David McCullough - Academy of Achievement

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I was determined I was not going to be like that." David McCullough was encouraged by the success of his first book, The Johnstown Flood, but he was still faced with a difficult decision, to trade a steady and satisfying job for the insecurities of life as a full-time writer with a growing family to support. With his wife's encouragement, he took the plunge and has never looked back. Today he is a bestselling author, and one of America's most distinguished historians. He has received not one but two Pulitzer Prizes, for John Adams and for Truman, both biographies of U.S. presidents. He has also won two National Book Awards, for The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, and Mornings on Horseback, the story of young Theodore Roosevelt's struggle to manhood. His voice has long been familiar to public television audiences as the narrator of The Civil War and The Great Bridge (adapted from his own book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge); his words have brought history to life for millions."/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="David McCullough - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I used to see the old fellows in their 40s, talking about the book they were going to write someday. I was determined I was not going to be like that."</p> <p class="inputText">David McCullough was encouraged by the success of his first book, <i>The Johnstown Flood,</i> but he was still faced with a difficult decision, to trade a steady and satisfying job for the insecurities of life as a full-time writer with a growing family to support. With his wife's encouragement, he took the plunge and has never looked back.</p> <p class="inputText">Today he is a bestselling author, and one of America's most distinguished historians. He has received not one but two Pulitzer Prizes, for <i>John Adams</i> and for <i>Truman,</i> both biographies of U.S. presidents.</p> <p class="inputText">He has also won two National Book Awards, for <i>The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, </i>and <i>Mornings on Horseback,</i> the story of young Theodore Roosevelt's struggle to manhood. His voice has long been familiar to public television audiences as the narrator of <i>The Civil War</i> and <i>The Great Bridge </i>(adapted from his own book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge); his words have brought history to life for millions.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I used to see the old fellows in their 40s, talking about the book they were going to write someday. I was determined I was not going to be like that."</p> <p class="inputText">David McCullough was encouraged by the success of his first book, <i>The Johnstown Flood,</i> but he was still faced with a difficult decision, to trade a steady and satisfying job for the insecurities of life as a full-time writer with a growing family to support. With his wife's encouragement, he took the plunge and has never looked back.</p> <p class="inputText">Today he is a bestselling author, and one of America's most distinguished historians. He has received not one but two Pulitzer Prizes, for <i>John Adams</i> and for <i>Truman,</i> both biographies of U.S. presidents.</p> <p class="inputText">He has also won two National Book Awards, for <i>The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, </i>and <i>Mornings on Horseback,</i> the story of young Theodore Roosevelt's struggle to manhood. His voice has long been familiar to public television audiences as the narrator of <i>The Civil War</i> and <i>The Great Bridge </i>(adapted from his own book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge); his words have brought history to life for millions.</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="David McCullough - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20181024085918\/http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebSite","@id":"#website","url":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20181024085918\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/","name":"Academy of Achievement","alternateName":"A museum of living 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/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">David McCullough</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Two Pulitzer Prizes for Biography</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-2778 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-author careers-historian careers-writer"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">I taught myself how to do research, how to dig out the pieces...I discovered in the process that, contrary to the notion that the past is a dead thing, that in fact wherever you scratch the surface, you find life. And it was the life, the people and what happened to them, that was the pull for me.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Recording the Drama of History</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> July 7, 1933 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_38371" style="width: 701px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-38371 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-38371 lazyload" alt="" width="701" height="549" data-sizes="(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg.jpg 701w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg-380x298.jpg 380w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Awards Council member and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert K. Massie presents David McCullough with the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award during the 1985 Summit in Denver, Colorado.</figcaption></figure><p>David McCullough was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a student at Yale he met the author Thornton Wilder, and after considering careers in politics and in the arts, was inspired to become an author. While at Yale, he met his future wife, Rosalee Barnes, a student at Vassar. After college McCullough moved to New York City and worked as an editorial assistant at <em>Sports Illustrated.</em> “Swept up by the excitement of the Kennedy era,” he moved to Washington and became an editor and writer at the United States Information Agency. In 1964, he became a full-time editor and writer for <em>American Heritage</em>, the publisher he sometimes calls “my graduate school.” By this time David and Rosalee had married and started a family. He wrote his first book at night and on weekends while working full-time. <em>The Johnstown Flood, </em>inspired by the great catastrophe that struck his native region in 1889, was an unexpected bestseller in 1968. Its success emboldened him to quit his job and commit to a full-time writing career.</p> <figure id="attachment_31319" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-31319 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-31319 size-full lazyload" alt="wp-mccullough-david-at-the-podium" width="2280" height="1541" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium.jpg 2280w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium-760x514.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">David McCullough addresses the Banquet of the Golden Plate during the 1985 Achievement Summit in Denver.</figcaption></figure><p>Since then he has published a series of distinguished works of history and biography, all of which have won enormous popularity with the reading public. <em>The Great Bridge </em>(1972) recounted the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. The book has served as the basis of a memorable documentary film, which was nominated for an Academy Award. McCullough’s own voice was heard as the narrator of this film, and of <em>The Johnstown Flood</em>. He was also one of the voices of Ken Burns’s <em>The Civil War</em>, and has hosted a number of public television programs, including <em>The American Experience </em>and <em>Smithsonian World.</em></p> <figure id="attachment_26466" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26466 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26466 size-full lazyload" alt="May 10, 2012: Author David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner for books "Truman" and "John Adams," walks over the Brooklyn Bridge while being interviewed in New York. McCullough will become an honorary ranger in a ceremony on October 4, 2016 in Boston. It's the highest civilian honor awarded by the National Park Service, reserved for individuals who have made exceptional contributions. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" width="1024" height="799" data-sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799.jpg 1024w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799-380x297.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799-760x593.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">May 10, 2012: Author David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner for books <em>Truman</em> and <em>John Adams</em>, walks over the Brooklyn Bridge while being interviewed in New York. McCullough will become an honorary ranger in a ceremony on October 4, 2016 in Boston. It’s the highest civilian honor awarded by the National Park Service. (AP)</figcaption></figure><p>McCullough’s story of the Panama Canal, <em>The Path Between the Seas </em>(1977), was an instant bestseller, acclaimed by the publishing industry and the historical profession. It was honored with the National Book Award for History, the Cornelius Ryan Award, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the Francis Parkman Prize from the American Society of Historians. It also helped influence history, playing an important part in determining the nation’s policy concerning the future of the Canal. It had a profound influence on American policy and public opinion in the late 1970s, as the country debated the future of the Canal.</p> <figure id="attachment_26444" style="width: 1400px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26444 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26444 size-full lazyload" alt=""The Great Bridge" by David McCullough is a dramatic and enthralling story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time, a tale of greed, corruption, and obstruction, but also of optimism, heroism, and determination." width="1400" height="2089" data-sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr.jpg 1400w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr-255x380.jpg 255w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr-509x760.jpg 509w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>The Great Bridge</em> by David McCullough is a dramatic and enthralling story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time, a tale of greed, corruption, and obstruction, but also heroism.</figcaption></figure><p>In <em>Mornings on Horseback </em>(1981), McCullough recounted the youth of President Theodore Roosevelt. The book won McCullough a second National Book Award, this time for Biography. In the 20 years since, McCullough has taken a special interest in the lives and character of America’s presidents. He was awarded his first Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his biography of President Truman, and he is frequently called upon to discuss the presidency in the news media.</p> <figure id="attachment_26443" style="width: 1400px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26443 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26443 size-full lazyload" alt=""The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough is a National Book Award–winning epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal, a first-rate drama of the bold and brilliant engineering feat that was filled with both tragedy and triumph." width="1400" height="2113" data-sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr.jpg 1400w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr-252x380.jpg 252w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr-504x760.jpg 504w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>The Path Between the Seas</em> by David McCullough is a National Book Award–winning epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal, a drama of the bold and brilliant engineering feat filled with both tragedy and triumph.</figcaption></figure><p>At the time of his interview with the Academy of Achievement, David McCullough had begun work on a dual biography of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The second and third presidents were allies in the struggle for independence but became bitter rivals in the early years of the republic. After their back-to-back presidencies, they reconciled and carried on a warm and fascinating correspondence for the rest of their lives. By an extraordinary coincidence, they died on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of America’s independence.</p> <figure id="attachment_26445" style="width: 1399px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26445 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26445 size-full lazyload" alt=""Truman" by David McCullough, is a winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events, from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War." width="1399" height="2116" data-sizes="(max-width: 1399px) 100vw, 1399px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman.jpg 1399w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman-251x380.jpg 251w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman-502x760.jpg 502w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>Truman</em> by David McCullough, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose life and presidency included momentous events, from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and Korean War.</figcaption></figure><p>As his work on the book progressed, McCullough became increasingly intrigued with the character of John Adams. Convinced that Adams had not received his historic due, in comparison with the more celebrated Jefferson, McCullough decided to devote his entire book to Adams. The result topped <em>The New York Times</em> bestseller list from the week it went on sale, and won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.</p> <figure id="attachment_26440" style="width: 1844px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26440 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26440 size-full lazyload" alt=""John Adams" by David McCullough is the Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling biography of America’s founding father and second president that was the basis for the acclaimed HBO series." width="1844" height="2768" data-sizes="(max-width: 1844px) 100vw, 1844px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams.jpg 1844w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams-506x760.jpg 506w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>John Adams</em> by David McCullough is the Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling biography of America’s founding father.</figcaption></figure><p>McCullough continued to explore the events and personalities of the revolutionary era in <em>1776</em>. In contrast to the massive biographies for which he is best known, or the accounts of monumental enterprises such as the building of the Brooklyn Bridge or the Panama Canal, <em>1776</em> focuses tightly on the events of a single year, one that saw 13 colonies of British North America break with the mother country and commence the long and bloody struggle to form a new nation. McCullough’s account brings us closer than ever to the familiar figures of the conflict, such as George Washington and King George III, while introducing us to a larger cast of characters whose lives history has nearly overlooked, the soldiers and citizens whose sacrifices made the new republic possible. On its publication in 2005, McCullough’s <em>1776</em> received glowing reviews and became an instant bestseller.</p> <figure id="attachment_26459" style="width: 1418px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26459 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26459 size-full lazyload" alt="2001: David McCullough. (Simon & Schuster/William B. McCullough)" width="1418" height="1800" data-sizes="(max-width: 1418px) 100vw, 1418px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2.jpg 1418w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2-299x380.jpg 299w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2-599x760.jpg 599w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2001: Author and historian David McCullough at home in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. (Simon & Schuster)</figcaption></figure><p>McCullough’s next work, <em>In the Dark Streets Shineth</em>, focused on an even shorter period of time, the days before Christmas 1941, when the United States had just entered World War II. McCullough recounts British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s visit to the White House of President Franklin Roosevelt, and the radio addresses they made to the nation on Christmas Eve. McCullough intertwines this tale with the story behind two songs: the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” from which his book takes its title; and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” a poignant popular song of the era. Once again, McCullough found a unique dramatic approach to the human story inside the larger pageant of history.</p> <figure id="attachment_26446" style="width: 1400px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26446 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26446 size-full lazyload" alt=""The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough is a dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly — Wilbur and Orville Wright." width="1400" height="2085" data-sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers.jpg 1400w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers-255x380.jpg 255w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers-510x760.jpg 510w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>The Wright Brothers</em> is a dramatic story about the two courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly.</figcaption></figure><p>In 2011, David McCullough turned to another subject in <em>The Greater Journey</em>, a kaleidoscopic survey of 19th century Americans in Paris, exploring the impact of the City of Light on many of America’s most distinguished writers, artists, scientists and statesmen. McCullough was already over 80 years of age when he won some of the best reviews of his career for <em>The Wright Brothers</em>, the dramatic story of two unknown young men from Ohio who — without technical training or outside financing — achieved an age-old dream and taught the world to fly.</p> <figure id="attachment_28379" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-28379 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-28379 lazyload" alt="2006: President Bush bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom to historian David McCullough during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)" width="2280" height="1728" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088.jpg 2280w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088-380x288.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088-760x576.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2006: President George W. Bush bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to historian David McCullough during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais)</figcaption></figure><p>In December 2006, President George W. Bush presented David McCullough with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in a ceremony at the White House.</p> <figure id="attachment_26453" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26453 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26453 size-full lazyload" alt="2016: Historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough is working on the book “The Pioneers,” about the generations of pioneers that explored and settled the Northwest Territories. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough.jpg 2280w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2016: David McCullough is working on the book <em>The Pioneers</em>, about the generations of pioneers that explored and settled the Northwest Territories. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin)</figcaption></figure><p>McCullough’s books and television appearances have made him a uniquely recognizable authority on the American experience.  A popular and eloquent public speaker, he is one of the few private citizens to have spoken at the White House and addressed a joint session of Congress.  In 2017 he published a collection of his speeches, <em>The American Spirit</em>. In this book, subtitled <em>Who We Are and What We Stand For</em>, he attempts to identify principles and characteristics that remain distinctly American, and to remind his countrymen of the core values that unite all Americans, regardless of their regional and ethnic identities or political affiliations.</p> <p>David and Rosalee McCullough live in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. They have five children and many grandchildren. McCullough writes every day in a studio behind his house. “I would pay to do what I do,” he told an interviewer. “How could I have a better time than doing what I am doing?”</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1985 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.writer">Writer</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.author">Author</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.historian">Historian</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> July 7, 1933 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">“I used to see the old fellows in their 40s, talking about the book they were going to write someday. I was determined I was not going to be like that.”</p> <p class="inputText">David McCullough was encouraged by the success of his first book, <i>The Johnstown Flood,</i> but he was still faced with a difficult decision, to trade a steady and satisfying job for the insecurities of life as a full-time writer with a growing family to support. With his wife’s encouragement, he took the plunge and has never looked back.</p> <p class="inputText">Today he is a bestselling author, and one of America’s most distinguished historians. He has received not one but two Pulitzer Prizes, for <i>John Adams</i> and for <i>Truman,</i> both biographies of U.S. presidents.</p> <p class="inputText">He has also won two National Book Awards, for <i>The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, </i>and <i>Mornings on Horseback,</i> the story of young Theodore Roosevelt’s struggle to manhood. His voice has long been familiar to public television audiences as the narrator of <i>The Civil War</i> and <i>The Great Bridge </i>(adapted from his own book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge); his words have brought history to life for millions.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/M2x9q6nRQDA?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_03_21_16.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_03_21_16.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Recording the Drama of History</h2> <div class="sans-2">Williamsburg, Virginia</div> <div class="sans-2">June 3, 1995</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>When did you first have an idea of what you wanted to do?</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: I had many ideas of what I wanted to do. The question was, “Which one would I do?” I think I ran through the usual spectrum of imagined futures. I thought I would like to be an architect, an actor, a painter, a writer, a lawyer, for a while a politician. I considered going to medical school. I knew I didn’t want to be in business, and I knew that I wanted to get to New York as soon as I could, and once I got to New York, one thing sort of led to another. A lot depends, of course, on who you happen to meet, what your economic needs are of the moment.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/0BaEer4oX0o?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_26_53_14.Still018-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_26_53_14.Still018-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>When I arrived in New York, I needed a job, and I was fortunate enough to be taken on as a trainee in a brand new magazine that was just starting called <em>Sports Illustrated.</em> And I think now, in retrospect, that what I did in the next 12 years was to serve a kind of apprenticeship in different jobs, different magazine jobs, primarily editing, writing. And after I’d done that for about 10 or 12 years, I felt that I had reached the point where I could attempt something on my own.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26447" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26447 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26447 size-full lazyload" alt="Author David McCullough speaks after receiving the first Spirit of the American Revolution Award at an event at the Museum of the American Revolution in Center City, Philadelphia on September 20, 2016. Behind him is Chairman of the Board Gerry Lenfest. The museum is expected to open in 2017. (TRACIE VAN AUKEN/For the Inquirer)" width="1200" height="800" data-sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL.jpg 1200w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Author David McCullough speaks after receiving the first Spirit of the American Revolution Award at an event at the Museum of the American Revolution in Center City, Philadelphia on September 20, 2016. Behind him is Chairman of the Board Gerry Lenfest. The museum is expected to open in 2017. (Tracie Van Auken/The Inquirer)</figcaption></figure><p>We had many children by then, and I had a good job. I liked my job.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/5BSAFRAl9is?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_26_10_27.Still015-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_26_10_27.Still015-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>It wasn’t that I was rebelling against the imprisonment of a vocation that wasn’t for me. I liked the people I worked with. I went in every day very eager to do whatever we had to do. I was an editor then at American Heritage Publishing Company, but I had an idea for a book, and I began working on it at nights, and on weekends, and on vacations, and it took me three years. And when that book was published it had a reception — both critically and publicly, with the reading public — that was far beyond what I had expected. And at that point, I decided that I would cut loose and try it on my own. And, because I had a wonderful partner, editor-in-chief, wife, who was equally willing to take that risk — biggest risk we ever took. I did it. Had I not had someone in my life who was as willing as I was to take the step, I might not have done it.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26441" style="width: 1832px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26441 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26441 size-full lazyload" alt=""The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough is a stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America." width="1832" height="2772" data-sizes="(max-width: 1832px) 100vw, 1832px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood.jpg 1832w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood-251x380.jpg 251w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood-502x760.jpg 502w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>The Johnstown Flood,</em> a stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of the Gilded Age.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>What was that first book?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/3RbvTiPQ2kU?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_15_09_10.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_15_09_10.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>David McCullough: The first book was <em>The Johnstown Flood. </em>I had been an English major in college. I had no anticipation that I was going to write history, but I stumbled upon a story that I thought was powerful, exciting, and very worth telling. And I taught myself, in effect, how to do the research, how to dig out the pieces, both large and small, of the past. I discovered in the process that — contrary to the notion that the past is a dead thing — that in fact, wherever you scratch the surface, you find life. And it was the life — the people and what happened to them — that was the pull for me. I had read a lot of history, read a lot of very good writers who had chosen to write history as a kind of other territory, almost like another country. The past is another country, another part of the universe.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>Who?</strong></p> <figure id="attachment_4357" style="width: 316px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="wp-image-4357 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/reveille-in-washington.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-4357 size-full lazyload" alt="Reveille in Washington by Margaret Leech" width="316" height="474" data-sizes="(max-width: 316px) 100vw, 316px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/reveille-in-washington.jpg 316w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/reveille-in-washington-253x380.jpg 253w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/reveille-in-washington.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>Reveille in Washington</em> by Margaret Leech</figcaption></figure><p>David McCullough: Barbara Tuchman, Bruce Catton, all in effect, in a way, what I was, which was a lapsed journalist. The work of people like Margaret Leech, for example, that wrote a wonderful book called <em>Reveille in Washington, </em>about life inside of the government and in Washington during the Civil War. That encouragement that one gets, that lift one gets from the books that move you and change your life! Books do change your life.</p> <p>I read a wonderful account of, in an interview with Thornton Wilder, the great playwright, in a collection of interviews done by the Paris Review called, <em>Writers at Work. </em>I still go back and read those interviews for inspiration and understanding; these date from the late 1950s/early 1960s. And in that conversation with the interviewer…</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/wUOWQ73UGG4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_23_15_28.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_23_15_28.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Thornton Wilder was asked how he got the ideas for his books, and he said — or his plays — and he said, “I imagine a story that I would like to read, or see done on the stage. And if nobody has written that book or that play, I write it so that I can read it or I can see it on the stage.” Well, I wanted to be able to read a really first-rate book about the incredible story behind the disaster at Johnstown in 1889, and I found there was no such book. But having read that interview I thought, “Well, maybe you could write the book that you would like to read.” And I am convinced that the only way we ever really learn anything is by doing it.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p>I found that with my next book even more so.</p> <figure id="attachment_26462" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26462 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26462 size-full lazyload" alt="May 10, 2012: Author David McCullough walks over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. McCullough is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his book "The Great Bridge," which has just been reissued with a new introduction by the 78-year-old writer. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" width="2280" height="1414" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough.jpg 2280w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough-380x236.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough-760x471.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">May 10, 2012: Author David McCullough walks over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. McCullough is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his book <em>The Great Bridge</em>, which has just been reissued with a new introduction by the writer.</figcaption></figure></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/5G2J-bX7vyU?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_24_49_12.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_24_49_12.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I set out to try to understand how the Brooklyn Bridge was built — the engineering, yes, but also the human story, which is very complicated, and dramatic, and moving, and I had to teach myself the engineering involved. I found the material, the treasure house of letters and diaries stowed away in an attic. That’s supposed to be a mythic experience. That happened to me. I found all of those letters and diaries of the Roebling family, which — they were responsible for the bridge, the design and the building of the bridge — in a closet up in the attic of a library in Upstate New York, at Troy, New York, at the RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the material was untouched. It hadn’t been catalogued, it hadn’t been sorted out, hundreds and thousands of items stuffed away in a big storage closet, and I had to unscramble it all. It was like the ultimate tangled fishing line that I had to slowly put back the way it was meant to be, and then I had to try and understand it, and it took the better part of several years just figuring that out. Now if I had gone to a lecture, or if I had been given a textbook, I could have absorbed what was in the lecture, I could have absorbed what was in the textbook, and I could have had it in my head long enough to take the test to pass the course. But probably six months, maybe a year, certainly six years later it would be gone out of my head. But it’s now been almost 25 years since I did the work on that project, and I could sit down and take a test on all of that and do very well right now because I had to do it myself.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26457" style="width: 1690px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26457 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26457 size-full lazyload" alt="May 19, 2008: Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough speaks to an audience during Boston College commencement exercises in Boston. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole)" width="1690" height="1050" data-sizes="(max-width: 1690px) 100vw, 1690px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293.jpg 1690w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293-380x236.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293-760x472.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">May 19, 2008: Author David McCullough speaks to an audience during Boston College commencement exercises.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>What is your next passion? What is your next project?</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: I’m often asked, “What’s the favorite of all of the books you’ve written?” Well, my favorite is always the one I’m working on.</p> <p>The one I’m working on now, which is now my favorite, is a book about the crisscrossing lives of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two immensely different men, without whom our history — our country — would be very different than it turned out, who came in a way from two different countries, because Massachusetts and Virginia in the 18th Century, were as different — or more different — than England is from France today. Two different men who had strikingly different talents, strikingly different emotional make-ups.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/kc_WHZOTnrI?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_20_31_17.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_20_31_17.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/integrity/">Integrity</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Jefferson was very contained, very restrained, did not want anybody to know what he truly felt, what kinds of passion was within or at odds with him — at odds within. Whereas Adams wore his emotions on his sleeve. Adams, who was very eloquent on his feet, a great speaker, a great convincer of juries and delegations at the Continental Congress; Jefferson, who couldn’t speak on his feet to save his life, a terrible public speaker, but who could express himself on paper, as few people ever have. And how they started off as friends and co-revolutionaries, ultimately became political rivals, even adversaries, in a harsh fashion nearly. Who didn’t speak to each other for years, who, in a way, were responsible for the political divisions that set up our two-party system, and who then have a great reconciliation after each has served in the presidency and become great friends, again. And correspondence! Carrying on some of the most eloquent correspondence in our history, and in our language. And who then — incredibly, unimaginably — die on the same day, and the same day is the 4th of July, 50 years to the day of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which they created! Now, that doesn’t happen in real life. That couldn’t happen on the stage or in a movie, because nobody would believe it, but it did. How did the country react to that? It’s all part of the story, and it’s got me very excited.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26470" style="width: 1723px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26470 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26470 size-full lazyload" alt="April 29, 2005: Historian and author David McCullough at home on Martha's Vinyard, Massachusetts. McCullough writes every day in a studio behind his house. (Photo by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images)" width="1723" height="969" data-sizes="(max-width: 1723px) 100vw, 1723px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed.jpg 1723w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed-380x214.jpg 380w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed-760x427.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">April 29, 2005: Historian and author David McCullough at home on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. (Getty)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>I want to ask you a little bit about the technique of what you do. Do you have a regular schedule? Do you write a certain amount every day? How do you go about it?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/jinEvmSJq40?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_23_11_05.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_23_11_05.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>David McCullough: Years ago, when I was first brave enough, when I’d summoned the courage to decide I was going to attempt writing a book, I met a man one night at a party. And he was an elderly fellow, and I was about 28 years old, and I had heard — his name was Harry Sinclair Drago, and he wrote Westerns — and a friend said to me, “You see that old fellow over there? That’s Harry Drago. He’s written over 100 books.” And I thought, “I’d like to talk to him.” So I went over, and I said, “Mr. Drago, I — somebody told me that you’ve written over 100 books.” He said, “Yes, that’s right.” I said, “How do you do that?” He said, “Four pages a day, that’s how you write 100 books. That’s how you write books.”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26448" style="width: 1152px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26448 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26448 size-full lazyload" alt="David McCullough" width="1152" height="1600" data-sizes="(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px" data-srcset="/web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman.jpg 1152w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman-274x380.jpg 274w, /web/20181024085918im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman-547x760.jpg 547w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Author, narrator, and historian David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.</figcaption></figure></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085918if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/D-cNw5QuiE8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_17_54_08.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1995-MasterEdit.00_17_54_08.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/passion/">Passion</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I try to do the research, up to maybe the point where I think 60-some percent of it is done, and then I begin writing. And it’s in the writing that you begin to find out what you need to know, and what you don’t know, and it’s perhaps circumstantial, but I don’t think so. I try to write four good pages a day. That’s double space, typewritten pages. I still work on a typewriter, a manual typewriter, because I love the feeling of making something with my hands. Maybe it’s because I started out as a painter and a sculptor. I like the feeling of working physically with my hands, and I also like the idea that if there is a power failure, or if something happens, that I won’t be unplugged. I can keep working. I am the power source, not that plug in the wall. And, I love it when you swing the bar, and that little bell rings. It’s like an old trolley car. And I also am superstitious about many things concerned with the craft, and I think I find most writers are — many much more so than I am. And, I’ve written all my books on that typewriter, and it probably has 250,000 miles on it now.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>That’s a lot of typewriter ribbon.</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: A lot of ribbon and a lot of overhauls over the years. Maybe the typewriter is writing the books, so maybe I better stay loyal to that one. It’s a marvelous machine. It’s a beautiful example of a great piece of machinery made in America.</p> <p><strong>Was there a particular experience in your youth that you believe had a formative influence on you?</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: One of my own children once said to me, “Pop, I don’t think you’re going to be a great writer, because you had such a wonderful childhood and all of our great writers have supposedly had miserable childhoods.” I had a marvelous childhood.</p> <p>I grew up in a family of four sons who are all quite different from each other and who all had very active interests. I have a brother who is a wonderful musician and very interested in the history of music. I have a brother who is a scientist and gifted in technology who builds computers for use under water in oceanographic studies. I have another brother who is a very good businessman and who has had a strong and important career in business.</p> <p>We went to the public schools, and we had lots of friends, and we played on baseball teams and football teams, and ran on the track team, and all of that. I was in the dramatics at school, I worked on the newspaper. I thought I was going to be a painter. I drew the cartoons for the paper. I painted portraits. I sang in the glee club. I did all of that, and I loved all of it. I loved school, every day. It wasn’t cool to say you liked school, of course, but I did. And it was the same in college, and it’s been the same since.</p> <p>I think it’s very important not to typecast people and especially yourself. Because what you may be interested in now, or what you may show signs of ability in now may not be what you’re interested in later on, or may not be where your ability emerges later on.</p> <p><strong>What books do you think influenced you when you were growing up?</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: We had the classics, published by Scribners, all the great stories by Robert Louis Stevenson and the rest which were illustrated by the great N.C. Wyeth. In those days, when childhood diseases were extended, you were home with the measles or mumps or chicken pox for two or three weeks at a time, and you were supposed to stay in bed. There wasn’t any television, there wasn’t much to do, so I would stare at those paintings in those books by the hour. I didn’t read them all. I loved to just look at those pictures and study every detail. I could sit down and draw most of those pictures right now without having to refresh my memory because they were so exciting to me. I entered into that. “What was it like to have been there?” You know, those wonderful pictures in <em>The Last of the Mohicans</em> for example. And the imagination ran wild! Then I began reading, and I couldn’t read enough. I couldn’t stop. I read mostly fiction. I write history and biography, but for my own pleasure I read fiction, and poetry, and drama.</p> <p><strong>What are your favorites?</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: Oh, my. Almost all of Willa Cather, and Wallace Stegner, who I think is one of the literary giants of our time. I love to read mysteries. I love Dickens — who doesn’t love Dickens? — either on stage or movies, but more in the printed page. And, I love the theater. I saw Frank Fay in <em>Harvey </em>when the road company came to Pittsburgh. I saw Brando in <em>Streetcar.</em> I saw plays like <em>Inherit the Wind</em>, and I thought, “Look at the possibilities in history as drama!”</p> <p><strong>All of those things you wanted to be as a kid, you really can be as a historian, can’t you? You’re putting on a drama.</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: Well you can. I don’t think you can underestimate the impact of the movies on my generation. I don’t think we’re going to understand that for a long time, but the movies were how we saw the world.</p> <p>When I said earlier I couldn’t wait to go to New York, it was because of the way New York was portrayed in the movies. When you got to New York, boy, you know, there it was. “You can do anything, be anything!” And it wasn’t all about work and manufacturing and business, which really was what Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was primarily about. And the heroes of those movies — very important to understand that — the Henry Fonda characters, the Spencer Tracy characters, real heroes. And Jimmy Stewart! I think Jimmy — If I were to ask who most influenced me, maybe it was Jimmy Stewart, the parts he played and the way he was. And of course the fact that he came from Western Pennsylvania, which is not very far from where I grew up.</p> <p><strong>There’s a resemblance, too.</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: Oh, you think so? Oh, that’s a wonderful compliment. His father ran a hardware store and he went off to Princeton, and my father had an electrical supply business and I got to go to Yale, and I thought that’s fine. But, you see…</p> <p>Jimmy Stewart — the part Jimmy Stewart is playing — is very important. He’s almost always playing the same part, and that is the seemingly ordinary, decent American who — when put to the test in an extreme situation — rises to the occasion and does the extraordinary. And that’s an old, old story in our American way of life. In fact, it’s the story of Harry Truman, which is what I’ve spent the largest part of my creative writing life working on, a project of 10 years. That’s the story of Harry Truman, the seemingly ordinary fellow who — put to the test — rises to the occasion and does the extraordinary. And, I think we like that story because that’s the story of our country.</p> <p>We are all, in effect, ordinary people who have been given an extraordinary opportunity and presented, therefore, with an extraordinary problem. Can we rise to the occasion and be extraordinary? We had the Founding Fathers, who set this very idealistic, lofty, aspiring set of rules, and guidelines, and design for the ultimate culture, civilization, way of life we were going to create here, and then they leave the stage. Can we live up to the promise of their concept?</p> <p>And that’s the story of the Brooklyn Bridge. The father has the dream of this extraordinary bridge, this unprecedented bridge. He is killed. He dies at the very beginning. His son has to take over. Can he carry out the father’s exceptional, idealistic conception? Those early Founders of our country, in a way, set the bar — if you’ve ever been a high jumper — set the bar very high. Can we — are we up to jumping that high? And if we don’t, that’s all right. We’re at least trying.</p> <p><strong>What does the American Dream mean to you?</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: I think the American dream is the good society. It’s the city on the hill. It’s what the Founding Fathers talked about, where justice is a way of life, where fundamental rights of citizenship are honored, where the individual counts, but where pulling together in the spirit of all being in the same boat can achieve more than any individual can in isolation or independently. I think it means education. This country was founded on the idea that education for all — education at its best — is not just good for the individual, it’s essential to the system. The system won’t work unless we have an educated population. Democracy demands it. It’s the old line in Jefferson: “Any nation that expects to be ignorant and free, expects what never was and never will be.”</p> <p>In education, you find yourself. When you go to college, and later when you decide about graduation school or vocation, don’t limit your focus. It would be as if you walked into a wonderful buffet banquet, and you took your plate, and you went up and filled the plate with the first thing you saw because it looked so good. Look it all over. Sample a little bit of everything for as long as you can, because that’s why you’re going to college. And when you finish college, that’s just the beginning. It doesn’t stop. It keeps on going.</p> <p>If your experience is anything like mine, the most important books you’re going to read in your life you’re going to read after college. The most important and inspiring people you’re going to meet in life are going to come after college. The windows, the doors will be flung open for you in college by very fine people, and that certainly happened to me.</p> <p>When I got to Yale, I had the privilege, the exciting experience of being one of the students of Vincent Scully. He was simply magnificent for generations of Yale undergraduates, because he opened up the doors. He opened up our eyes to so much more than we ever had had before, and that keeps on happening right through life. It’s like gravity, it’s accelerative, and it’s fueled by curiosity. It’s fueled by our innate human desire to know, to experience, and to be lifted out of ourselves — both our physical selves, and by the limitations of our biological clocks — to a much larger world.</p> <p>Time and place. You, all of us, each of us, is limited to how much time we have on Earth by the biological clock. Now do we want, therefore, to have the experience of being alive constrained to that time only? No. It would be like saying, “You live there. You must stay in that one spot where you are in space all of your life.” So you are no more required to stay in one spot in time than you are in space and that time travel you can do is in history. It’s in the past, which is the larger experience of humankind on Earth. And the past isn’t just history in the usual literal sense. It’s music, art, history. It’s culture, language, culture, and you can experience all of that, the more you know, because you can go back as far as you want, out as far as you want, and suddenly you’re infinitely more alive, and that’s what history is about. History is about life, about people.</p> <p>I think what we must do in education, for example, is to bring the lab techniques used in science to the teaching of the humanities, to the teaching of history, and English, and journalism, and the arts. That’s the great thing about the arts. You don’t learn to paint, except by painting. You don’t learn to play the piano, except by playing the piano. By the same token, I think you become an historian, I think you become a scholar by being required to do original scholarly work, original detective work of a kind that’s involved with doing scholarly research. And once you do that, once you get on that track, you catch the bug, and you find out that this is really exciting.</p> <p>Now scientists know that, and scientists know that when they teach science. But in English, in the humanities, I think we’re behind on it. And make no mistake, the humanities are immensely important, and the arts are immensely important, and this decline in the teaching of the arts and the humanities in our school system — particularly our public school system, and in the grade schools of our country — is a disgrace. It’s a shame. We’re cheating our children. And the idea that the arts are any less important, any less vital to a culture than history or mathematics or science is a dangerous misconception; bad for the country, bad for our way of life because all of these things are an extension of the experience of being alive.</p> <p><strong>Thank you very much. It’s been a great pleasure talking with you.</strong></p> <p>David McCullough: You’re welcome.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">David McCullough Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>40 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4901960784314" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough is a dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly — Wilbur and Orville Wright." data-image-copyright="wright-brothers" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers-255x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wright-brothers-510x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL.jpg" data-image-caption="Author David McCullough speaks after receiving the first Spirit of the American Revolution Award at an event at the Museum of the American Revolution in Center City, Philadelphia on September 20, 2016. Behind him is Chairman of the Board Gerry Lenfest. The museum is expected to open in 2017. (TRACIE VAN AUKEN/For the Inquirer)" data-image-copyright="Museum of the American Revolution Honors Author David McCullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/0ODTYDDL-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5139442231076" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/course-of-human-events.jpg" data-image-caption="May 15, 2003: David McCullough presented "The Course of Human Events" as The 2003 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities in Washington, D.C. The Jefferson Lecture is a tribute to McCullough's lifetime investigation of history. In this short speech, this master historian tracks his fascination with all things historical to his early days in Pittsburgh, where he "learned to love history by way of books" in bookshops and at the local library. McCullough eloquently leads us through the founding fathers' attraction to history, letting us in on his composition of "1776" as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning "John Adams." His obvious affection for history is inspiring, because it encompasses the whole reach of the human drama. In McCullough's able hands, history truly "is a larger way of looking at life."" data-image-copyright="course-of-human-events" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/course-of-human-events-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/course-of-human-events-502x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3893967093236" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough" data-image-copyright="87aac2a8d7587867-10davidmcculloughcstephensherman" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman-274x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/87aac2a8d7587867-10DavidMcculloughcStephenSherman-547x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.84210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2015-03-31-David-McCullough-CBS-IMG_0713_CROP.jpg" data-image-caption="2015: Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives archivists Dawne Dewey and John Armstrong show David McCullough their display of the Wright Brothers’ medals. In McCullough's 2015 book "The Wright Brothers," he tells the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright." data-image-copyright="2015-03-31-david-mccullough-cbs-img_0713_crop" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2015-03-31-David-McCullough-CBS-IMG_0713_CROP-380x320.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2015-03-31-David-McCullough-CBS-IMG_0713_CROP-760x640.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4901960784314" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/greater-journey.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris" by David McCullough is a remarkable story of the generations of American artists, writers, and doctors who traveled to Paris, fell in love with the city and its people, and changed America through what they learned." data-image-copyright="greater-journey" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/greater-journey-255x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/greater-journey-510x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3286713286713" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/11109f8ae19106b27245083b9d0d079e.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough inside the writing shed he built in the backyard of his West Tisbury home. Since he built the structure in 1970, all of his books have been written there." data-image-copyright="11109f8ae19106b27245083b9d0d079e" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/11109f8ae19106b27245083b9d0d079e-286x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/11109f8ae19106b27245083b9d0d079e-572x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/151116-F-EX201-081.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Matthew Stafford, Air University Academic Affairs president, left, and Dr. Muriel Howard, Air University Board of Visitors president, place the Air University academic hood on David McCullough as he receives the Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from Air University during a ceremony on November 16, 2015 at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. McCullough was bestowed the honorary degree for his work as an author, historian and narrator. McCullough has received 52 other honorary degrees in the past, but this is the first degree awarded to him by a military university. (U.S. Air Force photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox)" data-image-copyright="Honorary Degree" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/151116-F-EX201-081-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/151116-F-EX201-081-760x506.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20120917DavidMcCullough_0346.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough visits Utah Valley University for Constitution Week as the key dignitary to kick off the opening of the Constitutional Studies office, September 17, 2012. (Jac Scott, UVU Marketing)" data-image-copyright="20120917 David McCullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20120917DavidMcCullough_0346-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20120917DavidMcCullough_0346-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough.jpg" data-image-caption="2016: Historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough is working on the book “The Pioneers,” about the generations of pioneers that explored and settled the Northwest Territories. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)" data-image-copyright="books-david-mccullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65131578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough2.jpg" data-image-caption="May 10, 2012: David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for books "Truman" and "John Adams," walks around the Brooklyn Bridge while being interviewed in New York. McCullough is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his book "The Great Bridge," which has just been reissued with a new introduction by the 78-year-old writer. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" data-image-copyright="Books David McCullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough2-380x247.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough2-760x495.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0453920220083" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-toledo-library.jpg" data-image-caption="May 10, 2012: David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for books "Truman" and "John Adams," walks around the Brooklyn Bridge while being interviewed in New York. McCullough is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his book "The Great Bridge," which has just been reissued with a new introduction by the 78-year-old writer. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" data-image-copyright="books-david-mccullough-toledo-library" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-toledo-library-363x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Books-David-McCullough-toledo-library-727x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5079365079365" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough is a National Book Award–winning epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal, a first-rate drama of the bold and brilliant engineering feat that was filled with both tragedy and triumph." data-image-copyright="path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr-252x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/path-between-the-seas-9780743201377_hr-504x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.8" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/David_McCullough_4943.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough" data-image-copyright="david_mccullough_4943" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/David_McCullough_4943-380x304.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/David_McCullough_4943-760x608.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.62105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293.jpg" data-image-caption="May 19, 2008: Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough speaks to an audience during Boston College commencement exercises in Boston. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole)" data-image-copyright="David McCullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293-380x236.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/david-mccullough-293-760x472.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.501976284585" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams.jpg" data-image-caption=""John Adams" by David McCullough is the Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling biography of America’s founding father and second president that was the basis for the acclaimed HBO series." data-image-copyright="john-adams" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-adams-506x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79605263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1.jpg" data-image-caption="2001: David McCullough (Simon & Schuster/William B. McCullough)" data-image-copyright="DAVID MCCULLOUGH" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-1-760x605.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5139442231076" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough is a stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America." data-image-copyright="johnstown-flood" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johnstown-flood-502x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2687813021703" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2.jpg" data-image-caption="2001: David McCullough. (Simon & Schuster/William B. McCullough)" data-image-copyright="DAVID MCCULLOUGH" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2-299x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-David-2-599x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66447368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-William185.jpg" data-image-caption="Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough. (Photo by William B. McCullough)" data-image-copyright="mccullough-william185" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-William185-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-William185-760x505.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-William186.jpg" data-image-caption="Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough. (Photo by William B. McCullough)" data-image-copyright="mccullough-william186" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-William186-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough-William186-760x504.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.61973684210526" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough.jpg" data-image-caption="May 10, 2012: Author David McCullough walks over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. McCullough is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his book "The Great Bridge," which has just been reissued with a new introduction by the 78-year-old writer. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" data-image-copyright="APTOPIX Books David McCullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough-380x236.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mccullough-760x471.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.85" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough_Rush_055-detail.jpg" data-image-caption="May 6, 2011: David McCullough at the Rush Reading Room dedication. The Benjamin Rush Gallery, located in the Archives and Special Collections of the Waidner-Spahr Library, features Thomas Sully's brilliant portrait of the co-founder of Dickinson College." data-image-copyright="McCullough Visit/Rush Reading Room Dedication May 6, 2011" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough_Rush_055-detail-380x323.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McCullough_Rush_055-detail-760x646.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.74078947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/medal-of-freedom-mccullough-bushes.jpg" data-image-caption="November 18, 2015: Historian David McCullough with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at the Medal of Freedom presentation ceremony at SMU’s John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies. McCullough spoke at a Q&A-style public forum moderated by SMU Tower Scholar Sara Jendrusch in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Theater. After the event, McCullough received the Medal of Freedom award at a private dinner that included a discussion moderated by former Wyoming Senator Alan K. Simpson." data-image-copyright="medal-of-freedom-mccullough-bushes" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/medal-of-freedom-mccullough-bushes-380x281.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/medal-of-freedom-mccullough-bushes-760x563.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.52" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/brave-companions.jpg" data-image-caption="In "Brave Companions," David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women, past and present, who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition." data-image-copyright="brave-companions" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/brave-companions-250x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/brave-companions-500x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65263157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MN-AJ013_MCCULL_GR_20150504162948.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough" data-image-copyright="David McCullough" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MN-AJ013_MCCULL_GR_20150504162948-380x248.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MN-AJ013_MCCULL_GR_20150504162948-760x496.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799.jpg" data-image-caption="May 10, 2012: Author David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner for books "Truman" and "John Adams," walks over the Brooklyn Bridge while being interviewed in New York. McCullough will become an honorary ranger in a ceremony on October 4, 2016 in Boston. It's the highest civilian honor awarded by the National Park Service, reserved for individuals who have made exceptional contributions. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)" data-image-copyright="People David McCullough Park Ranger" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799-380x297.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/People-David-McCullough-Park-Ranger-1024x799-760x593.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4931237721022" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Great Bridge" by David McCullough is a dramatic and enthralling story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time, a tale of greed, corruption, and obstruction, but also of optimism, heroism, and determination." data-image-copyright="the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr-255x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-great-bridge-9781451683233_hr-509x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.70526315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough1-070813.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough, award-winning author and historian, kisses his wife, Rosalee, before speaking at a dedication ceremony at Heinz History Center in the Strip District on July 7, 2013. The ceremony was held in honor of McCullough, whom the 16th Street Bridge will be renamed after." data-image-copyright="ptr-mccullough1-070813" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough1-070813-380x268.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough1-070813-760x536.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.501976284585" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough2-070813.jpg" data-image-caption="July 7, 2013: David McCullough, award-winning author and historian, speaks at a dedication ceremony at Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ceremony was held in honor of McCullough, whom the 16th Street Bridge will be renamed after. (Gwen Titley)" data-image-copyright="ptr-mccullough2-070813" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough2-070813-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough2-070813-506x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough3-070813.jpg" data-image-caption="July 7, 2013: David McCullough, award-winning author and historian, unveils the plaque that will be placed on the 16th Street Bridge in his honor during the dedication ceremony at Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Gwen Titley)" data-image-copyright="ptr-mccullough3-070813" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough3-070813-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ptr-mccullough3-070813-760x506.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.501976284585" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mornings-on-horseback.jpg" data-image-caption=""Mornings on Horseback" by David McCullough is a National Book Award–winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately President of the United States." data-image-copyright="mornings-on-horseback" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mornings-on-horseback-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mornings-on-horseback-506x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed.jpg" data-image-caption="April 29, 2005: Historian and author David McCullough at home on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. McCullough writes every day in a studio behind his house. (Photo by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="David McCullough Portraits" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/unnamed-760x427.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/William-McCullough089.jpg" data-image-caption="Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough." data-image-copyright="Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/William-McCullough089-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/William-McCullough089-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5139442231076" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman.jpg" data-image-caption=""Truman" by David McCullough, is a winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events, from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War." data-image-copyright="truman" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/truman-502x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.4" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough (Photograph by William B. McCullough)" data-image-copyright="mccullough-oprah-feature-image-2800x1120" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120-380x152.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mccullough-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120-760x304.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088.jpg" data-image-caption="2006: President Bush bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom to historian David McCullough during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)" data-image-copyright="wp-ap-061215018088" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088-380x288.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-AP-061215018088-760x576.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium.jpg" data-image-caption="David McCullough addresses the Banquet of the Golden Plate during the 1985 Achievement Summit in Denver. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-mccullough-david-at-the-podium" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-at-the-podium-760x514.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-with-two-others.jpg" data-image-caption="" data-image-copyright="wp-mccullough-david-with-two-others" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-with-two-others-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-McCullough-David-with-two-others-760x508.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78316690442225" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg.jpg" data-image-caption="Awards Council member and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert K. Massie presents David McCullough with the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award during the 1985 Summit in Denver, Colorado." data-image-copyright="McCoullough, David with Robert Massiejpg" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg-380x298.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/05/McCoullough-David-with-Robert-Massiejpg.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on March 22, 2018</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever the-arts public-service ambitious curious resourceful write teach-others " data-year-inducted="1996" data-achiever-name="Goodwin"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/goodwin_760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/goodwin_760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Pulitzer Prize for History</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1996</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service small-town-rural-upbringing curious explore-the-world write help-mankind " data-year-inducted="2008" data-achiever-name="Kristof"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/kristof-Achiever-Profile-Square-760-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/kristof-Achiever-Profile-Square-760-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Nicholas D. 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for an achiever"/> <i class="icon-icon_chevron-down"></i> </div> <ul class="find-achiever-list list m-b-0 list-unstyled"> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hank-aaron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hank Aaron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kareem-abdul-jabbar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lynsey-addario/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lynsey Addario</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Albee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tenley-albright-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tenley Albright, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/svetlana-alexievich/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Svetlana Alexievich</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julie-andrews/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Julie Andrews</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Angelou</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-d-ballard-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert D. 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Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181024085918/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George B. 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