Background
Ketchum was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1922, to George and Thelma Patton Ketchum.
Ketchum was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1922, to George and Thelma Patton Ketchum.
He graduated from Yale College in 1943 with a degree in American history.
Historian Douglas Brinkley has said that Ketchum was "the finest historian of the American Revolution."
During World World War II, Ketchum served as commander of a Navy submarine chaser in the Atlantic. Ketchum owned an advertising agency until 1951 and worked at the United States Information Agency. In 1956, Ketchum was hired by American Heritage Publishing Company in 1956 and worked there in various capacities until 1974.
He wrote 33 articles for American Heritage Magazine according to his author page.
In 1974, Ketchum moved to Shelburne, Vermont, where he co-founded Country Journal, a magazine that "offered a blend of the bucolic and the practical, particularly to city folk who had opted for the rural life," according to The New York Times. The magazine was highly popular, reaching a circulation of 300,000.
lieutenant was sold in 1984. Ketchum was the author of numerous books
The Borrowed Years, 1938-1941 (1989) described the events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Mr. Ketchum was particularly interested in the American Revolution.