Mark Shields died at his home in Chevy Chase, Md., on Saturday at the age of 69, after a long battle with cancer. He passed away.
His daughter said there was a problem with his kidneys.
Mr. Shields was interested in politics when he was a child. His parents roused him at 5 a.m. so he could see Truman as he traveled through Massachusetts. He said that the first time he saw his mother cry was when Adlai Stevenson died.
After two years in the Marines, a life of politics began for him in the 1960's. He worked as a legislative assistant to a senator.
His first campaign at the national level was for Robert F. Kennedy, who ran for president in 1968. Mr. Shields was in San Francisco at the time of Kennedy's death. He told The New York Times that Robert Kennedy would have been the best president he had ever seen.
He helped John J. Gilligan become governor of Ohio in 1970. He was no stranger to defeat, as he worked for men who pursued national office in the 1970s.
The N.C.A.A. indoor record for concession speeches was held by Mr. Shields.
He decided on a different path at the end of the 70s. He was a fixture in American political journalism.
He was an editorial writer at the Washington Post but the anonymity of the job made him dislike it. He was able to get a weekly column.
He decided to go on his own. He left his firmest imprint on television when he stopped writing his weekly column.
He was a panelist on the CNN talk show "Capital Gang" from 1988 until it was canceled in 2005 and was a liberal. He was a panelist on a weekly public affairs show on PBS and ABC.
He wrote a book about the 1984 presidential race. He lectured on politics and the press at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.
From 1987 to 2020 he was a commentator on PBS NewsHour. For the last 19 years, Mr. Shields was the counterpoint to a group of conservatives, including William Safire and David Gergen.
In his New York Times column in December 2020, Mr.Brooks wrote that Mark argued that politics is about looking for converts, not punishing heretics.
Mr. Shields had a New England accent. He was just a guy who likes to argue about current events at the barbershop.
His calling card was a no-nonsense political mindset, infused with audience-pleasing humor that punctured the dominant character trait of many office holders. His targets did not like his arrows. He did not always follow the correct standards.
Mr. Shields said that the toughest thing the president had done was asking Republicans to vote for a tax cut. Tonto, the Lone Ranger's loyal sidekick, was made to look like an independent spirit by Lindsey Graham. He said that too many in the major parties are afflicted with the "Rolex gene", which makes them money-hungry.
He said Gerald R. Ford, a Republican who took office in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, was his favorite president. He said Ford was the healthiest.
"Not that the others were basket cases, but they get that bug, and as the great Mo Udall once said, the only known cure for the presidential virus is embalming fluid," he said.
Losing was the original American sin and politics was a contact sport, he said.
He said that people come up with excuses why they can't be with you when you're losing. I would like to be with you but we had a family appointment at the taxidermist.
He had an admiration for politicians who entered the arena despite their flaws.
He said that when you dare to run for public office, everyone knows whether you won or lost. Most of us will go to any lengths to avoid being rejected by the public.
One of four children of William Shields, a paper salesman involved in local politics, and MaryFallon Shields, who taught school until she married, was Mark Stephen Shields.
In my Irish American Massachusetts family, you were a Democrat and a Catholic. You were brought up to be a fan of the Boston Red Socks.
He majored in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame after graduating from school. He enlisted in the Marines in 1960 as military service began to be compulsory. He learned that the Marine tradition of not being fed until their subordinates were also applies to leadership.
He wrote in 2010 that if the brass of Wall Street and Washington believed thatofficers eat last, our country would not be a more just and human place.
He met Anne Hudson when he was setting out on his career in politics. Their marriage took place in 1966. He is survived by his wife and two grandsons.
There were some bumps on the road. He told C-SPAN that if he wasn't an alcoholic, he was a good imitation. The Irish and the Indians wouldn't run the world because God made whiskey.
He said that his proudest moments were when he worked on political campaigns and made a difference. That is likely as good as it gets.
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