Explorer: The Life of Richard E. Byrd

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Any book is a collaboration among many people, and Explorer is no exception. The manuscript has been read and greatly strengthened by Raimond Goerler, John Behrendt, and my wife, Harriet Dashiell Schwar. Professor Behrendt in particular saved me from a number of embarrassing errors of fact and interpretation regarding Antarctic science. Navy navigator John Rose read the chapter on the North Polar flight and provided several maps. Professor Goerler, Laura Kissel, and the staff of the Byrd Polar Archives at The Ohio State University in Columbus have been unfailingly helpful and pleasant through the more than half-dozen years I have worked on the project, pointing me to important materials I might have otherwise missed, and discussing various aspects of Richard Byrd’s life and times. Their professionalism is impressive, their unflagging enthusiasm and support deeply appreciated. The good people of Winchester, Virginia, particularly Senator Harry F. Byrd, Professor Warren Hofstra of Shenandoah University, the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, and the staff of the Handley Regional Library, were unfailingly hospitable and helpful during my brief stays there. Senator Byrd devoted a morning to discussing his famous uncle with me, while Professor Hofstra rather ignited this entire project when he kindly invited me to speak at the centenary of Richard Byrd’s birth so many years ago. Liz Safly and her colleagues in the manuscript division of the Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri, provided me with key materials on Admiral Byrd’s steadily deteriorating relations with President Truman and the unhappy results , while the staffs of the National Archives and Records Service Center in Suitland , Maryland, and the Library of Congress facilitated my research into the papers of Byrd’s polar colleagues. Bolling Byrd Clarke answered a number of key questions I had as the manuscript developed. Wendell Summers, Elgin Long, William Molett, and Thomas J. Poulter Jr. readily granted permission to quote from critically important unpubxi lished materials, while Bryan Shoemaker, Colin Bull, Merlyn D. Paine, Dian Olson Belanger, and Sheldon Mark provided encouragement along the way. Mr. Summers also provided a fascinating character portrait of the Admiral of the Antarctic. Jon and Kathy Campbell provided great kindness—and several important sources—at a dark moment. Finally, I owe special gratitude to Beverly Jarrett, Jane Lago, Clair Willcox, Annette Wenda, and the rest of the staff at the University of Missouri Press who have once again, much to my joy, taken on a major project. No writer anywhere can find a finer group of professionals with whom to work. With such impressive backing, it hardly needs to be said that all errors of fact and interpretation that may remain are solely my responsibility. xii Acknowledgments 3.143.244.83] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 06:28 GMT) Created by John M. Rose, 2007. xiii Courtesy Byrd Polar Research Center Archives, The Ohio State University, Columbus. xiv 3.143.244.83] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 06:28 GMT) xv Created by John M. Rose, 2007. Contemporary map of aerial flights (including the South Pole) during the First Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1928–1930. Courtesy Byrd Polar Research Center Archives, The Ohio State University, Columbus. xvi 3.143.244.83] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 06:28 GMT) Official map of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1933–1935, with inset map of the Bay of Whales. Courtesy Byrd Polar Research Center Archives, The Ohio State University, Columbus. xvii The summer field explorations of 1934 included operations for aircraft and the three main surface parties. To Mile 173, the routes for the tractors and Supporting, Plateau, and Geological parties overlapped; to Mile 293, only the Supporting and Geological parties overlapped. From Mile 293, the Geological Party continued south alone. (Some map information derived from “Operations Map,” National Geographic, 1935, by Commander Harold E. Saunders, USN, Rawson and Darley, archived at the Byrd Polar Research Center, Papers of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, 9267.) Courtesy of M. L. Paine xviii 3.143.244.83] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 06:28 GMT) Flight tracks of air operations, Operation Highjump, December 1946–March 1947. Courtesy Byrd Polar Research Center Archives, The Ohio State University, Columbus. xix 3.143.244.83] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 06:28 GMT) ...