William Leuchtenburg
William Leuchtenburg PhD '51 is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and a former professor at Columbia, where he held the DeWitt Clinton chair (currently held by Eric Foner).
He served as president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the Society of American Historians. He has lectured in the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court and the French Senate. During the 1977 Silver Jubilee in London he delivered the inaugural lecture to Queen Elizabeth II. He is the first recipient of the Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Award for distinguished writing in American history of enduring public significance. Leuchtenburg has also served as presidential election analyst for NBC and has covered inaugurations for CBS, C-SPAN and PBS.
He received an honourary Doctor of Letters degree at the 2008 Commencement.
