Herbert Bayard Swope Sr. (/ˈbaɪɑːrd/;[1] January 5, 1882 – June 20, 1958) was an American editor, journalist and intimate of the Algonquin Round Table.

[1] Swope was the first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting in 1917 for a series of articles that year entitled "Inside the German Empire"[2] The articles formed the basis for a book released in 1917 entitled Inside the German Empire: In the Third Year of the War (ISBN 9781436646178), which he co-authored with James W. Gerard.

When he took over as editor in 1920, he realized that the page opposite the editorials was "a catchall for book reviews, society boilerplate, and obituaries.

[5]He hired the widowed Consuela Sheridan (nee Frewen), the maternal cousin of Winston Churchill, as a roving reporter in Europe, and she landed many scoops including interviews with the negotiating parties for Irish Independence.

[6][7] Swope served as the editor for New York World's 21-day crusade against the Ku Klux Klan in October 1921, which won the newspaper the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1922.

[9] He was a legendary poker player, at one point winning over $470,000 in a game with an oil baron, a steel magnate, and an entertainer.

He hosted parties with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, Dorothy Parker, Harpo Marx, Winston Churchill, Averell Harriman, Albert Einstein, Alexander Woollcott[11] – as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Prior to buying the Sands Point mansion, Swope had been renting a home since 1919 on East Shore Road in Great Neck, overlooking Manhasset Bay.

David O. Selznick and Jock Whitney met at the home many times throughout the 20s and 30s and held meetings at the mansion that secured funding for Gone with the Wind.