Richard Dougherty was a journalist, author and press secretary for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. Through the course of his life Dougherty was a deputy New York City police commissioner for community relations in the 1950s and a city hall reporter and Washington political correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. Later he was the New York bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.
Dougherty joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1974 and, until his retirement a decade later, was in charge of fund raising, public relations and membership.
Dougherty wrote five novels, ''A Summer World'' (1960); ''Duggan'' (1962); ''The Commissioner'' (1962), which was the basis for the movie and television series ''Madigan''; ''We Dance and Sing'' (1971), and ''Botch/Up, (1974).''