Frank Van der Linden

Frank Morris van der Linden ROCKVILLE, Md. Frank Morris van der Linden, historian, journalist, and member of the White House Press Corps, passed away on Thursday, June 23, 2011, following complications from a stroke in Rockville, Md. He was 92. A native of North Carolina, he was born in Hendersonville on March 8, 1919. He lived there until the Great Depression forced his family to move to Valdese and, later, Hickory, where he graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne College with a B.A. degree in History in 1939. During World War II, he tried on several occasions to enlist in the armed services; however, each time he was turned down because of his poor eyesight. Despite this handicap, he followed his dream of becoming a journalist, first for the Hickory Daily Record as a teenager, where he quickly rose to the position of managing editor at the age of 23. In the summer of 1944, his first article appeared in the Washington Post based on his first book, Dark Horse, about President James Polk. Several months later, in March 1945, he moved to Washington, D.C. to cover Congress and the White House. He briefly worked for the Washington Post before accepting a position as a reporter for the Cottrell News Bureau which served several southern newspapers. In 1952, he assumed responsibilities for the Cottrell News Bureau and became Bureau Chief of the Nashville Banner, a position he held until 1986. He also served several other newspapers, including the Jackson Daily News, the Greenville News, and the Charlotte Observer. From 1982 until 1989, he was the Washington correspondent for the Sacramento Union. His columns were nationally distributed by the United Feature Syndicate in New York. During his career, he was a frequent panelist on NBC's Meet the Press. Van der Linden interviewed every president, from Harry S. Truman to George H.W. Bush, and he was a regular participant in White House press conferences. He traveled the world covering presidents and vice presidents, including former president Richard Nixon's historic trip to the Soviet Union in 1972. Van der Linden's avocation was American history. His 1962 book, The Turning Point, was a well-received study of Thomas Jefferson's battle for the presidency. After retiring from daily journalism in 1992, he rekindled his interest in the Civil War, publishing numerous articles and books, including Lincoln: The Road to War, in 1998, and The Dark Intrigue: A True Story of a Civil War Conspiracy, in 2007. Van der Linden was a member of the Cosmos Club and New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, the former Georgia Kathlyn Huddle, of Williamsport, Md; his son, Frank Robert van der Linden, of Washington, D.C.; his daughter, Anne Morris van der Linden, of Portland, Ore.; and his grandchildren, David Patrick McKay and Rachael Lee van der Linden. He was preceded in death in 2005 by his daughter, Margaret V. McKay, of Columbia, Md. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy in his memory may be made to the Montgomery Hospice Foundation. www.montgomeryhospice.org