page_title: Ted W. Lawson
section_title: Author
hierarchical_section_title: Ted W. Lawson / World War II / Author
caption_attribution_description: Title page, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" by Capt. Ted Lawson, 1st Edition, 1943
context_page_description: Major Ted William Lawson was an American officer in the United States Army Air Forces, who is known as the author of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, a memoir of his participation in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942. The book was subsequently adapted into the 1944 film of the same name starring Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson and Robert Mitchum.
context_section_description: In January 1943, Lawson and newspaper columnist Bob Considine decided to write a book about the mission, entitled Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. In four nights and two days in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., the entire story was worked out, although approval to publish the book was not given until after information about the raid was released by the War Department in April 1943.
  Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo first appeared serialized in six issues of Collier's magazine, from May 22 to June 26, 1943. It was also published later that year by Random House in a  220-page hardback "wartime book" (5 1/4" x 7 3/4") format.
  Through friends in the Los Angeles area, Ted made contact with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Sam Zimbalist, and the movie was launched in 1944. The film starred Van Johnson as Lawson, alongside Spencer Tracy and Robert Mitchum. It won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. 
  In 2003, Brassey's reprinted Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo with more photos and an introduction from Lawson's widow, Ellen.
caption: Title page of 1943 Random House first edition
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