John Walter Lord Jr. (October 8, 1917 – May 19, 2002) was an American author, lawyer,

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

and

popular historian Popular history is a broad genre of historiography that takes a popular approach, aims at a wide readership, and usually emphasizes narrative, personality and vivid detail over scholarly analysis. The term is used in contradistinction to professio ...

best known for his 1955 account of the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'', '' A Night to Remember''.

Biography

Early life

Lord was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

to John Walter Lord Sr. and Henrietta MacTier (Hoffman) Lord on October 8, 1917. His father, who was a lawyer, died when Lord was just three years old. Lord's grandfather, Richard Curzon Hoffman, was president of the

Baltimore Steam Packet Company The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, nicknamed the , was an American steamship line from 1840 that provided overnight steamboat service on Chesapeake Bay, primarily between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia. Called a " packet" for the mai ...

("Old Bay Line") steamship firm in the 1890s. In July 1925, at the age of 7, Lord traveled across the Atlantic Ocean with his mother and sister, from New York to

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Febr ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, on the RMS ''Olympic'', the ''Titanic''s sister ship. Like many other boys who attended high school at Baltimore's

Gilman School Gilman School is an all-boys independent school located in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. There are three school divisions: Lower School, grades pre-kindergarten through five; Middle School, grades six through eight; and ...

, he spent his summers at Hyde Bay Camp for Boys at

Hyde Bay Hyde Bay is a bay located on Otsego Lake. The historic Hyde Bay Camp was located on the shores of Hyde Bay. Hyde Bay is the location on the lake where General Clinton and his men landed on their way to Cooperstown. References {{Reflist Landf ...

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the ...

, where he was awarded the honorary title of "The Commodore" and later returned to reign over many annual camp events, like the eight inch regatta and closing barbecue and bonfire. He then studied history at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and graduated in 1939. Lord then enrolled at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

, interrupting his studies to join the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he was assigned to the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

as a code clerk in London, in 1942. He was the agency's secretariat when the war ended in 1945. Afterwards, Lord returned to Yale, where he earned a degree in law.

Career

Lord wrote, or edited and annotated 11 bestselling books on such diverse subjects as the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

(''Day of Infamy'', 1957), the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under ...

(''Incredible Victory'', 1967), the

Battle of the Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Anto ...

(''A Time to Stand'', 1961), the

Battle of Baltimore The Battle of Baltimore (September 12–15, 1814) was a sea/land battle fought between British invaders and American defenders in the War of 1812. American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland ...

(''The Dawn's Early Light'', 1972),

Arctic exploration Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Historical records suggest that humankind have explored ...

(''Peary to the Pole'', 1963), pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

America (''The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War'', 1960),

Coastwatchers The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II ...

(''Lonely Vigil'', 1977), the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allies of World War II, Allied soldiers during the World War II, Second World War from the bea ...

(''The Miracle of Dunkirk'', 1982), and the

civil rights struggle The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United S ...

(''The Past That Would Not Die'', 1965). Walter Lord memorial

Shortly after going to work as a

for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in New York City, Lord published ''The Fremantle Diary'', edited and annotated from the journals of the British officer and Confederate sympathizer,

Arthur Fremantle General Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle (11 November 1835 – 25 September 1901) was a British Army officer and a notable British witness to the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Whilst holding the rank of "Captain and Lieut ...

, who toured the South for three months in 1863. It became a mild, but surprising, success in 1954, as Lord was well into completing ''A Night to Remember'', which would win him much popular acclaim. ''A Night to Remember'', about the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'', became a

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, co ...

in 1955 and was made into a popular 1958 British movie of the same name. The historian tracked down 63 ''Titanic'' survivors and wrote a dramatic, minute-by-minute account of the ocean liner's sinking during her maiden voyage. Lord's knowledge of the ''Titanic'' catastrophe achieved considerable renown, and he frequently lectured at meetings of the

Titanic Historical Society The ''Titanic'' Historical Society, Inc. (THS) is a non-profit organization founded on whose purpose is the preservation of the history of the famous ocean liner RMS ''Titanic'', which sank in 1912, in one of the greatest maritime disasters i ...

. In his final years, Lord wrote another book about the ''Titanic'' titled ''The Night Lives On: Thoughts, Theories and Revelations about the Titanic'', published in 1986, a year after the wreck of the ''Titanic'' was discovered and interest in the ''Titanic'' renewed again. In the next decade, Lord served as a consultant to director

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post- New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability ...

during the filming of ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'' (1997). The sequel documentary to Cameron's film ''Titanic'', ''

Ghosts of the Abyss ''Ghosts of the Abyss'' is a 2003 American documentary film produced by Walden Media and released in most countries by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by James Cameron after his 1997 film ''Titanic''. During August and September 2001, Camer ...

'' (2003), was dedicated to Lord's memory. In 2009, Jenny Lawrence edited and published a biography of Lord — ''The Way It Was: Walter Lord on His Life and Books''. In the late 1980s, Lawrence had recorded hours of interviews she had with Lord, in which he discussed his writing and life. After chapters on his early life in Baltimore and up to his time with the OSS in London and Paris, chapters are devoted to his research and writing of each of his books.

Death

Lord died at age 84 on May 19, 2002, after suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

, at his

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

home. Noted historian

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States ...

said of Lord at his death, "He was one of the most generous and kind-hearted men I've ever known, and when I had stars in my eyes and wanted to become a writer, he was a great help. I'll always be indebted to him." Lord is buried in his maternal family's plot at historic

Green Mount Cemetery Green Mount Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established on March 15, 1838, and dedicated on July 13, 1839, it is noted for the large number of historical figures interred in its grounds as well as man ...

. His grave is marked by a marble bench listing the books he authored.

Publications

Lord published 12 historical works: * ''The Fremantle Diary'' (1954) (ed.) * '' A Night to Remember'' (1955) * ''Day of Infamy: The Bombing of Pearl Harbor'' (1957) * ''The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War'' (1960) * ''A Time to Stand: The Epic of the Alamo'' (1961) * ''Peary to the Pole'' (1963) * ''The Past That Would Not Die'' (1965) * ''Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway'' (1967) * ''

The Dawn's Early Light ''The Dawn's Early Light'' is a 1972 non-fiction book by Walter Lord about the War of 1812 Battle of Baltimore and the events leading up to it. Lord said he wrote the book because of the event's significance in American history., p. 15 It is one ...

: The War of 1812 and the Battle That Inspired Francis Scott Key to Write "The Star-Spangled Banner'' (1972) * ''Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons (Bluejacket Books)'' (1977) * ''The Miracle of Dunkirk: The True Story of Operation Dynamo'' (1982) * ''The Night Lives On: Thoughts, Theories and Revelations about the Sinking of the "Unsinkable" Ship - Titanic'' (1986)

References

External links

BBC interview with Walter Lord regarding RMS ''Titanic''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Walter 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers RMS Titanic American military writers Historians of Texas Historians of the Texas Revolution Gilman School alumni Princeton University alumni Yale Law School alumni People of the Office of Strategic Services Lawyers from Baltimore Military personnel from Baltimore Writers from Baltimore Writers from Manhattan Neurological disease deaths in New York (state) Deaths from Parkinson's disease 1917 births 2002 deaths Burials at Green Mount Cemetery Historians from New York (state) 20th-century American lawyers Historians from Maryland 20th-century American male writers United States Army personnel of World War II