"Frank the Mank" on Historical Research

[wpbinzel]

Yesterday, I witnessed first-hand how history is invented. While, with your indulgence, it is not related to Lincoln's assassination, it was a lesson for all who engage in historical research.

The occasion was the funeral service for Frank Mankiewicz. Frank was a true Washington political and media insider. He was Press Secretary for Senator Robert F. Kennedy and, in 1968, the task fell to him to announce to world that the Senator had died from his wounds. Four years later, Frank was senior political adviser to the ill-fated presidential campaign of George McGovern. From there he went on to head National Public Radio and to a career in public relations. His wit was legendary. Some of the best stories in Washington are either ones that he told, or ones told about him. While his politics were not my cup of tea, he was a kind and generous mentor in the careers of many who crossed his path, including my wife, who called him "Uncle Frank."

Frank passed away on October 23rd at the age of 90. At his funeral, in a very touching and humorous tribute to his father, Ben Mankiewicz (the host of Turner Classic Movies) noted that according to the obituary in The Washington Post, friends had dubbed his father as "Frank the Mank." That was news to Ben as he had never heard anyone refer to his father by that moniker. Ben asked for a show of hands from the room packed with 350 of Mr. Mankiewciz's friends from those who called him "Frank the Mank." There was laughter when not a single hand was raised. But, no doubt, in the next century, after everyone in that room is gone, some historian writing a biography of Frank Mankiewicz will read The Post's article and be inspired to entitle the work "Frank the Mank" with the appropriate footnote, and everyone will accept it as historical fact.

On my desk, I have a quote from 1864, which I found on the Internet, from Abraham Lincoln saying that not everything you read on the Internet is true. To it, I am going to add another quote: "Not everything you read printed on old yellowed paper is true either." -- Frank the Mank