Joseph Persico | Author, speechwriter, 84

Joseph Persico, 84, a best-selling author, historian, and speechwriter for then-New York Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, died Saturday at a hospital in Albany after a long illness, his wife, Sylvia Persico, said.

Mr. Persico published 12 books, including biographies of Rockefeller, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, CIA director William Casey, and President Franklin Roosevelt.

He was selected to write the words etched in granite at the National World War II Memorial: "Here we mark the price of freedom."

His book Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial was made into a miniseries on Turner Network Television. - AP