Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage andmilitary-science storylines set during and after theCold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers and more than 100 million copies of his books have been sold.[1] His name was also used onscreenplays written byghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometownMajor League Baseball team, theBaltimore Orioles, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.
Clancy was born on April 12, 1947, atFranklin Square Hospital inBaltimore, Maryland,[4] and grew up in theNorthwood neighborhood in northeast Baltimore.[2][4][5] The family was Irish-American.[6] He was the second of three children to Thomas Leo Clancy (1918–1995), who worked for theUnited States Postal Service, and Catherine Mary Clancy (née Langan; 1918–2001), who worked in a store's credit department.[7][8] He was a member of Troop 624 of theBoy Scouts of America.[9] Clancy's siblings are Patrick and Margaret.
Clancy's mother worked to send him toLoyola High School inTowson, Maryland, a privateCatholic secondary school taught by theJesuit religious order (Society of Jesus). He graduated from Loyola High School in 1965.[4][5][7] He then attended the associatedLoyola College (now Loyola University Maryland) in Baltimore. Clancy began his college career as a physics major. Due to poor grades, he later changed his concentration to English since "it was an easy major." Despite the academic change, he continued to be an indifferent student spending a majority of his time reading books on military and naval history instead of tending to his studies. Clancy graduated with aBachelor of Arts inEnglish Literature in 1969 receiving a 1.9/4.0GPA.[4][8] While at Loyola College, he was president of the chess club.[7] He joined theArmy Reserve Officers' Training Corps; however, he was ineligible to serve due to hismyopia (nearsightedness), which required him to wear thick eyeglasses.[1][7]
In 1973, Clancy joined the O. F. Bowen Agency, a small insurance agency based inOwings, Maryland, founded by his wife's grandfather.[1][7][8][10] In 1980, he purchased the insurance agency from his wife's grandmother and wrote novels in his spare time.[8][11] While working at the insurance agency, he wrote his debut novel,The Hunt for Red October (1984).[1]
Clancy's literary career began in 1982 when he started writingThe Hunt for Red October, which in 1984 he sold for publishing to theNaval Institute Press for $5,000.[1][2] The publisher was impressed with the work; Deborah Grosvenor, the Naval Institute Press editor who read through the book, said later that she convinced the publisher: "I think we have a potential best seller here, and if we don't grab this thing, somebody else would." She believed Clancy had an "innate storytelling ability, and his characters had this very witty dialogue".[1] Clancy, who had hoped to sell 5,000 copies, ended up selling over 45,000.[2][11] After publication, the book received praise from President Ronald Reagan, who called the work "the best yarn", subsequently boosting sales to 300,000hardcover and two millionpaperback copies of the book, making it a national bestseller.[1][2][10] The book was critically praised for its technical accuracy, which led to Clancy's meeting several high-rankingofficers in the U.S. military, as well asSteve Pieczenik, and to inspiration for recurring characters in his works.[1][12] Clancy's novels focus on the hero, most notablyJack Ryan andJohn Clark, both Irish Catholics like himself. He repeatedly uses the formula whereby the heroes are "highly skilled, disciplined, honest, thoroughly professional, and only lose their cool when incompetent politicians or bureaucrats get in their way. Their unambiguous triumphs over evil provide symbolic relief from the legacy of theVietnam War."[13]
TheCold War epicRed Storm Rising (1986)[14] was co-written (according to Clancy in the book's foreword) with fellow military-oriented authorLarry Bond. The book was published by Putnam and sold almost a million copies within its first year.[15] Clancy became the cornerstone of a publishing list byPutnam, which emphasized authors like Clancy who would produce annually. His publisher,Phyllis E. Grann, called these "repeaters."[15]
Clancy has author status on the cover of dozens of books. Seventeen of his novels made it to the top of theNew York Times best seller list. He co-authored memoirs of top generals, and produced numerous guided tours of the elite aspects of the American military.[citation needed]Andrew Bacevich states:
Clancy did for military pop-lit what Starbucks did for the preparation of caffeinated beverages: he launched a sprawling, massively profitable industrial enterprise that simultaneously serves and cultivates an insatiable consumer base. Whether the item consumed provides much in terms of nourishment is utterly beside the point. That it tastes yummy going down more than suffices to keep customers coming back.[16]
By 1988, Clancy had earned $1.3 million forThe Hunt for Red October and had signed a $3 million contract for his next three books.[17] In 1992, he sold North American rights toWithout Remorse for $14 million, a record for a single book.[18] By 1997,Penguin Putnam Inc. (part ofPearson Education) paid Clancy $50 million for world rights to two new books and another $25 million toRed Storm Entertainment for a four-year book/multimedia deal.[19] Clancy followed this up with an agreement withPenguin'sBerkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with theABC television miniseriesTom Clancy's Net Force, which aired in the fall/winter of 1998. The Op-Center universe has laid the ground for the series of books written byJeff Rovin, which was in an agreement worth $22 million, bringing the total value of the package to $97 million.[19]
Clancy wrote several nonfiction books about various branches of theU.S. Armed Forces (seenonfiction listing, in the bibliography article). He also branded several lines of books and video games with his name that are written by other authors, following premises or storylines generally in keeping with Clancy's works.[5]
In 2008, the French video game manufacturerUbisoft purchased the use of Clancy's name for an undisclosed sum. It has been used in conjunction with video games and related products such as movies and books.[25] Based on his interest inprivate spaceflight and hisUS$1 million investment in the launch vehicle companyRotary Rocket,[26]Clancy was interviewed in 2007 for the documentary filmOrphans of Apollo (2008).[27]
Clancy praised PresidentGeorge W. Bush as a "good guy"; however, he opposed theIraq War and argued it lacked acasus belli. Clancy once clashed withRichard Perle, with Clancy stating he almost "came to blows" with Perle, after Perle criticizedColin Powell for being too concerned with the lives of American troops.[29]
Numerous scholars have examined the political dimensions of Clancy's books, especially in the context of the Cold War. Historian Walter Hixson has argued that Clancy's novels, especiallyThe Hunt for Red October andRed Storm Rising, were "popular representations ofReagan-era Cold War values. They reflect both popular perceptions of Soviet behavior and the predominant national security values of the Reagan era."[13]: 601
On September 11, 2001, Clancy was interviewed byJudy Woodruff onCNN.[30] During the interview, he noted that orthodox "Islamdoes not permit suicide." Among other observations during this interview, Clancy cited discussions he had with military experts on the lack of planning to deal with a hijacked plane being used in asuicide attack and criticized the news media's treatment of theUnited States Intelligence Community. Clancy appeared again onPBS'sCharlie Rose, to discuss the implications of the day's events withRichard Holbrooke,New York Times journalistJudith Miller, and SenatorJohn Edwards, among others.[31] Clancy was interviewed on those shows because his bookDebt of Honor[32] (1994) included a scenario wherein a disgruntled Japanese airline pilot crashes a fueledBoeing 747 into theU.S. Capitol dome during an address by the President to a joint session of Congress, killing the President and most of Congress. In the book, Clancy also implies that Japan's prosperity is due primarily to unequal trading terms.[33] In the book's sequelExecutive Orders (1996), the president announces a new foreign policy doctrine, under which the United States will hold personally accountable any foreign leader who orders attacks on U.S. citizens, territory, or possessions in the future.[34]
Clancy's first wife, Wanda Thomas King, was a nurse.[8][37] They married in 1969 and had four children.[1] The couple separated briefly in 1995, and they permanently separated in December 1996.[1][38] Wanda Clancy filed for divorce in November 1997,[39][40] which became final in January 1999.[41] As part of the divorce, she and Clancy split his minority stake in the Baltimore Orioles.[42]
On June 26, 1999, Clancy married freelance journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, whom he had met in 1997.[43] Llewellyn is the daughter ofJ. Bruce Llewellyn and a family friend ofColin Powell, who originally introduced the couple to each other.[44] They remained together until Clancy's death in October 2013.[45] They had one daughter.[1][44]
Clancy was aRoman Catholic. The plot of his novelRed Rabbit revolves aroundJohn Paul II.[46] In a June 27, 1993, interview withThe Washington Post, he was quoted as saying, "I've had [sex scenes] in my books before, but you had to look real fast because, you know, I'm a married Catholic and I don't do that."[47] In a 2002 interview withLev Grossman forTime magazine, Clancy lamented what he perceived as society'sdouble standard in the way Catholics are viewed by some people in society in relation to other demographic segments: "You can't hate black people any more, of course, and you can't hate homosexuals any more, but you can hate all the Catholics you want."[46]
Clancy's 80-acre estate, which was once a summer camp, is located inCalvert County, Maryland. It has a panoramic view of theChesapeake Bay.[48] The stone mansion, which cost $2 million, has 24 rooms and features a shooting range in the basement.[37][48] The property also features aWorld War II–eraM4 Shermantank, a Christmas gift from his first wife.[48][49]
Clancy also purchased a 17,000-square-foot penthouse condominium in theRitz-Carlton, in Baltimore'sInner Harbor, for $16 million.[10] Clancy and his wife combined four units to create the apartment.[50]
His Chesapeake Bay estate sold for $4.9 million in 2020.[51]
Clancy died ofheart failure on October 1, 2013,[3] atJohns Hopkins Hospital, near his Baltimore home. John D. Gresham, a co-author and researcher with Clancy on several books, said Clancy had been suffering heart problems for some time prior: "Five or six years ago Tom suffered a heart attack and he went through bypass surgery. It wasn't that he had another heart attack, his heart just wore out."[52]
TheChicago Tribune quotedPulitzer Prize–winning film critic and authorStephen Hunter as saying, "When he publishedThe Hunt for Red October, he redefined and expanded the genre, and as a consequence of that, many people were able to publish such books who had previously been unable to do so."[53]
On March 31, 2014, theOrioles honored Clancy with a video tribute during their home opener, and the team wore a tribute patch on their jerseys through the season.[54]
Clancy was one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing in the 1990s (the others wereJohn Grisham andJ. K. Rowling). Clancy's novelClear and Present Danger (1989) sold 1,625,544 hardcover copies, making it the #1 bestselling novel of the 1980s.[55]
Clancy received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement in 1988.[56] Clancy was the Host of the 1995 Achievement Summit in Colonial Williamsburg and the 1997 Achievement Summit in Baltimore.[57][58][59]
Clancy was an honoraryYeoman Warder of theTower of London and received the title "Supernumerary Yeoman"; he had been arrested for scaling the walls in his younger years.[61]
A 114-minute action/political thriller which was edited down from a 170-minute, 4-hour TV mini-series of the same name that aired in two parts on NBC in February 1995
Officially licensed games based onThe Hunt for Red October andRed Storm Rising were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s for various 8-bit home computers such as theCommodore 64[62] andZX Spectrum. Those included a submarine combat simulation (based on the book) and an action game (based on the film).
More recently,Ubisoft has made many video game series based on Tom Clancy's books, or which were endorsed by Clancy and use his name in the series' titles.
^"George H.W. Bush Interview Photo". 1995.June 1995: President George H.W. Bush at a ceremony featuring the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon during the American Academy of Achievement's "Salute to Excellence" Program in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
Keene, Ann T. "Clancy, Tom (12 April 1947–01 October 2013)"American National Biography (2015)online
Scholarly studies
Blouin, Michael J.Mass-Market Fiction and the Crisis of American Liberalism, 1972–2017 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Chapter 5: "Tom Clancy and the Liberal Family Tree" pp. 147–175. argues that liberal critics misinterpret his "conservatism"excerpt
Griffin, Benjamin. "The good guys win: Ronald Reagan, Tom Clancy, and the transformation of national security" (MA thesis, U of Texas, 2015).online
Hicks, Heather J. ""Sleeping Beauty": Corporate Culture, Race, and Reality in Michael Crichton's Rising Sun and Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor." in Hicks,The Culture of Soft Work (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) pp. 139–163.excerpt
Hixson, Walter L. "Red Storm Rising: Tom Clancy Novels and the Cult of National Security."Diplomatic History 17.4 (1993): 599–614.online
Outlaw, Leroy B. "Red Storm Rising-A Primer for a Future Conventional War in Central Europe"" (Army War College, 1988).onlineArchived July 6, 2019, at theWayback Machine
Payne, Matthew Thomas.Playing war: Military video games after 9/11 (NYU Press, 2016).
Terdoslavich, William.The Jack Ryan Agenda: Policy and Politics in the Novels of Tom Clancy: An Unauthorized Analysis (Macmillan, 2005).excerpt
