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Leo Clancy Essay

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Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. had a very normal beginning. He grew up in Maryland, and went to Loyola High school. After graduating, he attended Loyola University and began majoring in physics. Clancy was also a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, or ROTC. Though he was very willing to serve, he was turned down after trying to enlist due to his myopia. He then switched his major to English and graduated in 1969 (Carlson, Michael). Clancy had dreamed of becoming a tank commander since he was little. When the Army turned him down, his dreams were ruined, and he had to turn to something else. He then thought of writing, but was sidetracked when he married Mrs. Wanda Thomas (Newsmakers, ¶3). They then had children, whom they named Michelle, Christine, Tom, and Kathleen (Newsmakers). While married to Mrs. Thomas, Clancy worked at different insurance firms and wrote in his free time. After working at 4 different insurance firms (Newsmakers), Clancy finally had his big break. In 1984 his book, The Hunt for Red October made it’s debut (Bosman, Julie). The book was insanely popular, as was it’s follow up, Red Storm Rising (Newsmakers). This series, the Jack Ryan series, is by far Clancy’s most well known series. It continued until just …show more content…

They allowed him to research for his novel by firing weapons, piloting tanks, and flying helicopters and jets (Newsmakers). He used this research to write multiple nonfiction series (Encyclopedia Britannica). His movies were also made into novels, with big name actors like Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. This caused his popularity to increase even more (Bosman, Julie). His wife also bought him an M1A1 Abrams Tank, and he signed up for an NRA lifetime membership (Famous Authors). He and Mrs. Thomas split in 1998, and he then remarried the next year with Alexandra Llewellyn, with whom he had his final daughter, Alexis

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