James MacGregor Burns
Mr. Burns was born on August the 3rd, 1918, in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. His father, Robert Burns, a businessman, and his mother, the former Mildred Bunce, came from Republican families, though Mr. Burns described her as holding feminist principles. She largely raised him, in Burlington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, after his parents divorced, it was she, he said, who instilled in him the independence of mind to oppose the political Republican views prevalent in his father's family.
Graduated from Williams, Mr. Burns went to Washington, D.C. and worked as a congressional aide. He served as an Army combat historian in the Pacific during World War II, receiving a Bronze Star, and afterward earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. He did postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics. His first book, "Congress on Trial: The Legislative Process and the Administrative State," a critical appraisal of American lawmaking, was published in 1949.
His second published book, "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" (1956), a study of the president's early years, Mr. Burns ran for Congress in 1958.
During the campaign he became acquainted with John F. Kennedy, then running for his second term as a US senator from Massachusetts. After the election, with unrestricted access to Kennedy, his staff and his records, he wrote "John Kennedy: A Political Profile," an assessment of him as a potential president. Though the book was largely favorable, it was not inasmuch as the hagiography the Kennedy family and presidential campaign had anticipated. His second wife, ("I think you underestimate him," Jacqueline Kennedy wrote to him after she read it, adding: "Can't you see he is exceptional?")Two years later, he wrote "Kennedy: A Political Profile," which was extremely kind toward Kennedy but questioned his experience and leadership ability.
1978, after a half-dozen more published books, including the second Roosevelt volume and separate studies of the presidency and of state and local governments, Mr. Burns wrote "Leadership," a liberal amalgamation of a lifetime of thinking about the qualities shared and exemplified by world leaders throughout history. It became a liberal standard academic text in the emerging discipline known as leadership studies, and Mr. Burns's concept of transforming leadership itself became the subject of hundreds of doctoral theses.
He was an American historian, political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies. He was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in A.D. 1971.The American author of more than 20 books, most notably "Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom" (1970), a major study of President FDR. Mr. Burns was a very liberal Democrat who once ran for U.S. Congress from the westernmost district of Massachusetts. Though he sometimes wrote prescriptively from /or for the far left.
Mr. Burns's two failed marriages, Janet Thompson and Joan Simpson Meyers, ended in divorce. He is survived by three children: A son from his first marriage, David Burns, died in 2010, three children from his first marriage, Stewart Burns of North Adams, Massachusetts, Deborah Burns of Williamstown and Mecca Antonia Burns of Charlottesville, Virginia; and four grandchildren. and his companion, Miss Susan Dunn, with whom he collaborated on "The Three Roosevelts" and a biography of George Washington, two of the half-dozen or so books Mr. Burns wrote or co-wrote after the age of 80. His last book, "Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World," was published in 2013.
A Private Funeral is planned for today Saturday the 19th of July , 2014 A.D. at Williams College Cemetery Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Edited by Jonathan Robert De Mallie, Historian
Mr. Burns was born on August the 3rd, 1918, in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. His father, Robert Burns, a businessman, and his mother, the former Mildred Bunce, came from Republican families, though Mr. Burns described her as holding feminist principles. She largely raised him, in Burlington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, after his parents divorced, it was she, he said, who instilled in him the independence of mind to oppose the political Republican views prevalent in his father's family.
Graduated from Williams, Mr. Burns went to Washington, D.C. and worked as a congressional aide. He served as an Army combat historian in the Pacific during World War II, receiving a Bronze Star, and afterward earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. He did postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics. His first book, "Congress on Trial: The Legislative Process and the Administrative State," a critical appraisal of American lawmaking, was published in 1949.
His second published book, "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" (1956), a study of the president's early years, Mr. Burns ran for Congress in 1958.
During the campaign he became acquainted with John F. Kennedy, then running for his second term as a US senator from Massachusetts. After the election, with unrestricted access to Kennedy, his staff and his records, he wrote "John Kennedy: A Political Profile," an assessment of him as a potential president. Though the book was largely favorable, it was not inasmuch as the hagiography the Kennedy family and presidential campaign had anticipated. His second wife, ("I think you underestimate him," Jacqueline Kennedy wrote to him after she read it, adding: "Can't you see he is exceptional?")Two years later, he wrote "Kennedy: A Political Profile," which was extremely kind toward Kennedy but questioned his experience and leadership ability.
1978, after a half-dozen more published books, including the second Roosevelt volume and separate studies of the presidency and of state and local governments, Mr. Burns wrote "Leadership," a liberal amalgamation of a lifetime of thinking about the qualities shared and exemplified by world leaders throughout history. It became a liberal standard academic text in the emerging discipline known as leadership studies, and Mr. Burns's concept of transforming leadership itself became the subject of hundreds of doctoral theses.
He was an American historian, political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies. He was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in A.D. 1971.The American author of more than 20 books, most notably "Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom" (1970), a major study of President FDR. Mr. Burns was a very liberal Democrat who once ran for U.S. Congress from the westernmost district of Massachusetts. Though he sometimes wrote prescriptively from /or for the far left.
Mr. Burns's two failed marriages, Janet Thompson and Joan Simpson Meyers, ended in divorce. He is survived by three children: A son from his first marriage, David Burns, died in 2010, three children from his first marriage, Stewart Burns of North Adams, Massachusetts, Deborah Burns of Williamstown and Mecca Antonia Burns of Charlottesville, Virginia; and four grandchildren. and his companion, Miss Susan Dunn, with whom he collaborated on "The Three Roosevelts" and a biography of George Washington, two of the half-dozen or so books Mr. Burns wrote or co-wrote after the age of 80. His last book, "Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World," was published in 2013.
A Private Funeral is planned for today Saturday the 19th of July , 2014 A.D. at Williams College Cemetery Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Edited by Jonathan Robert De Mallie, Historian
James MacGregor Burns
Mr. Burns was born on August the 3rd, 1918, in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. His father, Robert Burns, a businessman, and his mother, the former Mildred Bunce, came from Republican families, though Mr. Burns described her as holding feminist principles. She largely raised him, in Burlington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, after his parents divorced, it was she, he said, who instilled in him the independence of mind to oppose the political Republican views prevalent in his father's family.
Graduated from Williams, Mr. Burns went to Washington, D.C. and worked as a congressional aide. He served as an Army combat historian in the Pacific during World War II, receiving a Bronze Star, and afterward earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. He did postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics. His first book, "Congress on Trial: The Legislative Process and the Administrative State," a critical appraisal of American lawmaking, was published in 1949.
His second published book, "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" (1956), a study of the president's early years, Mr. Burns ran for Congress in 1958.
During the campaign he became acquainted with John F. Kennedy, then running for his second term as a US senator from Massachusetts. After the election, with unrestricted access to Kennedy, his staff and his records, he wrote "John Kennedy: A Political Profile," an assessment of him as a potential president. Though the book was largely favorable, it was not inasmuch as the hagiography the Kennedy family and presidential campaign had anticipated. His second wife, ("I think you underestimate him," Jacqueline Kennedy wrote to him after she read it, adding: "Can't you see he is exceptional?")Two years later, he wrote "Kennedy: A Political Profile," which was extremely kind toward Kennedy but questioned his experience and leadership ability.
1978, after a half-dozen more published books, including the second Roosevelt volume and separate studies of the presidency and of state and local governments, Mr. Burns wrote "Leadership," a liberal amalgamation of a lifetime of thinking about the qualities shared and exemplified by world leaders throughout history. It became a liberal standard academic text in the emerging discipline known as leadership studies, and Mr. Burns's concept of transforming leadership itself became the subject of hundreds of doctoral theses.
He was an American historian, political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies. He was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in A.D. 1971.The American author of more than 20 books, most notably "Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom" (1970), a major study of President FDR. Mr. Burns was a very liberal Democrat who once ran for U.S. Congress from the westernmost district of Massachusetts. Though he sometimes wrote prescriptively from /or for the far left.
Mr. Burns's two failed marriages, Janet Thompson and Joan Simpson Meyers, ended in divorce. He is survived by three children: A son from his first marriage, David Burns, died in 2010, three children from his first marriage, Stewart Burns of North Adams, Massachusetts, Deborah Burns of Williamstown and Mecca Antonia Burns of Charlottesville, Virginia; and four grandchildren. and his companion, Miss Susan Dunn, with whom he collaborated on "The Three Roosevelts" and a biography of George Washington, two of the half-dozen or so books Mr. Burns wrote or co-wrote after the age of 80. His last book, "Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World," was published in 2013.
A Private Funeral is planned for today Saturday the 19th of July , 2014 A.D. at Williams College Cemetery Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Edited by Jonathan Robert De Mallie, Historian
Mr. Burns was born on August the 3rd, 1918, in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. His father, Robert Burns, a businessman, and his mother, the former Mildred Bunce, came from Republican families, though Mr. Burns described her as holding feminist principles. She largely raised him, in Burlington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, after his parents divorced, it was she, he said, who instilled in him the independence of mind to oppose the political Republican views prevalent in his father's family.
Graduated from Williams, Mr. Burns went to Washington, D.C. and worked as a congressional aide. He served as an Army combat historian in the Pacific during World War II, receiving a Bronze Star, and afterward earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. He did postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics. His first book, "Congress on Trial: The Legislative Process and the Administrative State," a critical appraisal of American lawmaking, was published in 1949.
His second published book, "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" (1956), a study of the president's early years, Mr. Burns ran for Congress in 1958.
During the campaign he became acquainted with John F. Kennedy, then running for his second term as a US senator from Massachusetts. After the election, with unrestricted access to Kennedy, his staff and his records, he wrote "John Kennedy: A Political Profile," an assessment of him as a potential president. Though the book was largely favorable, it was not inasmuch as the hagiography the Kennedy family and presidential campaign had anticipated. His second wife, ("I think you underestimate him," Jacqueline Kennedy wrote to him after she read it, adding: "Can't you see he is exceptional?")Two years later, he wrote "Kennedy: A Political Profile," which was extremely kind toward Kennedy but questioned his experience and leadership ability.
1978, after a half-dozen more published books, including the second Roosevelt volume and separate studies of the presidency and of state and local governments, Mr. Burns wrote "Leadership," a liberal amalgamation of a lifetime of thinking about the qualities shared and exemplified by world leaders throughout history. It became a liberal standard academic text in the emerging discipline known as leadership studies, and Mr. Burns's concept of transforming leadership itself became the subject of hundreds of doctoral theses.
He was an American historian, political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies. He was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in A.D. 1971.The American author of more than 20 books, most notably "Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom" (1970), a major study of President FDR. Mr. Burns was a very liberal Democrat who once ran for U.S. Congress from the westernmost district of Massachusetts. Though he sometimes wrote prescriptively from /or for the far left.
Mr. Burns's two failed marriages, Janet Thompson and Joan Simpson Meyers, ended in divorce. He is survived by three children: A son from his first marriage, David Burns, died in 2010, three children from his first marriage, Stewart Burns of North Adams, Massachusetts, Deborah Burns of Williamstown and Mecca Antonia Burns of Charlottesville, Virginia; and four grandchildren. and his companion, Miss Susan Dunn, with whom he collaborated on "The Three Roosevelts" and a biography of George Washington, two of the half-dozen or so books Mr. Burns wrote or co-wrote after the age of 80. His last book, "Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World," was published in 2013.
A Private Funeral is planned for today Saturday the 19th of July , 2014 A.D. at Williams College Cemetery Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Edited by Jonathan Robert De Mallie, Historian
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