David McCullough’s Final Reflections

History Matters by David McCullough

History Matters is a posthumous collection of essays and speeches written by renowned and revered historian and biographer David McCullough (1933-2022). Edited by his daughter Dorie McCullough Lawson and long-time researcher Michael Hill, most entries are previously unpublished. Shortly after the 1992 publication of Truman, Dorie began working with Victoria Meyer, then head of publicity at Simon & Schuster, and they mutually agreed to refer to him as “DMcC”, an appellation that continued throughout their working relationship. For nearly forty years Michael Hill was his research assistant who, according to Dorie, also helped with “all manner of other things”. It took them two years to go through the archives left behind at the time of his death.

David McCullough never used a computer and consequently left behind a treasure trove of drafts, letters, notes, ideas, hand-notated editorial changes and endless lists as well as drawings and paintings that demonstrate his considerable artistic talent. Although much was neatly stored in multiple metal filing cabinets, numerous less organized cartons of papers were stacked high in the barn. David and his beloved wife Rosalee Barnes McCullough had resided for over 50 of their nearly 68 year marriage and raised five children in their New England home. They met at a dance as teenagers in their hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and married in 1954, a year before he graduated from Yale University with an honor’s bachelor degree in English Literature. He credited their “enduring love story” as influencing his celebrated works on John Adams and Harry Truman. After the publication of his first book The Johnstown Flood, which he had researched and written over a period of three years while employed full-time with American Heritage and with her encouragement, he took the venturesome step of quitting his salaried job to become a full-time writer. Significantly, it was less than two months after Rosalee’s death that he died on August 7, 2022 at the age of 89.

The Craft of a Chronicler

Following this early success, the books that followed were The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, Truman, John Adams, 1776, The Greater Journey, The Wright Brothers, The American Spirit and The Pioneers. Each of these twelve works of non-fiction were meticulously researched and typed painstakingly with just four fingers on the same typewriter purchased second-hand from an office supply store in White Plains, NY in 1965. Already about 25 years old when acquired, it was a Royal Standard in black and chrome in perfect condition as when purchased new, and serviced professionally between book projects and continually supplied with fresh ribbons.

The author received countless accolades, honors and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and two Pulitzer Prizes for Truman and John Adams and as well as multiple honorary doctorates. He was well known to television and film audiences for his narrations of numerous documentaries and for serving as a longtime host of the acclaimed PBS series American Experience. David McCullough’s endless curiosity, love of learning and indefatigable enthusiasm for the human story known as history was contagious. This reviewer can attest to his inspirational fervor having heard him address an annual dinner program sponsored by Boise, Idaho’s Log Cabin Literacy Center and again in October, 2006 when he delivered the keynote speech at the opening ceremonies for the Ford Orientation Center and the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center at George Washington’s home Mount Vernon in Virginia. He affirmed “history is the story of people” and we the people can be guided by the legacy inherited, lessons learned and influenced by the importance of character and promise in upholding American ideals.

The Enduring Power of History

History Matters was compiled in response to the tremendous demand for more words of wisdom from the author, one of America’s best known “chroniclers of the American past” according to the Foreword written by Jon Meacham, also a Pulitzer Prize winning historian and presidential biographer.  The first piece included is Why History?, taken from an address delivered at the 1995 awards ceremony when he was honored with the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.  Here is an excerpt:

“History shows us how to behave. History teaches, reinforces what we believe in, what we stand for, and we ought to be willing to stand up for. History is- or should be-the bedrock of patriotism, not the chest-pounding kind of patriotism but the real thing, the love of country.”  He continued, “Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant, it’s rude. It’s a form of ingratitude.”

The four parts of this essential little book address the reasons history should and does matter: Interesting American figures (Thomas Eakins, George Washington, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harry S. Truman),personal influences, observations about writing, and concluding with a recommended reading list for further enjoyment.

History Matters would be the perfect gift for students of all ages, from autodidacts to scholars pursuing higher education. It will make readers mourn David McCullough anew and engender hopes that editors Dorie McCullough Lawson and Michael Hall will continue to periodically issue more of this fine storyteller’s words and wisdom.

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