Douglas Kneeland, reporter, editor, 78

BANGOR - Douglas Kneeland, who reported on Vietnam War protests, the Kent State killings, Watergate, and the Charles Manson trial for The New York Times before serving as an editor with the Chicago Tribune, died Saturday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 78.

Mr. Kneeland covered Richard M. Nixon's presidential campaign in 1972 and later broke the story of the Saturday Night Massacre for the Times.

He counted the story about Nixon's dismissal of the independent Watergate investigator and the resignation of the attorney general and deputy attorney general among his most significant professional achievements.

After 22 years at the Times, Mr. Kneeland worked at the Chicago Tribune before retiring to his hometown of Lincoln, Maine. He taught briefly at the University of Maine. He had started his career at the Bangor Daily News. He also had worked at Worcester Telegram.