Short answers, pulled from the story.
John Arthur Garraty (1920-2007) was an American historian and biographer who specialized in American political and economic history. He taught at Michigan State University for 12 years and then at Columbia University from 1959 until his retirement in 1990.
Garraty's 1953 biography was the first scholarly and authoritative life of the Massachusetts politician Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924). Garraty invited Lodge's grandson, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902-1985), to write footnotes inside the book expressing disagreement with some of Garraty's own interpretations.
Garraty served as a historical consultant on the School House Rock children's television shorts during the 1960s and 1970s. It was the most prominent of several film and media projects he advised on during that period.
Garraty wrote The American Nation, a history textbook used at both the college and high school level. Later editions of the book were co-written with Mark C. Carnes.
Garraty was one of the general editors of the American National Biography, a large-scale biographical reference project he completed during his retirement. He also co-edited The Columbia History of the World, published in 1972.
During World War II, Garraty served in the United States Merchant Marine as a swimming instructor. He completed his doctorate at Columbia University in 1948, after the war ended.