Douglas Kiker
Douglas Kiker was an influential American journalist and author, born on January 7, 1930, in Griffin, Georgia. He graduated from Presbyterian College and began his career at the Atlanta Journal, eventually becoming a Washington correspondent. Kiker made significant contributions to journalism, particularly during the civil rights movement, with his first novel, *The Southerner*, published in 1956. He served as the Director of Information for the Peace Corps from 1960 to 1962, and went on to report for major outlets, including the New York Herald Tribune and NBC, where he became known for his in-depth political coverage. Kiker was present during pivotal historical moments, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and he won a Peabody Award in 1970 for his reporting on the war in Jordan.
In addition to journalism, Kiker returned to fiction writing in the 1980s, publishing a series of mystery novels featuring amateur sleuth Mac McFarland. He also contributed to television, appearing in films and alongside other prominent figures in broadcasting. Kiker passed away on August 14, 1991, and was buried in Chatham, Massachusetts. His legacy includes a posthumous recognition by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his extensive contributions to the field.
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Douglas Kiker
Writer
- Born: January 7, 1930
- Birthplace: Griffin, Georgia
- Died: August 14, 1991
- Place of death: Chatham, Massachusetts
Biography
Douglas Kiker was descended from an old Pennsylvania family (Keicher) that, beginning in the late eighteenth century, drifted south and simplified its surname before settling around Cass County. Kiker was born January 7, 1930 (some sources give 1929), in Griffin, Georgia. He graduated from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, and afterward went to work at the Atlanta Journal, where he soon became Washington correspondent. At the same time, he first tried his hand at fiction. In 1956, he published The Southerner, a novel dealing with the formation of the Civil Rights movement in the South. His second novel was Strangers on the Shore (1959).
Between 1960 and 1962, Kiker served as Director of Information for the Peace Corps before returning to journalism. He was present at John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 while reporting for the New YorkHerald Tribune—where he was the last political correspondent before the paper folded in 1966—and covered a variety of political and social events In 1966, he joined the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) as political correspondent, and the following year was assigned to the Huntley-Brinkley Report to work on in-depth stories from New York. Kiker meanwhile wrote articles and short stories for such publications as Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s and the Yale Review.
Kiker held a variety of positions with NBC—Washington, Rome and national affairs correspondent—and in the process became one of America’s most trusted television journalists; he was a popular speaker at colleges on a number of political and communications-related topics. Kiker covered considerable territory in pursuing stories from the world hot spots of his era: Poland, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East. He won a coveted broadcasting Peabody Award in 1970 for his coverage of the war in Jordan. From 1980 to 1982, Kiker was a regular field reporter for the David Brinkley-anchored NBC Magazine (along with Jack Perkins, Garrick Utley, and Betsy Aaron), the network’s third attempt to duplicate CBS’s popular 60 Minutes format. In the last year of the show, Kiker featured the Make-a-Wish Foundation in a story, which gave rise to dozens of Make-a-Wish chapters across the country and helped enable the foundation to be officially incorporated as a national organization in 1983.
In the 1980’s, Kiker moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and concentrated on full-length fiction again. His first novel in nearly thirty years was a mystery, Murder on Clam Pond (1986). The novel introduced amateur sleuth Mac McFarland, a fifty-year old one-time Boston reporter covering a murder in small-town Cape Cod, and his elderly, bad-tempered poodle Moumou. Mac and friend would return twice more, in Death at the Cut (1988) and in the well-reviewed Death Below Deck (1991). Kiker also appeared in films in each of those years: Windmills of the Gods (1988) and Memories of Midnight (1991).
Douglas Kiker suffered a heart attack and died August 14, 1991. He was buried at the Saint Christopher’s Church Cemetery in Chatham, Massachusetts. Kiker was posthumously awarded the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Silver Circle, in recognition of his long service to the broadcasting industry.