Obituary: William Leuchtenburg, historian

Titanic presidential historian William E. Leuchtenburg won prizes for his books on America’s leaders, but was best known for his informed and authoritative writing on Franklin Roosevelt. A professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Leuchtenburg was a political analyst for CBS and NBC and consulted on several of Ken Burns’ PBS documentaries. His notable books included Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal and The Perils of Prosperity, a history of the US from World War I to the peak of the Great Depression.

Also notable was 1983’s In the Shadow of FDR, which demonstrated how presidents from Truman to George W. Bush attempted to shun and/or embrace Roosevelt’s legacy. William E. Leuchtenburg died on January 28 aged 102: he was still writing until the age of 101. — APL/Agencies