Quick Facts
Biography
William Vincent Shannon (August 24, 1927 – September 27, 1988) was a member of the editorial board of the New York Times and U.S. ambassador to Ireland under President Jimmy Carter (1977–81).
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, he earned an A.B. degree from Clark University in 1947 and an M.A. from Harvard University in 1948.
He was a Washington correspondent and columnist for the New York Post from 1951 to 1964. From 1964 he was on the editorial board of the New York Times. He also authored the books The American Irish: A Political and Social Portrait (1964, ISBN 0-87023-689-X), The Heir Apparent (1967) and They Could Not Trust the King (1974). He was coauthor of The Truman Merry-Go-Round (1950) and published many articles.
Shannon served on the board of directors of the American Irish Foundation. In 1975 he received the Gold Medal of the Éire Society of Boston for service to literature. He was an associate fellow of Yale University's Morse College from 1966, and in 1961-62 was fellow-in-residence at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Shannon died in 1988 of lymphoma, at age 61.