William Leuchtenburg
William Edward Leuchtenburg was an American historian who was the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a leading scholar of the life and career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Early life and education
Leuchtenburg, a native of Queens, New York, was born on September 28, 1922. He was of German and Irish descent. On Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, he described, when he was a child, how his father was reported for operating an illegal distillery during the Prohibition Era. He received his BA degree in 1943 from Cornell University, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He later received his PhD from Columbia University in 1951.Career
Leuchtenburg taught at Columbia University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.He won the 2007 North Carolina Award for Literature.
He served as a program consultant for Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, which premiered on PBS in October 2011.
He was a president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians. Eric Foner is the only other historian to claim that distinction.
Personal life and death
Leuchtenburg's marriage to Jean McIntire, which ended in divorce, produced three children. He later married Jean Anne Williams.Leuchtenburg was a Democrat who was a delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention and was active in liberal causes.
Leuchtenburg turned 100 on September 28, 2022, and died at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on January 28, 2025, at the age of 102.