David M. Kennedy (historian)

David Michael Kennedy (born July 22, 1941) is an American historian specializing in American history. He is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University and the former director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West. Kennedy's scholarship is notable for its integration of economic analysis and cultural analysis with social history and political history.

David Kennedy
Born	David Michael Kennedy (1941-07-22) July 22, 1941 Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Spouse	Judith Osborne ​ ​ (m. 1970; died 2023)​
Children	3
Awards	Pulitzer Prize (2000)
Academic background
Education	Stanford University (BA) Yale University (MA, PhD)
Thesis	Birth Control (1968)
Academic work
Discipline	History
Sub-discipline	American history
Institutions	Stanford University
Doctoral students	Elizabeth Borgwardt Elizabeth Cobbs John McGreevy
Notable students	Josh Hawley
Notable works	Freedom from Fear (1999)

Kennedy is responsible for the recent editions of the popular history textbook, The American Pageant. He is also the current editor (since 1999) of the Oxford History of the United States series. This position was held previously by C. Vann Woodward. Earlier in his career, Kennedy won the Bancroft Prize for his first book Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger (1970), and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his book World War I, Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980). He was the Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History from 1995 to 1996. He won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for History for Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (1999).

Biography

Born on July 22, 1941, in Seattle, Washington, Kennedy received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Stanford University and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in American studies from Yale University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Kennedy married Judith (Judy) Ann Osborne in 1970, and they remained together until her death on June 5, 2023. They have three children.

Books

External videos
Presentation by Kennedy on Freedom from Fear, June 5, 1999, C-SPAN
Booknotes interview with Kennedy on Freedom from Fear, June 20, 1999, C-SPAN

• Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger (1970)
  • John Gilmary Shea Prize, 1970
  • Bancroft Prize, 1971
• Social Thought in America and Europe, co-editor with Paul A. Robinson (1970)
• Progressivism: The Critical Issues, editor (1971)
• The American People in the Depression (1973)
• The American People in the Age of Kennedy (West Haven: Pendulum Press, 1973)
• The American Pageant: A History of the Republic, co-author with Thomas A. Bailey and Lizabeth Cohen (1979; 14th ed. 2010).
• Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980)
  • Pulitzer Prize Finalist, 1981
• Power and Responsibility: Case Studies in American Leadership, co-editor with Michael Parrish (1986)
• The American Spirit: United States History as Seen by Contemporaries, co-editor with Thomas A. Bailey (1983)
• Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (1999) (Vol. 9 in The Oxford History of the United States)

Awards and honors

• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1996
• Pulitzer Prize, 2000
• Francis Parkman Prize, 2000
• Ambassador Book Award, 2000
• California Gold Medal for Literature, 2000
• Member of the American Philosophical Society, 2001

See also

• Wayne S. Vucinich

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Roberts, Russ (August 16, 2010). "Kennedy on the Great Depression and the New Deal". EconTalk. Library of Economics and Liberty.