[3] As a conscientious objector throughout World War II, Reid was a bridge constructor and a psychiatric hospital orderly.
At Sweet Briar, Reid remained as an instructor until he spent his last years at the college as an assistant English professor from 1956 to 1957.
[3] Outside of academics, Reid published his first books in the late 1950s to early 1960s using his university theses he wrote on Gertrude Stein and William Butler Yeats.
[2] Reid won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for The Man from New York: John Quinn and His Friends.
[5] Years later, Reid was a finalist of the 1977 National Book Award for Biography and Autobiography for The Lives of Roger Casement.