Loudon Snowden Wainwright Jr. (1924-1988) was an American journalist who spent much of his career as a reporter, editor and columnist at Life magazine, which he joined in 1949. From 1964 he wrote the column "The View from Here", continued until his death, and covered both the Vietnam War and the major American space missions. A direct witness to Life's saga and to the magazine's privileged access to the astronauts, in 1986 he published The Great American Magazine: An Inside History of Life. He was the father of the folk singer Loudon Wainwright III.