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Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.




Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. (b. October 15 , 1917 ) is an American historian and social critic whose work has focused on the philosophies and policies of U.S. Presidents , including Andrew Jackson , Franklin D. Roosevelt , John F. Kennedy , and Richard Nixon . He served as Special Assistant to the President in John F. Kennedy's administration. He wrote the definitive account of the Kennedy Administration entitled "''A Thousand Days''."

He was born in Columbus, Ohio , the son of Arthur M. Schlesinger ( 1888 - 1965 ), who was an influential social historian at Ohio State and Harvard. His own son, Stephen Schlesinger is a social scientist well known for his work on the United Nations , and director of the World Policy Institute .

Schlesinger is a prolific Contributor To Liberal Theory and is a passionate and articulate voice for Kennedyism and the Great Society . He is admired for his wit, scholarship, and devotion to the liberal agenda, writing several books over the course of his career.

He coined the term " Imperial Presidency " during the Nixon administration.


CAREER


Education



War time service



Educator



Democratic Activist



WRITINGS

He won a Pulitzer Prize in history for his 1945 book ''The Age of Jackson''.

His 1949 book ''The Vital Center'' made a case for the New Deal policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt , while harshly critical of both unregulated capitalism and of those liberals who advocated cooperation or sympathy with Communism .

His 1986 book ''The Cycles of American History'' was an early work on cycles in politics in the United States; it was influenced by his father's work on cycles.

He became a leading opponent of Multiculturalism in the 1980s; ''The Disuniting of America'' (1991).


WORKS

  • 1939 ''Orestes A. Brownson: A Pilgrim's Progress''

  • 1945 ''The Age of Jackson''

  • 1949 ''The Vital Center: The Politics of Freedom''

  • 1950 ''What About Communism?''

  • 1951 ''The General and the President, and the Future of American Foreign Policy''

  • 1957 ''The Crisis of the Old Order: 1919-1933 (The Age of Roosevelt, Vol. I)''

  • 1958 ''The Coming of the New Deal: 1933-1935 (The Age of Roosevelt, Vol. II)''

  • 1960 ''The Politics of Upheaval: 1935-1936 (The Age of Roosevelt, Vol. III)''

  • 1960 ''Kennedy or Nixon: Does It Make Any Difference?''

  • 1963 ''The Politics of Hope''

  • 1965 ''A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House''

  • 1965 ''The MacArthur Controversey and American Foreign Policy''

  • 1967 ''Bitter Heritage: Vietnam and American Democracy, 1941-1966''

  • 1967 ''Congress and the Presidency: Their Role in Modern Times''

  • 1968 ''Violence: America in the Sixties''

  • 1969 ''The Crisis of Confidence: Ideas, Power, and Violence in America''

  • 1970 ''The Origins of the Cold War''

  • 1973 ''The Imperial Presidency''

  • 1978 ''Robert Kennedy and His Times''

  • 1983 ''Creativity in Statecraft''

  • 1986 ''Cycles of American History''

  • 1988 ''JFK Remembered''

  • 1988 ''War and the Constitution: Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt''

  • 1990 ''Is the Cold War Over?''

  • 1991 ''The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society''

  • 2000 ''Autobiography: A Life in the 20th Century, Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950''

  • 2004 ''War and the American Presidency''



AWARDS



QUOTE

''If we are to survive, we must have ideas, vision, and courage. These things are rarely produced by committees. Everything that matters in our intellectual and moral life begins with an individual confronting his own mind and conscience in a room by himself.''


REFERENCE

  • Daniel Feller, "Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.," in Robert Allen Rutland, ed. ''Clio's Favorites: Leading Historians of the United States, 1945-2000'' U of Missouri Press. (2000) pp 156-169.

  • Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.; ''A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917–1950'' (2000), autobiography, vol 1.



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