James M. McPherson

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox historian James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. He is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. McPherson was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003.

Early life and education

Born in Valley City, North Dakota, McPherson graduated from St. Peter High School in St. Peter, Minnesota, and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1958 from Gustavus Adolphus College, also in St. Peter, from which he graduated magna cum laude. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1963, where he studied under C. Vann Woodward.<ref name="2000 JEFFERSON LECTURER">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

File:James M. McPherson 0105.JPG

McPherson speaking at the American Historical Association annual meeting in January 2014

McPherson joined the faculty of Princeton in 1962.<ref name="2000 JEFFERSON LECTURER" /> His works include The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction, awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Award in 1965. In 1988, he published his Pulitzer-winning book, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. His 1990 book, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution argues that the emancipation of slaves amounts to a second American Revolution. McPherson's 1998 book, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, received the Lincoln Prize.<ref name="Tried by War">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2002, he published both a scholarly book, Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam 1862, and a history of the American Civil War for children, Fields of Fury.

In 2007, McPherson published This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War, a series of essays about the American Civil War. One essay describes the huge difficulty of negotiation when regime change is a war aim on either side of a conflict. "For at least the past two centuries, nations have usually found it harder to end a war than to start one. Americans learned that bitter lesson in Vietnam, and apparently having forgotten it, we're forced to learn it all over again in Iraq." One of McPherson's examples is the American Civil War, in which both the Union and the Confederacy sought regime change. It took four years to end the war.<ref>Nagy, Kim "Keeping Time - An Interview with James McPherson" Template:Webarchive "Wild River Review"November 2007.</ref>

Among McPherson's other books are The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union (1965), The Abolitionist Legacy: From Reconstruction to the NAACP (1975), and Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War (1996).

Honors

McPherson was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1991.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1995, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member David McCullough.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

McPherson was named the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer in the humanities by the National Endowment for the Humanities.<ref name="2000 JEFFERSON LECTURER" /><ref>Irving Molotsky, "Choice of Clinton to Give Humanities Lecture Meets Resistance", The New York Times, September 21, 1999.</ref><ref>"National News Briefs; Clinton Declines Offer To Give Scholarly Talk," The New York Times, September 22, 1999.</ref> In making the announcement of McPherson's selection, NEH Chairman William R. Ferris said:

James M. McPherson has helped millions of Americans better understand the meaning and legacy of the American Civil War. By establishing the highest standards for scholarship and public education about the Civil War and by providing leadership in the movement to protect the nation's battlefields, he has made an exceptional contribution to historical awareness in America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2002, McPherson received The Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement.<ref>The Lincoln Forum</ref> In 2007, he was awarded the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for lifetime achievement in military history and was the first recipient of the prize.<ref>"Civil War Historian Wins $100,000 Prize for Lifetime Achievement" Chronicle of Higher Education July 17, 2007</ref> In 2007, he was awarded the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for lifetime achievement in military history given by the Society for Military History.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.<ref name="AAAS">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2009, he was the co-winner of the Lincoln Prize for Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief.<ref name="Authors Share">Template:Cite news</ref>

Activism

Template:External media McPherson is known for his outspokenness on contemporary issues and for his activism, such as his work on behalf of the preservation of Civil War battlefields. As president in 1993–1994 of Protect Historic America, he lobbied against the construction of a Disney theme park near Manassas battlefield.<ref>Historians Go To War Against Disney's Virginia Theme Park</ref> He has also served on the boards of the Civil War Trust as well as the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, a predecessor to the Civil War Trust. From 1990 to 1993, he sat on the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission.<ref>Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report. Forward.</ref>

Along with several other historians, McPherson signed a May 2009 petition asking U.S. President Barack Obama not to lay a wreath at the Confederate Monument Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The petition stated:

President Obama himself never addressed the issue. Instead, he sent a wreath not only to the Confederate Memorial but also instituted a new tradition of sending a presidential wreath to the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. He also won the praise of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

McPherson is married and has one child.<ref name="2000 JEFFERSON LECTURER" />

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1994	Civil War Journal	Himself
2003	National Geographic: Beyond the Movie - The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	Himself
2011	The Conspirator: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Lincoln	Himself
2015	The Gettysburg Address	Himself

References

Notes Template:Reflist

Further reading

• Template:Cite web

External links

• Barnes & Noble - Meet the Writers
• Princeton University Biography
• George W. Bush and the Confederacy: Where Does He Stand?, Democracy Now November 3, 1999
• Presentation on the Civil War
• A Conversation with James McPherson Interview at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library from October 5, 2007
• Lifetime Literature Award Announcement at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
• Audio interview with National Review Online
• Interview by Kim Nagy Template:Webarchive, Wild River Review
• McPherson archive from The New York Review of Books
• James M. McPherson No Peace without Victory, 1861–1865, AHA Presidential Address Template:Webarchive Retrieved April 18, 2010
• Template:Imdb name
• Template:C-SPAN
  • Interview with McPherson, In Depth March 4, 2001
• "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief" Lecture at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on March 13, 2008
• "150 Years After the Emancipation Proclamation" Discussion at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on September 28, 2012