Henry (“Pete”) Salomon, Jr., was born March 17, 1917 in Providence, Rhode Island. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and in 1939 received a B.S. degree from Harvard where he majored in history. After graduation he worked as a writer for NBC radio in New York and freelanced for the Providence Journal. Early in 1942 Salomon joined the Navy and was assigned to the Public Relations Office of the Secretary of the Navy where he produced the radio program Victory Hour. Later the same year he joined the staff of Lieutenant Commander Samuel Eliot Morison, who had taught Salomon at Harvard and was preparing the fourteen-volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. For the next six years Salomon visited several theaters of the naval war and also went to postwar Japan to gather research material. For his work in the preparation and writing of the history Salomon received a naval commendation. In 1948 he was relieved from active duty and spent the next year in Europe as a freelance writer.
During this year Salomon conceived the idea of a “telementary” which would document the Navy's operations in World War II. For three years he examined millions of feet of film on the subject in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and India. He introduced his plan to long-time acquaintance Robert Sarnoff, then director of unit production for NBC, and in January 1951 the network presented Salomon with a budget and a special unit to produce the project. After he provided the theme and wrote the narration, his film editor, Isaac Kleinerman, selected footage to present the proper mood and feeling for each weekly episode. In addition, Richard Rodgers composed a thirteen-hour symphonic score for the documentary. The resulting, highly acclaimed series, Victory at Sea, had its debut on October 26, 1952. In July 1954 the film division of NBC produced a condensed ninety-minute version of the program for distribution in motion picture theaters and in 1958 a book version with a narration written by Salomon was prepared. It was published after his death and dedicated to him.
In addition to Victory at Sea Salomon also created Project 20, a series of television specials which depicted major influences on man in the twentieth century. Individual shows included “Nightmare in Red,” which focused on Russia from the reign of Nicholas II to Khrushchev, and “The Twisted Cross,” which showed the rise of Adolph Hitler in Germany. Salomon's success with these documentaries led NBC to appoint him to head a newly created Special Projects division.
His sudden death at the age of 40 ended a promising career. Salomon died of a cerebral hemorrhage on February 1, 1958.
