He attended the Boys' Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1924.

During World War II Baldwin wrote dispatches from the South Pacific, North Africa and Europe.

[5] In 1959 he broke the news of the high-altitude atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States, known as Operation Argus.

Besides working for The Times, he lectured and wrote regularly for magazines, scholarly quarterlies and for professional military publications.

[6] After his retirement he continued to write articles on military affairs for the news columns and op-ed page of The New York Times.

[8] President Kennedy was mystified by how Baldwin was able to obtain his information on the Cuba missile crises and he would not reveal his sources.