The biographical sketch of William A. Swanberg in the Sept. 20 obituary section erroneously described his last book, ”Whitney Father, Whitney Heiress” (Scribners, 1980), as ”a family portrait of John Hay Whitney, N.Y. publisher and former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, and his daughter Dorothy.”
Swanberg`s book was about William Collins Whitney (1841- 1904), Secretary of the Navy under Grover Cleveland and moving force behind creation of a N.Y. transit system, and his daughter, Dorothy Whitney Straight (1887-1968). Dorothy founded New Republic magazine.
John Hay Whitney (born in 1904) is most likely a grandson, since one of William Whitney`s sons married a daughter of Lincoln`s Secretary of State, John Hay. He is not mentioned in the Swanberg book, however.
