Jon Meacham

Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jon Meacham is one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. A highly sought-after commentator and a skilled orator, Meacham has the unique ability to bring history to life and offer historical context to current events and issues affecting our daily lives.

Meacham is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including The Soul of America, Destiny and Power, Franklin and Winston, and the Pulitzer Prize–winner American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. In his newest book, American Struggle, Meacham unites centuries of essential American voices to understand our national debates and divisions from 1619 to the present, with his signature commentary on the consequential speeches, letters, and essays that led us to this moment.

Meacham served as Newsweek’s managing editor from 1998 to 2006 and as editor from 2006 to 2010. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair at Vanderbilt University and is a fellow of the Society of American Historians. In 2024, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Biden and was honored as a Library Lion of the New York Public Library.

This event is the fall kickoff lecture for the 2027 Mark O. Hatfield Lecture Series.