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Hanson W. Baldwin

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Hanson W. Baldwin
Hanson Baldwin
Born
Hanson Weightman Baldwin

(1903-03-22)March 22, 1903
Baltimore, Maryland
DiedNovember 13, 1991(1991-11-13)(aged 88)
Roxbury, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
OccupationJournalist

Hanson Weightman Baldwin(March 22, 1903 – November 13, 1991) was an American journalist and military historian who was the long-time military editor ofThe New York Times.[1]He won aPulitzer Prize"for his coverage of the early days of World War II". He wrote or edited numerous books on military topics.[2]

Early life

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Hanson Baldwin was the son of Oliver Perry and Caroline (Sutton) Baldwin. He was born inBaltimore, Marylandon March 22, 1903.

He attended theBoys' Latin School of Marylandin Baltimore and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1924. After three years of naval service he began his newspaper career in 1927 as a reporter forThe Baltimore Sun.He joinedThe New York Timesin 1929 and wrote for them for the next forty years. In 1937 he became the paper's military analyst. That year, he spent four months in Europe reporting on the military preparedness for what was viewed as the coming war. One of his first major stories in 1938 was of theinterception of the ocean linerRexby U.S.B-17 Flying Fortresses,in which he personally participated.

Career

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DuringWorld War IIBaldwin wrote dispatches from the South Pacific, North Africa and Europe.[3]His dispatches fromGuadalcanaland the Western Pacific won him thePulitzer Prize in 1943.His coverage of the Korean War forThe New York Timeshas been criticized for its inaccuracy[4]and its racism.[5]In 1959 he broke the news of the high-altitude atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States, known asOperation Argus.Besides working for The Times, he lectured and wrote regularly for magazines, scholarly quarterlies and for professional military publications. His papers were given as "The Hanson W. Baldwin Collection" to theGeorge C. Marshall Foundation.[6]After his retirement he continued to write articles on military affairs for the news columns andop-edpage ofTheNew York Times.

He authored scores of books on military and defense topics. His books published are:Men and Ships of Steel(1935),We Saw It Happen(1938),The Caissons Roll(1938),Admiral Dealth(1939),What the Citizen Should Know About the Navy(1941),United We Stand(1941),Strategy for Victory(1942),The Navy at War(1943),The Price of Power(1947),Great Mistakes of the War(1949),Sea fights and Shipwrecks(1955),The Great Arms Race(1958),World War I: An Outline History(1962),The New Navy(1964),Battles Lost and Won: Great Campaigns of World War II(1966),Strategy for Tomorrow(1970),The Crucial Years, 1939-1941(1976), andTiger Jack(1979).

Secretary of WarRobert P. Pattersonhonored war correspondents, including Baldwin, at an event in Washington, on November 23, 1946.[7]

In 1962, Baldwin was secretly wiretapped in a precursor toProject Mockingbird.[8]President Kennedy was mystified by how Baldwin was able to obtain his information on the Cuba missile crises and he would not reveal his sources.[9]

Besides the Pulitzer Prize, he received many awards and prizes, including the Distinguished Service Medal fromSyracuse Universityin 1944 and the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievementin 1969.[10]He also received honorary degrees fromDrake Universityand the Clarkson Institute of Technology.[11][2]

Personal life

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In 1931 he married Helen Bruce Baldwin (1907–1994) ofUrbana, Ohio.[12]Helen wrote poetry and articles on culinary subjects for various magazines.[12]They had two daughters; Barbara Potter and Elizabeth Crabtree. The Baldwins lived inChappaqua,New York.

Baldwin died inRoxbury, Connecticuton November 13, 1991.[3]

References

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  1. ^"Hanson W. Baldwin Papers An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University".library.syracuse.edu.Retrieved2024-04-02.
  2. ^abMcFadden, Robert D. (1991-11-14)."Hanson Baldwin, Military Writer, Dies".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-12-23.
  3. ^ab"HANSON W. BALDWIN DIES".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Retrieved2022-11-27.
  4. ^Cumings, Bruce (2010).The Korean War - A History.Modern Library. p. 15.ISBN978-0-679-64357-9.Chinese Communists were reported to have joined the fighting, he erred in saying... [in his 14 July 1950 article forThe New York Times]
  5. ^Cumings, Bruce (2010).The Korean War - A History.Modern Library. p. 15.ISBN978-0-679-64357-9.Misjudgements also grew out of the ubiquitous racism of whites coming from a segregated American society [...] Consider the judgment of the respected military editor ofThe New York Times,Hanson Baldwin [...]: "We are facing an army of barbarians in Korea [...] as relentless, as reckless of life [...] as the hordes ofGenghis Khan[...] some of the most primitive of peoples.
  6. ^"Hanson W. Baldwin Papers Archives - Library".www.marshallfoundation.org.Retrieved2019-12-23.
  7. ^ "TASK OF OCCUPATION DECLARED IN PERIL; Patterson at Dinner Honoring War Correspondents Says More Appropriations Are Needed".The New York Times.Washington DC.1946-11-23. p. 28.Retrieved2020-11-26.
  8. ^Mitchell, Greg(October 18, 2016)."Before Nixon: When JFK tapped the phone of a New York Times reporter".Columbia Journalism Review.RetrievedJune 1,2020.
  9. ^Weiner, Tim (2007-07-01)."J.F.K. Turns to the C.I.A. to Plug a Leak".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-12-23.
  10. ^"Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement".www.achievement.org.American Academy of Achievement.
  11. ^"Clarkson University Honorary Degrees Past Recipients".Clarkson University.
  12. ^ab"Helen B. Baldwin, Writer, 87 - The New York Times".2019-12-23. Archived fromthe originalon 2019-12-23.Retrieved2022-11-27.

Further reading

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  • Robert B. Davies.Baldwin of the Times: Hanson W. Baldwin, a Military Journalist's Life, 1903–1991(Naval Institute Press; 2012), 399 pages
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