John Walter Lord Jr. (October 8, 1917 – May 19, 2002) was an American author, lawyer, copywriter and popular historian best known for his 1955 account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, A Night to Remember.

Lord's grandfather, Richard Curzon Hoffman, was president of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company ("Old Bay Line") steamship firm in the 1890s.

[4] Like many other boys who attended high school at Baltimore's Gilman School, he spent his summers at Hyde Bay Camp for Boys at Hyde Bay in Cooperstown, New York,[5] where he was awarded the honorary title of "The Commodore" and later returned to reign over many annual camp events, like the eight inch regatta and closing barbecue and bonfire.

[6] Lord then enrolled at Yale Law School, interrupting his studies to join the United States Army after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Victor Young's rendition can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIskEPRQV4w Lord wrote, or edited and annotated 11 bestselling books[7] on such diverse subjects as the Attack on Pearl Harbor (Day of Infamy, 1957), the Battle of Midway (Incredible Victory, 1967), the Battle of the Alamo (A Time to Stand, 1961), the Battle of Baltimore (The Dawn's Early Light, 1972), Arctic exploration (Peary to the Pole, 1963), pre-World War I America (The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War, 1960), Coastwatchers (Lonely Vigil, 1977), the Dunkirk evacuation (The Miracle of Dunkirk, 1982), and the civil rights struggle (The Past That Would Not Die, 1965[8]).

[6] Noted historian David McCullough said of Lord at his death, "He was one of the most generous and kind-hearted men I've ever known, and when I had stars in my eyes and wanted to become a writer, he was a great help.