Stanley Arthur Frankel

Stanley Frankel (1918-1999) Papers, 1916-1999

Series 31/6/84

Boxes 1-17

1

Biography

Stanley Arthur Frankel was born on December 8, 1918, in Dayton, Ohio to Mandel Frankel of Peoria, Illinois and Olive Margolis of Dayton.

Frankel grew up in Dayton and attended Colonel White Junior High School (diploma, Box 1, Folder 1) and Steele High School, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1936.

He enrolled at Northwestern University in the fall of 1937. During his time at Northwestern, Frankel was class president three times, was president of Phi Eta Sigma and a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity. Editor of the Daily Northwestern during his senior year, he was also known around campus for his “Frankel-y Speaking” columns (Box 17, Folder 4), in which he spoke out against racial prejudice and for America’s neutrality on the global scene, among other things. He also met his future wife, Irene Baskin of Chicago, in Harris Hall during his senior year. Frankel graduated Magna Cum Laude in June 1940 with a B.S. degree in Liberal Arts. He was valedictorian of his class and was nominated as a Rhodes Scholar candidate.

After graduation, Frankel went to work at the Chicago City News Bureau until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in January, 1941, and assigned to the 37th Ohio National Guard Division, later to become the 37th Infantry Division when America entered World War II. He fought in the Pacific theater, rising in rank from a private to a major and receiving a Presidential Unit Citation or the capture of Manila, Philippines. He also wrote a history of the 37th Division that some war historians called “the best division history coming out of World War II” (Box 16, Folder 8).

He and Irene married on February 20, 1946, and had their first son, Stephen Baskin Frankel, on November 5, 1947. Stephen was followed by Thomas Mandel Frankel on July 21, 1950, and their first daughter, Nancy Olivia Frankel, on June 4, 1955. He worked for Esquire and Coronet magazines from 1946 to 1955, where he wrote some of his most notable articles, like “The Real Story of Rodger Young,” about a soldier in his division who posthumously won the Congressional Medal of Honor (Box 17, Folder 2), “Rudolph, That Amazing Reindeer” (Box 17, Folder 3) and Adlai Stevenson’s “If I Were 21” piece, which he co-authored (Box 17, Folder 4).

Frankel and his family moved from Chicago to Scarsdale, New York, in 1959. He served as vice president for both the Ogden Corporation and the McCall Corporation. In his free time, Frankel served as a speechwriter for Democratic presidential candidates including

Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern and Hubert Humphrey. He also wrote speeches for Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow, a fellow Northwestern graduate who was also Frankel’s brother-in-law.

Obituary

Stanley Frankel, a journalist, corporate executive and speechwriter for Democratic presidential candidates, including Adlai E. Stevenson, Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert H. Humphrey, George McGovern and Walter F. Mondale, died on Nov. 12 in a New York City hospital. He was 80.

Mr. Frankel, who lived in Scarsdale, died from complications from a cerebral aneurysm, said his son Stephen Frankel.

Long active in the Democratic Party, Mr. Frankel started by working in Stevenson's campaign for Illinois governor in 1948, and later worked on his unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1952 and 1956.

In 1962, Mr. Frankel won a Peabody Award as executive producer of the television series Adlai Stevenson Reports, a network television program.

He then wrote speeches and recruited leading scholars to help write speeches for other Democratic presidential candidates.

Born on Dec. 8, 1918 in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Frankel attended Northwestern University, graduating in 1940 as valedictorian.

Serving with the 37th Infantry Division in the Pacific in World War II, Mr. Frankel took part in the liberation of Manila and about 2,000 American prisoners of war.

Returning to civilian life, Mr. Frankel worked for Esquire, Coronet and This Week magazines before becoming a vice president of McCall's magazine. He later spent 27 years as vice president for the Ogden Corporation, an industrial conglomerate.

In addition to his son Stephen of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Mr. Frankel is survived by his wife, Irene Baskin Frankel; two other children, Thomas, of Manhattan, and Nancy Joselson of Mamaroneck, N.Y., and three grandchildren.

Mr. Frankel gleefully took credit for a stroke of political gamesmanship at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City in 1964. After a team of Republicans set up a billboard outside the convention hall picturing their candidate, Barry Goldwater, with the legend In your heart, you know he's right, Mr. Frankel and a few fellow Democrats put up a huge sign directly under it reading, Yes -- extreme right.