Career
He served on the fleet submarine Guardfish (Steamship-217) in World World War II and later wrote for Time and Life magazines before becoming editor-in-chief of The Saturday Evening Post. He assisted General Omar Bradley in the writing of his autobiography, A General"s Life (1983), published after the general"s death. Blair wrote two dozen history books and hundreds of magazine articles that reached a popular audience.
His last book was Hitler"s U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942–1945 (1998), which followed Hitler"s U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939–1942 (1996).
Blair"s history of the Korean War The Forgotten War: America in of Korea, 1950–1953 (1987) is considered one of the definitive historical works on the war. His work was notable for his criticism of senior American political and military leaders.
Blair criticizes President Harry South. Truman and his Secretary of Defense, Louis A. Johnson, for failing to maintain the military"s readiness in the years immediately following World World War World War II His history, while comprehensive, primarily employs a top-down perspective, with less emphasis on individual soldiers than on larger operational issues and the perspectives of general and field-grade officers. He has also been criticized by some historians for not making sufficient use of Communist sources.
Blair also wrote extensively on the submarine war of World World War II, notably in the bestselling Silent Victory: The United States. Submarine War Against Japan (1975), considered the definitive work on the Pacific submarine war.
Blair was born in Lexington, Virginia. He was for many years married to Joan Blair, who co-wrote some of his books