Bill Lawrence (news personality)
Encyclopedia
William H. "Bill" Lawrence (January 29, 1916 – March 2, 1972) was an American
journalist and television news analyst whose 40-year career as a reporter began in 1932 and included a 20-year stint with The New York Times
(1941–61), for which he reported from major fronts of World War II
and, subsequently, as the newspaper's White House correspondent. In 1961 he joined ABC News
where, for nearly 11 years, he served as the network's national affairs editor and, during his first two years, as an evening news anchorman. The recipient of a 1965 Peabody Award
, he was posthumously honored with the Trustees Award at the 1972 Emmy Awards.
n, William H. Lawrence was born in the state capital, Lincoln
, and briefly attended the city's University of Nebraska before joining the hometown newspaper, Lincoln Star as a 17-year-old cub reporter. In 1935, at the age of 20, he moved to the Associated Press
and, two years later, to the United Press. The first major assignment he covered for UP was the 1936–37 Flint Sit-Down Strike
against General Motors
and, having won plaudits for his reporting, was reassigned to Washington
where, at the beginning of 1941, Arthur Krock
, Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, was impressed by his assertiveness in ferreting out news and offered him a position as one of the bureau's reporters.
In his twenty years with The Times, the 1940s byline, "By William H. Lawrence" and, in the 1950s and 1960–61, "By W. H. Lawrence" appeared over coverage from World War II, the Korean War
and the Cold War
. His battlefront reporting took him to Okinawa, Guam
, Japan
and Moscow
, where he was assigned as a war correspondent in 1943 and, during the immediate postwar period, he filed stories from Poland
, the Balkans
and South America
. In 1959 he served as president of the National Press Club and, during the 1950s, most of his efforts were spent on the Washington political scene, with almost all of the stories appearing on the front page, including the final one he wrote for The Times, datelined May 26, 1961.
and, immediately upon the end of the Eisenhower administration, filled John Daly
's vacated position as vice-president in charge of ABC
's low-rated news operation, offered Lawrence, whom he knew well from his days as White House correspondent, a top-level position at the news department. His first assignment as ABC's chief news analyst was to accompany Hagerty to Europe to cover President John F. Kennedy
's first overseas trip as Chief Executive. Within the course of his first months with the network, since Hagerty would not take over Daly's other position, that of anchorman for ABC Evening News, Lawrence, on September 25, joined newscaster Al Mann and former NBC
anchorman John Cameron Swayze
in a new three-anchor team to replace Bill Shadel
who had been serving as the ABC Evening Report anchorman since Daly's last broadcast and resignation on December 16, 1960 after seven years in the post. The anchor team, however, proved unsuccessful, and, following their final broadcast six months later, on March 22, 1962, ABC returned to the single-anchorman concept with Ron Cochran
at the helm of ABC Evening Report until his replacement by 26-year-old Canadian
Peter Jennings
on February 1, 1965. In the aftermath of his brief stint as co-anchor, Bill Lawrence, as he was exclusively known at ABC, became preoccupied with his duties as the news department's national affairs editor. The face of the network's political coverage, he frequently hosted or appeared on the Sunday morning interview program, Issues and Answers
and was continually visible during primaries, conventions and elections to the extent that his coverage of the 1964 Presidential election, won him the Peabody Award
for "Outstanding Reportorial Work". In 1966, almost two years before President Lyndon B. Johnson
made his "I shall not seek and will not accept my party's nomination" speech of March 31, 1968, he was the sole major news analyst to predict that the president would not run.
In 1968 Bill Lawrence was diagnosed with pulmonary edema
, which caused his lungs to fill with fluid and put a strain on his heart. His colleagues became aware of the condition when he collapsed at his desk immediately following one of the broadcasts from the 1968 Republican National Convention
in Miami Beach. Quickly recovering, Lawrence was able to continue working for his remaining three-and-a-half years and, as a sports fan, also began covering some athletic events and even personally served as the commentator for ABC's coverage of the 1969 World Series
.
as ABC's reporter from the crucial presidential primary
race between early favorite, Senator Edmund Muskie
and his strong challenger, Senator George McGovern
. On March 2, five days before the vote, he suffered a heart attack at the Wayfarer Motor Inn in Bedford
, a suburb of the state's largest city, Manchester
, and was dead on arrival at Manchester's Notre Dame Hospital.
Five weeks earlier, he and ABC Evening News co-anchor, Howard K. Smith
, filmed a few scenes for The Man
, the made-for-TV-but-released-to-theaters feature-film version of Irving Wallace
's bestselling 1964 eponymous novel, The Man. In this multi-plot story of an African-American political figure who, while serving as President pro tempore of the Senate
, suddenly succeeds to the Presidency, the two top national newscasters play fictional versions of themselves in brief segments which show them delivering the news of and discussing the world-shaking event. The film ultimately opened in July, four-and-a-half months after Lawrence's death.
Bill Lawrence and his first wife, Elizabeth Currie, were the parents of two children, William and Ann. Following divorce, he married Constance MacGregor, with that marriage also ending in divorce. The autobiography, Six Presidents, Too Many Wars, which recounted his coverage of the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt
, Harry S. Truman
, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy
, Lyndon B. Johnson
and Richard Nixon
as well as of the combat in World War II
, Korea
and Vietnam
in addition to myriad other international conflicts, was published shortly before the presidential election. In his October 1 review for The New York Times Sunday Book Section, critic Gerald W. Johnson
, noted that "Bill was recalcitrant. Popular idols were not his dish. His book, in fact, is tonic at a moment when the impression is widespread that conformity is the curse of the writing classes."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and television news analyst whose 40-year career as a reporter began in 1932 and included a 20-year stint with The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(1941–61), for which he reported from major fronts of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and, subsequently, as the newspaper's White House correspondent. In 1961 he joined ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
where, for nearly 11 years, he served as the network's national affairs editor and, during his first two years, as an evening news anchorman. The recipient of a 1965 Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, he was posthumously honored with the Trustees Award at the 1972 Emmy Awards.
Newspaper career
A native NebraskaNebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
n, William H. Lawrence was born in the state capital, Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
, and briefly attended the city's University of Nebraska before joining the hometown newspaper, Lincoln Star as a 17-year-old cub reporter. In 1935, at the age of 20, he moved to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and, two years later, to the United Press. The first major assignment he covered for UP was the 1936–37 Flint Sit-Down Strike
Flint Sit-Down Strike
The 1936–1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike changed the United Automobile Workers from a collection of isolated locals on the fringes of the industry into a major labor union and led to the unionization of the domestic United States automobile industry....
against General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
and, having won plaudits for his reporting, was reassigned to Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
where, at the beginning of 1941, Arthur Krock
Arthur Krock
Arthur Krock was a journalist and received the nickname "Dean of Washington newsmen". Born in Glasgow, Kentucky in 1887, he grew up with his grandparents, Emmanuel and Henrietta Morris...
, Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, was impressed by his assertiveness in ferreting out news and offered him a position as one of the bureau's reporters.
In his twenty years with The Times, the 1940s byline, "By William H. Lawrence" and, in the 1950s and 1960–61, "By W. H. Lawrence" appeared over coverage from World War II, the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. His battlefront reporting took him to Okinawa, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where he was assigned as a war correspondent in 1943 and, during the immediate postwar period, he filed stories from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. In 1959 he served as president of the National Press Club and, during the 1950s, most of his efforts were spent on the Washington political scene, with almost all of the stories appearing on the front page, including the final one he wrote for The Times, datelined May 26, 1961.
Anchorman and political analyst for ABC News
In May 1961, James Hagerty, who served as President Dwight Eisenhower's Press SecretaryWhite House Press Secretary
The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
and, immediately upon the end of the Eisenhower administration, filled John Daly
John Charles Daly
John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (generally known as John Charles Daly or simply John Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, game show host and radio personality, probably best known for hosting...
's vacated position as vice-president in charge of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's low-rated news operation, offered Lawrence, whom he knew well from his days as White House correspondent, a top-level position at the news department. His first assignment as ABC's chief news analyst was to accompany Hagerty to Europe to cover President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's first overseas trip as Chief Executive. Within the course of his first months with the network, since Hagerty would not take over Daly's other position, that of anchorman for ABC Evening News, Lawrence, on September 25, joined newscaster Al Mann and former NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
anchorman John Cameron Swayze
John Cameron Swayze
John Cameron Swayze was a popular news commentator and game show panelist in the United States during the 1950s.- Early life :...
in a new three-anchor team to replace Bill Shadel
Bill Shadel
Bill Shadel was an American news anchor for CBS Radio and ABC Television.Edward R. Murrow recruited Shadel while he was working in Europe as a correspondent for the National Rifle Association. During World War II, Shadel covered the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion for CBS Radio. During his years at...
who had been serving as the ABC Evening Report anchorman since Daly's last broadcast and resignation on December 16, 1960 after seven years in the post. The anchor team, however, proved unsuccessful, and, following their final broadcast six months later, on March 22, 1962, ABC returned to the single-anchorman concept with Ron Cochran
Ron Cochran
Ron Cochran was a television news journalist for ABC and CBS. He served as the anchor of the ABC Evening News from 1962 to 1965. In November 1963, he served as the network's principal anchor for the around-the-clock coverage of the Kennedy assassination...
at the helm of ABC Evening Report until his replacement by 26-year-old Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Peter Jennings
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...
on February 1, 1965. In the aftermath of his brief stint as co-anchor, Bill Lawrence, as he was exclusively known at ABC, became preoccupied with his duties as the news department's national affairs editor. The face of the network's political coverage, he frequently hosted or appeared on the Sunday morning interview program, Issues and Answers
Issues and Answers
Issues and Answers was a once-weekly TV news program that was telecast by the American Broadcasting Company network from 1960 to 1981. It was distributed to the ABC affiliate stations early on Sunday afternoons for either live broadcast or video taped for later broadcast.Issues and Answers was...
and was continually visible during primaries, conventions and elections to the extent that his coverage of the 1964 Presidential election, won him the Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for "Outstanding Reportorial Work". In 1966, almost two years before President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
made his "I shall not seek and will not accept my party's nomination" speech of March 31, 1968, he was the sole major news analyst to predict that the president would not run.
In 1968 Bill Lawrence was diagnosed with pulmonary edema
Pulmonary edema
Pulmonary edema , or oedema , is fluid accumulation in the air spaces and parenchyma of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause respiratory failure...
, which caused his lungs to fill with fluid and put a strain on his heart. His colleagues became aware of the condition when he collapsed at his desk immediately following one of the broadcasts from the 1968 Republican National Convention
1968 Republican National Convention
The 1968 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, from August 5 to August 8, 1968....
in Miami Beach. Quickly recovering, Lawrence was able to continue working for his remaining three-and-a-half years and, as a sports fan, also began covering some athletic events and even personally served as the commentator for ABC's coverage of the 1969 World Series
1969 World Series
The 1969 World Series was played between the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles, with the Mets prevailing in five games to accomplish one of the greatest upsets in Series history, as that particular Orioles squad was considered to be one of the finest ever...
.
Final work and death at age 56
In March 1971, with the following year's presidential elections looming on the horizon, Lawrence requested a leave of absence to finish his autobiography. Returning in October, he continued his busy schedule into February 1972 and traveled to New HampshireNew Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
as ABC's reporter from the crucial presidential primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
race between early favorite, Senator Edmund Muskie
Edmund Muskie
Edmund Sixtus "Ed" Muskie was an American politician from Rumford, Maine. He served as Governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, as a member of the United States Senate from 1959 to 1980, and as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981...
and his strong challenger, Senator George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
. On March 2, five days before the vote, he suffered a heart attack at the Wayfarer Motor Inn in Bedford
Bedford, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the Census of 2000, there were 18,274 people, 6,251 households, and 5,125 families residing in the town. The population density was 556.6 people per square mile . There were 6,401 housing units at an average density of 195.0 per square mile...
, a suburb of the state's largest city, Manchester
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
, and was dead on arrival at Manchester's Notre Dame Hospital.
Five weeks earlier, he and ABC Evening News co-anchor, Howard K. Smith
Howard K. Smith
Howard Kingsbury Smith was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, political commentator, and film actor. He was one of the original Edward R. Murrow boys.-Early life:...
, filmed a few scenes for The Man
The Man (1972 film)
The Man is a 1972 political drama directed by Joseph Sargent and starring James Earl Jones. Jones plays Douglass Dilman, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who succeeds to the presidency through a series of unforeseeable events, thereby becoming the first African American...
, the made-for-TV-but-released-to-theaters feature-film version of Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. Wallace was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. One critic described him "as the most successful of all the many exponents of junk fiction perhaps because he took it all so seriously, not so say...
's bestselling 1964 eponymous novel, The Man. In this multi-plot story of an African-American political figure who, while serving as President pro tempore of the Senate
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body...
, suddenly succeeds to the Presidency, the two top national newscasters play fictional versions of themselves in brief segments which show them delivering the news of and discussing the world-shaking event. The film ultimately opened in July, four-and-a-half months after Lawrence's death.
Bill Lawrence and his first wife, Elizabeth Currie, were the parents of two children, William and Ann. Following divorce, he married Constance MacGregor, with that marriage also ending in divorce. The autobiography, Six Presidents, Too Many Wars, which recounted his coverage of the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
as well as of the combat in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Korea
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
in addition to myriad other international conflicts, was published shortly before the presidential election. In his October 1 review for The New York Times Sunday Book Section, critic Gerald W. Johnson
Gerald W. Johnson
Gerald White Johnson was a journalist, editor, essayist, historian, biographer, and novelist. Over his nearly 75 year career he was known for being "one of the most eloquent spokespersons for America’s adversary culture."...
, noted that "Bill was recalcitrant. Popular idols were not his dish. His book, in fact, is tonic at a moment when the impression is widespread that conformity is the curse of the writing classes."
Sources
- "THE HEMISPHERE: Red Harvest" (Time magazine, in its January 13, 1947 issue, describes the article resulting from William (Bill) Lawrence's trip to Brazil as a reporter for The New York Times)
- "THE PRESS: Roll Out the Carpet" (Time magazine, in its February 23, 1948 issue, mentions New York Times reporter William H. Lawrence's expulsion from Bulgaria for describing the country as "a one-party state today, her internal and foreign policies openly modeled on and wedded to the Soviet Union")
- "Letters, Mar. 29, 1954" (letter to Time magazine inquires about Senator Joseph McCarthy giving a playful, but painful, under-the-table kick to Bill Lawrence of The New York Times)
- "W.H. Lawrence Joins A.B.C. News Bureau", The New York Times (May 30, 1961)
- http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60C11FC3A5C147A93C4A81788D85F408685F9&scp=6&sq=%22William+H.+Lawrence%22&st=p"Transcript of Johnson's Assessment in TV Interview of His First 100 Days in Office; President Declares Nation Must Realize That the U.S. Has 120 Foreign Policies". The New York Times (March 16, 1964). President Lyndon Johnson interviewed by CBS' Eric Sevareid, NBC's David Brinkley and ABC's Bill Lawrence]
- "Nation: AGNEW DEMANDS EQUAL TIME" (Vice President Spiro Agnew mentions ABC's Bill Lawrence as a commentator who "challenged the President's abilities as a politician" (Time magazine, November 21, 1969)
- Gent, George. "BURGER TO APPEAR IN TV INTERVIEW; Will Talk With Lawrence of A.B.C. News July 5". The New York Times (May 26, 1971)
- "William H. Lawrence, 56, Dies; National Editor of A. B. C. News; Specialist in Political Affairs Joined Network After 20 Years With Times", The New York Times (March 3, 1972)
- http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70717FE3F5A137A93C3A9178BD95F468785F9&scp=2&sq=%22Bill+Lawrence%22&st=pJohnson, Gerald W. "Merriman Smith's Book of Presidents; A White House Memoir. Edited by Timothy G. Smith. Foreword by Robert J. Donovan. Illustrated. 250 pp. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. Six Presidents, Too Many Wars by Bill Lawrence. 307 pp. New York: Saturday Review Press". The New York Sunday Times Book Review Section (October 1, 1972)]
- Lawrence, Bill (1972). Six Presidents, Too Many Wars. New York: Saturday Review Press. ISBN 0841501432 / ISBN 9780841501430
- Brooks, TimTim Brooks (television historian)Tim Brooks is an American television and radio historian, author and retired television executive. He is credited with having helped launch the Sci Fi Channel in 1992 as well as other USA Network projects and channels....
(1987). The Complete Directory to Prime Time TV Stars 1946–Present, page 497. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-32681-4
External links
- Bill Lawrence comments on Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy's speech at the Democratic National Convention. ABC Evening News for Wednesday, August 21, 1968
- Bill Lawrence comments on speech by President Richard Nixon. ABC Evening News for Wednesday, March 5, 1969
- Bill Lawrence comments on President Richard Nixon's Vietnam policy. ABC Evening News for Monday, November 23, 1970
- Bill Lawrence reports on mounting criticism of President Richard Nixon's bombing of North Vietnam. ABC Evening News for Wednesday, December 29, 1971
- ABC News anchorman Howard K. Smith reports on the death of his colleague, Bill Lawrence. Final segment on ABC Evening News for Friday, March 3, 1972
- CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite reports on the death of Bill Lawrence of ABC News. Final segment on CBS Evening News for Friday, March 3, 1972
- Baker, Russell. "Another Species Extinct", The New York Times (September 21, 1996). More than fourteen years after his death, Times columnist remembers William H. Lawrence