Talk:William Manchester

Why would Manchester expect to serve in Europe if he joined the Marines? AaronCBurke 23:47, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Because the Marines had been among the first US troops to fight in Europe in WWI. Among those WWI Marines was Manchester's father, who was badly wounded (so badly, according to Manchester, that the wounds contributed to his father's premature death long after the war). As it happened, US Marines fought only in the Pacific in WWII, but Manchester would have had no way of knowing that at the time.

This obit, from Wesleyan University, with which Manchester was associated, would seem to contradict the last paragraph of the narrative portion of the article. According to the obit, "Manchester... died... less than two weeks after his publisher announced that an agreement had been reached to help him finish the final volume in his biography of Winston Churchill: The Last Lion, Volume III." -- Jmabel 16:56, Jun 10, 2004 (UTC)

You should note this phrase from the article linked above: Joseph Lynch, Manchester's attorney for many years, said Tuesday that the historian’s death is not expected to interfere with completion of the book. Obviously we're gonna see volume III! --85.74.191.117 7 July 2005 16:15 (UTC)

This NYT article, demonstrates the complexity of the issue. While Manchester agreed to his friend Mr. Paul F.Reid finishing the book, it is absolutely clear that he lacked the capacity to complete the third volume himself, and he announced as much. The most heartbreaking quote from the article: "My wife is gone, and I can no longer write," Mr. Manchester said. "If I believed in the power of prayer, I would pray every day that he carry me away." Infosquawk 3/2/2005.

Internal inconsistency

The publishing date of 'Death of a President' is listed as both 1965 and 1967.