William E. Leuchtenburg, an acclaimed historian known for his work on American presidents, has died at the age of 102.
A professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Leuchtenburg was one of the leading interpreters of FDR's presidency, and helped shape his modern reputation as one of the nation's greatest presidents.
The historian died at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, his son, Joshua A. Leuchtenburg, said.
In his most celebrated book, the Bancroft Prize-winning Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940, Leuchtenburg credited FDR with inventing the modern presidency through his innovative use of the mass media and his bold, visionary approach to governing, which led to an unprecedented expansion of the federal government.
Despite the author's favorable view of Roosevelt, the book criticized FDR's reluctance to challenge racial segregation and the New Deal's failure to end the Great Depression, which was not lifted until the U.S. entered World War II.
Leuchtenburg's 1983 book In the Shadow of FDR chronicled the challenges later presidents faced measuring up to FDR's transformational legacy.
“No one before Roosevelt had so dominated the political culture of his day, if for no other reason than that no one before him had been in the White House for so long,” Leuchtenburg wrote, “and in the process he created the expectation that the chief executive would be a primary shaper of his times — an expectation with which each of his successors has had to deal.”
Leuchtenburg was also politically active. He marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama in 1965, sued Richard Nixon over the Watergate tapes, and testified against Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in 1987.
The historian also provided election analysis for NBC News, working with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, and then with John Chancellor. He consulted with filmmaker Ken Burns on documentaries about the Civil War and baseball.
Leuchtenburg was critical of President Trump, comparing his unpredictable approach to foreign policy with President Nixon's "madman theory."
“We really have no precedent for a chief executive with this sort of temperament — so careless about his statements, so quick to take offense,” he told the North Carolina website NC Newsline. “There is concern not just here at home but abroad, as I know from letters I’m getting from historians, particularly in Europe. There is great alarm about how irresponsible the man seems.”
“Among other things Nixon would sometimes espouse the ‘madman theory,’” Leuchtenburg said. “That if he convinced his foes overseas that there’s almost anything this man might do, they might be willing to make concessions."
Leuchtenburg released his last book, Patriot Presidents, last year at age 101.
