Rod MacLeish, 80; Political Commentator Was Also an Author
Rod MacLeish, 80, a political commentator on radio and television for four decades who also wrote fiction and nonfiction books, died Saturday of natural causes at a retirement home in Washington, D.C., according to his family.
MacLeish spent many years as chief commentator for Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. Starting in 1976, he went on to provide 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.
A native of Bryn Mawr, Pa., MacLeish covered the conflict in the Belgian Congo, the Vietnam War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
His father, Norman, was a painter, and his uncle, Archibald, was a celebrated poet.
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