Early Years
Clark was born in East Hampton, New York in 1917, the son of Wiliam Clark and Marjory (Blair) Clark. He was named after his maternal grandfather, investment banker C. Ledyard Blair. He was raised in Princeton, New Jersey and attended boarding school at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts. In 1940 he graduated with a B.A. degree from Harvard College, where he was editor and president of The Harvard Crimson.
Clark had a knack for connecting with talented and ambitious people. At St. Mark's School, Clark became friends with poet Robert Lowell. At Harvard he befriended classmate John F. Kennedy; they remained in touch throughout Kennedy's political career, and Clark and Jacqueline Kennedy corresponded for decades. Journalist Theodore H. White was also a long-time contact.
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