Skywalks: Robert Gordon’s Untold Story of Hallmark’s Kansas City Disaster

by R. Eli Paul

In 1981 the suspended walkways—or “skywalks”—in Kansas City’s Hyatt Regency hotel fell and killed 114 people. It was the deadliest building collapse in the United States until the fall of New York’s Twin Towers on 9/11. In Skywalks R. Eli Paul follows the actions of attorney Robert Gordon, an insider to the bitter litigation that followed. Representing the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against those who designed, built, inspected, owned, and managed the hotel, Gordon was tenacious in uncovering damaging facts. He wanted his findings presented before a jury, where his legal team would assign blame from underlings to corporate higher-ups, while securing a massive judgment in his clients’ favor.

But when the case was settled out from under Gordon, he turned to another medium to get the truth a quixotic book project that consumed the rest of his life. For a decade the irascible attorney-turned-writer churned through a succession of high-powered literary agents, talented ghost writers, and New York trade publishers. Gordon’s resistance to collaboration and compromise resulted in a controversial but unpublishable manuscript, “House of Cards,” finished long after the public’s interest had waned. His conclusions, still explosive but never receiving their proper attention, laid the blame for the disaster largely at the feet of the hotel’s owner and Kansas City’s most visible and powerful corporation, Hallmark Cards Inc.

Gordon gave up his lucrative law practice and lived the rest of his life as a virtual recluse in his mansion in Mission Hills, Kansas. David had fought Goliath, and to his despair, Goliath had won. Gordon died in 2008 without ever seeing his book published or the full truth told. Skywalks is a long-overdue corrective, built on a foundation of untapped historical materials Gordon compiled, as well as his own unpublished writings.

376 pages, Hardcover

Published March 1, 2023

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am interested in the primary subject matter of the Hallmark Hyatt skywalks as well as corporate malfeasance and underdogs, the narrative did not grab my interest like I was hoping it would. It felt bogged down in legalese and details that were ultimately not very interesting. Ironically, of Robert Gordon's "Supplemental Points and Authorities" analysis, the author writes that "[i]t survives as a dense legal argument, not as a gripping, well-paced narrative".

There were some interesting tidbits--and I especially enjoyed Chapter 15: Excerpt--which was a reprinting of the manuscript that Gordon desperately attempted (and ultimately failed) to have published. That excerpt is a punishingly sickening retelling of the carnage that unfolded that fateful night.

[Zoann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started working at Hallmark in October, 1984, just three years after the Hyatt Skywalks fell. I am amazed at how little I knew then (or now, really) about this disaster and its consequences. The author is attempting to tell both the story of the disaster and the story of Robert Gordon and his quest to publish a book detailing Hallmark's involvement. I think Eli Paul does a fair job of telling both sides of the story--but the title is heavy-handed--I don't think this is solely Hallmark's disaster. There were so many companies and people involved in the construction of this multi-million dollar hotel that fixing blame to one company or person is unfair. I'm glad I read the book so that I know more about the event.

[Shawn Gallagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not what I expected. It is about Robert Gordon, an attorney obsessed with the disaster and Hallmark's role in it. Chapter 15 that describes the disaster is the best part of the book for me. If you are interested in this disaster, this book serves more as an addendum and not the main story.

[Terry Buford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly skimmed the book as I found it tedious reading. But it was important to me to read and think about the background and subsequent actions related to this sad disaster.