and that I’d stolen his life story,” he once told The Washington Post. “`They’ve been driving me insane for years. I want a check for $9 million right now or I’m taking you to court.’
“If you write a novel about fruitcakes,” he said, “you will hear from fruitcakes.”
Roderick MacLeish was born Jan. 15, 1926, in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and raised in suburban Chicago. His father, Norman, was a painter, and his uncle, Archibald, was a celebrated poet and former librarian of Congress.
After attending the University of Chicago, he worked in television and radio in New York and Boston. In 1957, he helped organize the Washington bureau for Westinghouse and went on to open the London bureau and work throughout European capitals.
Besides political events, Mr. MacLeish commented on news and culture. He wrote and narrated a three-part television series that aired on public television in 1994, “The Hermitage: A Russian Odyssey,” about the St. Petersburg palace-museum.
