David M. Kennedy, Ph.D., Stanford University's Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus, will visit The Hill School as the 2012 Dougherty Fellow from January 31 through February 2. While on campus, Professor Kennedy will immerse himself in our academic day by meeting with students in our history, economics, and journalism classes. On the evening of Thursday, February 2, he will address our history students and faculty in the Memorial Room.

 

Professor Kennedy earned his B.A. in history from Stanford in 1963 and an M.A. in American Studies from Yale University in 1964 before returning to his alma mater in 1967. He received his Ph.D. from Yale in American Studies in 1968. During his tenure at Stanford, Professor Kennedy has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on 20th Century American history; American political and social thought; American foreign policy; American literature; and European and American democracy.

Professor Kennedy is well published, having authored 10 books and more than 20 articles. According to Stanford’s website, his first book, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, published in 1970, is credited with pioneering the then-emerging field of women’s history. His 1980 book Over Here: The First World War and American Society was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1981. Professor Kennedy’s most acclaimed book is 1999’s Freedom from Fear: The American People in the Great Depression and World War II, which chronicles the United States from 1929-1945. In 2000, he received four prizes, including a Pulitzer Prize, for Freedom.

In addition to a Pulitzer Prize, Professor Kennedy has received numerous awards and fellowships throughout his career. Professor Kennedy is involved with five professional associations, including the Society of American Historians; the Organization of American Historians; and the American Historical Association. He is a Fellow for the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

 

The David R. Dougherty Senior Teaching Fellowship of American History was established in 2004 by Lewis E. Lehrman, Hill class of '56, who wished to honor the current Hill Headmaster by naming the fellowship for Mr. Dougherty. In creating the fellowship, Mr. Lehrman indicated that "every fellow shall teach the exceptional history of the United States of America; shall have mastered the American story; and will have demonstrated the ability to inspire students to understand and to embrace their country's history, even while learning its flaws." Read more here.