MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at (847) 491-4890 or w-leopold@northwestern.edu

September 30, 2003

Schlesinger to Deliver Leopold Lecture

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. will ask whether it is unpatriotic to criticize the U.S. president while the nation is at war when he delivers the Leopold Lecture at Northwestern University Wednesday, Oct. 22.

“Patriotism and Dissent in Wartime,” sponsored by the Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Room 107 of Harris Hall, 1881 Sheridan Road, Evanston campus. It is free and open to the public. A reception in Room 108 will follow.

Schlesinger is a prize-winning author of numerous books about American history, politics and politicians. During World War II, he served in the Office of War Information, the Office of Strategic Services and the U.S. Army. While still a professor at Harvard, he served as Averell Harriman’s special assistant in Paris in the first months of the Marshall Plan. More than a decade later, he was special assistant to President Kennedy and a key member of the Kennedy administration.

Among Schlesinger’s long list of book titles are “The Age of Jackson,” the two-volume “The Age of Roosevelt,” “A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House,” and, most recently, “A Life in the 20th Century: Innocent Beginnings.”

In addition to winning Pulitzer Prizes in 1946 and 1996, Schlesinger is the recipient of the Bancroft Prize, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for History, the Francis Parkman Prize for History, the National Humanities Medal and other honors. The Leopold Lecture honors Richard W. Leopold who for more than 40 years, most of them at Northwestern, distinguished himself as an attentive teacher of history.

The Leopold Lecture was established in 1990 to bring individuals with public affairs experience to Northwestern. Past lecturers include McGeorge Bundy, Les Aspin and George McGovern. For further information, e-mail a-kahn@northwestern.edu or call (847) 467-3005.