Baldwin, Hanson Weightman, 1903-1991

Hanson Baldwin was a writer for the Baltimore Sun (1928), the New York Times (1929-1968), and Reader's Digest (1968-1976). He reported extensively on World War II, and in 1942 he became military editor for the New York Times. Baldwin was co-chairman of the armaments group of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as editor of many books and authored numerous articles. Baldwin died in 1991.

Author, journalist, and lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1942.

Journalist, writer.

Author and military correspondent and editor, New York Times. Died 1991.

Biographical Note

Hanson Baldwin was a writer for the Baltimore Sun (1928), the New York Times (1929-1968), and Reader's Digest (1968-1976). He reported extensively on World War II, and in 1942 he became military editor for the New York Times . Baldwin was co-chairman of the armaments group of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as editor of many books and authored numerous articles. Baldwin died in 1991.

After retiring from the New York Times in 1968, Hanson Baldwin became an editor at Reader's Digest . He retired from the Digest in 1976. Baldwin's books published after his retirement from the New York Times include Strategy for Tomorrow (1970), The Crucial Years, 1939-1941: The World at War (1976), A New Treaty for Panama? (with Abraham F. Lowenthal and Milton Charlton, 1977), and Tiger Jack (1979). Baldwin died in 1991. For Hanson Baldwin materials in other repositories, the researcher should search the Research Libraries Information Network. For other Baldwin family papers, especially for Hanson Baldwin's father, O. P. Baldwin, Jr., contact the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia.

Hanson Weightman Baldwin was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 22, 1903. His father, Oliver Perry Baldwin, was editor of the Baltimore Sun. Baldwin was educated at the Boys' Latin School, Baltimore, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1924. He was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy and served on battleships and a destroyer on the East coast, in the Caribbean, and in a European squadron. In 1927 he resigned in order to travel and write. He spent a year as a quartermaster in the merchant marine and in 1928 joined the Baltimore Sun as a general assignment and police reporter.

In 1929 Baldwin joined the staff of the New York Times . Because of his background and interests the New York Times gave him an increasing number of naval and military assignments. In 1937 Baldwin spent four months in Europe covering the armaments build-up. In 1942 he was awarded the Pulitzer prize for his articles on the war in the Pacific. In the same year he became the military editor of the New York Times . Until his retirement in 1968, Baldwin travelled extensively and covered major military events for the Times all over the world. He was present at the Normandy invasion and the second atomic test at Bikini; he went to Korea, Japan and Formosa in 1950, to Berlin in 1961, and to Vietnam in 1965 and again in 1968.

In 1940 Baldwin became co-chairman with Allen Dulles of the armaments group of the Council on Foreign Relations' "Studies of American Interests in the War and the Peace." He was also a member of the Security Task Force of the first Hoover Commission and was a frequent witness before various government committees. Nevertheless, Baldwin believed that his major responsibility was to the public and the nation, and not to any administration. If he received classified information in confidence it was not revealed, but "no newspaper and no commentator," he insisted, "can regard a classified stamp as a bar to publication or virtually no newspaper could be published." (See correspondence with Albert L. Kotzebue.) In 1962 Baldwin was investigated by the F.B.I. for publishing information about Russian missile bases which was not known to some high-ranking government officials.

Baldwin wrote numerous articles for periodicals, as well as those for the New York Times ; he frequently gave talks at service schools and academies, and he appeared both on radio and television. For a list of his published writings see Series II, "Writings," and the Appendix to these papers.

In 1938 Baldwin co-edited, with Shepard Stone, We Saw It Happen, a collection of stories by New York Times journalists. Between 1960 and 1968 he edited a series of books for J.B. Lippincott called Great Battles of History .

Baldwin married Helen Bruce in 1931. They have two daughters and several grandchildren.

Hanson Weightman Baldwin (1903-1991) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and military historian. He was born March 22, 1903, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Oliver Perry and Caroline Sutton Baldwin. His father was managing editor and editorial writer for the Baltimore Sun. Baldwin attended the Boys' Latin School in Baltimore and graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1924. After serving aboard battleships and a destroyer, he resigned from the Navy in 1927 and became a reporter for the Baltimore Sun the following year. He joined the New York Times two days before the 1929 stock market crash and was appointed its military editor in 1937.

Baldwin traveled throughout Europe in the 1930's, reporting on the buildup of the German war machine and the military preparedness of other European nations. Before the United States entered World War II, he was invited to lecture soldiers about military and political problems. His coverage of the war in the Western Pacific won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1942, and he was present during many other important campaigns, including the Normandy invasion. Syracuse University's School of Journalism awarded him a medal for distinguished service in 1944, and he received an honorary doctorate from Drake University in 1945.

After the war, Baldwin concentrated on military-political problems and the organization of the United States military for the atomic age. He covered atomic bomb tests, the Korean conflict, the Suez crisis, and the war in Vietnam before his retirement in 1968.

In addition to his work for the Times, Baldwin contributed articles to such publications as Aviation, Foreign Affairs, Harper's, National Review, Reader's Digest, and Saturday Evening Post . He also wrote or edited nineteen books, including United We Stand!: Defense of the Western Hemisphere (1941), The Great Arms Race: A Comparison of U.S. and Soviet Power Today (1958), World War I: An Outline History (1962), Battles Lost and Won: Great Campaigns of World War II (1966), and The Crucial Years: 1939-1941 (1976). He wrote, but never published, a biography of John Shirley "Tiger Jack" Wood (1888-1966), an American Major General and commander of the 4th Armored Division. Wood was a close friend of General Patton, a brilliant commander who has been called "the American Rommel." ( Patton: a Genius for War, Carlo d'Este, p. 631).

Baldwin married Helen Bruce of Springfield, Ohio, in 1931, and the couple had two daughters. The Baldwins moved to Roxbury, Connecticut, after his retirement from the Times .