Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

Full Name: Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr., born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger
Profession: Historian

Nationality:

Biography: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. specialized in 20th-century American history, particularly focusing on liberalism and prominent leaders. He served as a special assistant and "court historian" to President John F. Kennedy from 1961 to 1963.

Born in Ohio, Schlesinger went on to attend Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude in 1938. During World War II, he worked for the Office of War Information and the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA.

Schlesinger's book "The Age of Jackson" earned him his first Pulitzer Prize in 1946. He then taught at Harvard from 1946 to 1961, while also working as a speechwriter and adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II in the 1952 and 1956 campaigns.

His account of the Kennedy administration, "A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House" (1965), won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. Schlesinger later wrote "Robert Kennedy and His Times" (1978), a biography of Robert F. Kennedy, whose 1968 presidential campaign he had actively supported.

In his 1973 book, "The Imperial Presidency," Schlesinger coined the term "imperial presidency" to critique the Nixon administration's expansion of presidential power. He taught at the CUNY Graduate Center from 1966 until his retirement in 1994.

Born: October 15, 1917
Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio, USA

Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Snake
Star Sign: Libra

Died: February 28, 2007 (aged 89)