His battlefront reporting took him to Okinawa, Guam, Japan and Moscow, where he was assigned as a war correspondent in 1943 and, during the immediate postwar period, continued to file stories from such diverse locations as Poland, the Balkans and South America.

[4] On September 13, 1945, Lawrence published a leading article in The New York Times with an all-capitals headline that read: "NO RADIOACTIVITY IN HIROSHIMA; WHAT OUR SUPERFORTRESSES DID TO A JAPANESE PLANE PRODUCTION CENTER.

Between 1950 and 1953, he spent months in Korea covering the war and interviewing soldiers in a series of personal human interest articles which appeared in The Times.

[6] By 1959, as in the two preceding years, the great majority of Lawrence's efforts were devoted to the Washington political scene, with almost all of the stories appearing on the front page, including the final one he wrote for The Times, datelined May 26, 1961.

[7] In May 1961, James Hagerty, who served as United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Press Secretary and, immediately upon the end of the Eisenhower administration, filled John Daly's vacated position as vice-president in charge of ABC's low-rated news operation, offered Lawrence, whom he knew well from Lawrence's time as White House correspondent, a top-level position at the news department.

[10] Quickly recovering, he was able to continue working during his remaining three-and-a-half years and, as a sports fan, also began covering some athletic events and even personally served as the commentator for ABC's coverage of the 1969 World Series.

[12] In March 1971, with the following year's presidential elections looming on the horizon, Lawrence requested a reduced workload, with a partial leave of absence, to finish his autobiography.

While fulfilling occasional major assignments, such as a rare primetime interview with Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger on July 5,[13] he did not return full-time until October, when a resumption of his busy schedule covering the presidential campaign continued through February 1972 and a trip to New Hampshire as ABC's reporter detailing the crucial presidential primary race between early favorite, Senator Edmund Muskie and his strong challenger, Senator George McGovern.