Hanson Baldwin; Military Writer Won Pulitzer

Hanson Baldwin, 88, former military affairs writer for the New York Times and author of more than a dozen books on military and naval history and policy. Baldwin joined the Times in 1929 after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for his World War II reporting from the Pacific. Later, he chronicled the strategy, tactics and weapons of war in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East and other trouble spots, becoming a leading authority on military and naval affairs at the start of the nuclear age. He retired from the Times in 1966. Baldwin’s dispatches and military analyses were widely read by generals, admirals, presidents and members of Congress. His opinions often angered the Soviet Union. Pravda once called him a “cannibal in an American tunic.” After his retirement, Baldwin continued to write on military affairs for the Times and wrote several books. On Wednesday in Roxbury, Conn., of heart failure.