William Manchester

Author

  • Born: April 1, 1922
  • Birthplace: Attleboro, Massachusetts
  • Died: June 21, 2004
  • Place of death: Middletown, Connecticut

Biography

A prolific writer, William Manchester compiled landmark biographies of some of the most powerful figures of the twentieth century: H. L. Mencken, John F. Kennedy, Douglas MacArthur, Winston Churchill, and the Rockefeller family. In fact, in an interview with People magazine, he stated that the common purpose of all of his books was to explore the roots of power and its acquisition and use.

Manchester was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, to William Raymond and Sallie (Thompson) Manchester. After he attended high school in Springfield, he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts. His studies were interrupted by World War II. He followed in his ancestors’ footsteps by enlisting in the Marine Corps. In Okinawa, Manchester was wounded in the knee, but soon returned to his regiment. He was wounded a second time and nearly lost his life. He received two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and the Navy Cross. His memoir Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War was an effort to come to terms with those war memories. Some critics believe it is his best book.

When he returned from the war, he finished a bachelor’s degree at Massachusetts, then completed a master’s degree at the University of Missouri where his major was English and his thesis was on Mencken. That work developed into his first biography, Disturber of the Peace: The Life of H. L. Mencken. Mencken himself liked the book and offered Manchester a job at the Baltimore Sun.

In 1955, Manchester became managing editor of publications at Wesleyan University of Connecticut and would continue his association with that university as a fellow, adjunct history professor, and writer in residence until his death fifty years later. He would use the university as a base from which to launch one major research project after another.

After trying his hand at novels, Manchester returned to biography with his portrait of the Rockefeller family and the first of what would be three works on Kennedy. He had met Kennedy after the war when they were in Boston rehabilitating. Portrait of a President: John F. Kennedy in Profile is a largely adulatory account of the young president; because of this book and the family friendship, Jacqueline Kennedy invited Manchester to write an account of Kennedy’s assassination. However, The Death of a President: November 20-November 25, 1963 caused a rift in his relationship with the Kennedy family. Jacqueline wanted some personal family material deleted, particularly derogatory comments about Lyndon Baines Johnson that she felt would be detrimental to Robert Kennedy’s political career. After some legal sparring, the differences were reconciled, and the book became a best seller. Manchester also wrote the reminiscence One Brief Shining Moment: Remembering Kennedy.

Manchester’s biographies were characterized by their popularity, voluminous detail, and readability. Five of his books were Book-of-the-Month Club selections. Some of his most lauded works concerned figures from World War II. The Arms of Krupp, 1587-1968 was a study that took him to Germany to research one of the most powerful families in Europe, the Krupp armament manufacturers who armed Germany in three major wars. American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 delved into the life of the greatest strategist since Robert E. Lee. Manchester was at work on the third of a three-volume biography of Winston Churchill at the time of his death.

Manchester was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and he received the National Humanities Award in 2002. He married Julia Brown, who died in 1998 on the eve of the couple’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. They had a boy, John, and two girls, Julie and Laurie. Manchester suffered two strokes in his later years, and died in his home in Middletown, Connecticut, at age eighty-two.