David McCullough

McCullough was born in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Ruth (née Rankin; 1899–1985) and Christian Hax McCullough (1899–1989).{{cite web |url= http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_dmccullough.html |title= David McCullough |access-date= April 24, 2008 |work= National Book Awards Acceptance Speeches |publisher= National Book Foundation |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080415045419/http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_dmccullough.html |archive-date= April 15, 2008 |url-status= dead }} He was of Scots-Irish, German, and English descent.{{Cite book|title=Nexus: The Bimonthly Newsletter of the New England Historic Genealogical Society|date=August 9, 1994|publisher=The Society}} He was educated at Linden Avenue Grade School and Shady Side Academy, in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

One of four sons, McCullough had a "marvelous" childhood with a wide range of interests, including sports and drawing cartoons.{{cite web|title=David McCullough Biography and Interview|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/#interview|access-date=May 6, 2019|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235405/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/#interview|url-status=live}} McCullough's parents and his grandmother, who read to him often, introduced him to books at an early age. His parents often talked about history, a topic he said should be discussed more often. McCullough "loved school, every day"; he contemplated many career choices, ranging from architect, actor, painter, writer, to lawyer, and considered attending medical school for a time.

In 1951, McCullough began attending Yale University.{{cite news |first=Bob |last=Hoover |title=David McCullough: America's historian, Pittsburgh son |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/books/20011230mccullough1230fnp2.asp |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=December 30, 2001 |access-date=April 21, 2008 |archive-date=February 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203151155/http://www.post-gazette.com/books/20011230mccullough1230fnp2.asp |url-status=live }} He said that it was a "privilege" to study English at Yale because of faculty members such as John O'Hara, John Hersey, Robert Penn Warren, and Brendan Gill.{{cite web|url= http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/mccullough/interview.html|title= David McCullough Interview|access-date= April 22, 2008|last= Cole|first= Bruce|publisher= National Endowment for the Humanities|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080511114908/http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/mccullough/interview.html|archive-date= May 11, 2008|url-status= dead}} McCullough occasionally ate lunch with the Pulitzer Prize–winning{{cite web|url= http://www.tcnj.edu/~wilder/biography/frame.html|title= Biography|access-date= April 22, 2008|publisher= Thorton Wilder Society|archive-date= June 21, 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120621023948/http://www.tcnj.edu/~wilder/biography/frame.html|url-status= live}} novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder. Wilder, said McCullough, taught him that a competent writer maintains "an air of freedom" in the storyline, so that a reader will not anticipate the outcome, even if the book is non-fiction.{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304432304576369421525987128?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion |title=Don't Know Much about History |last=Bolduc |first=Brian |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=June 18, 2001 |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-date=December 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216043331/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304432304576369421525987128?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion |url-status=live }}

While at Yale, he became a member of Skull and Bones.{{cite book|title= Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power|last= Robbins|first= Alexandra|author-link= Alexandra Robbins|year= 2002|publisher= Little, Brown and Company|location= Boston|isbn= 0-316-72091-7|page= [https://archive.org/details/secretsoftombsku00robb/page/127 127]|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/secretsoftombsku00robb/page/127}} He served apprenticeships at Time, Life, the United States Information Agency, and American Heritage, where he enjoyed research. He said: "Once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I wanted to do in my life." While attending Yale, McCullough studied Arts and earned his bachelor's degree in English, with the intention of becoming a fiction writer or playwright. He graduated with honors in English literature in 1955.{{cite press release|title= Orthodox Church Patriarch and Entertainer Lena Horne Among Honorary Degree Recipients at Yale University|publisher= Yale University|date= May 25, 1998|url= http://news.yale.edu/1998/05/25/orthodox-church-patriarch-and-entertainer-lena-horne-among-honorary-degree-recipients-yal|access-date= April 21, 2008|quote= David McCullough graduated from Yale in 1955 with honors in English literature and began his career as writer and editor for Time Inc. in New York City.|archive-date= July 1, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150701143148/http://news.yale.edu/1998/05/25/orthodox-church-patriarch-and-entertainer-lena-horne-among-honorary-degree-recipients-yal|url-status= live}}{{cite web|url= https://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/bios/mccullough.html|title= David McCullough|access-date= April 21, 2008|publisher= PBS|archive-date= January 3, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080103073540/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/bios/mccullough.html|url-status= live}}

After graduation, McCullough moved to New York City, where Sports Illustrated hired him as a trainee in 1956. He later worked as an editor and writer for the United States Information Agency in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|title=David McCullough Biography and Interview|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/#biography|access-date=May 6, 2019|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235405/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/#biography|url-status=live}} After working for twelve years in editing and writing, including a position at American Heritage, McCullough "felt that [he] had reached the point where [he] could attempt something on [his] own."

McCullough "had no anticipation that [he] was going to write history, but [he] stumbled upon a story that [he] thought was powerful, exciting, and very worth telling." While working at American Heritage, McCullough wrote in his spare time for three years.{{cite web |url= http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/mccullough/biography.html |title= David McCullough biography: The Citizen Chronicler |access-date= April 12, 2008 |publisher= National Endowment for the Humanities |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080416051956/http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/mccullough/biography.html |archive-date= April 16, 2008 |url-status= dead }} The Johnstown Flood, a chronicle of one of the worst flood disasters in United States history, was published in 1968 to high praise by critics.{{cite web|url= http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/flood_reviews.htm|title= Johnstown Flood: Reviews and Praise|access-date= April 23, 2008|publisher= ElectricEggplant|archive-date= August 14, 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070814214206/http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/flood_reviews.htm|url-status= live}}. The bestselling author Erik Larson has written that The Johnstown Flood was a book that changed his life. He found it full of "suspense, drama, class conflict, dire goings-on." Larson decided to write in the same genre, what he calls "narrative nonfiction," and thought McCullough's book "a Baedeker for how to go about it. I analyzed his source notes and outlined the story chapter by chapter, to try to divine just how he did it. And suddenly I had my compass. The result was Isaac's Storm." AARP Magazine, April/May 2015,10. John Leonard, of The New York Times, said of McCullough, "We have no better social historian." Despite rough financial times, he decided to become a full-time writer, encouraged by his wife Rosalee.

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| People often ask me if I'm working on a book. That's not how I feel. I feel like I work in a book. It's like putting myself under a spell. And this spell, if you will, is so real to me that if I have to leave my work for a few days, I have to work myself back into the spell when I come back. It's almost like hypnosis.{{cite news | first=Esther | last=Fein | title=Talking History With: David McCullough; Immersed in Facts, The Better to Imagine Harry Truman's Life | date=1992-08-12 | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/12/garden/talking-history-with-david-mccullough-immersed-facts-better-imagine-harry-truman.html?pagewanted=all | access-date=April 20, 2010 | archive-date=November 25, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125183452/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/12/garden/talking-history-with-david-mccullough-immersed-facts-better-imagine-harry-truman.html?pagewanted=all | url-status=live }}}}

File:McCullough interviews Reagan.jpg in 1981]]

After the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake.{{cite web|url= http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/2003annual/confevents/mccullough.cfm|title= A Painter of Words About the Past|access-date=April 23, 2008 |first=Leslie |last=Shaver |date=April 2003 |publisher= Special Libraries Association |url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20021029020036/http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/2003annual/confevents/mccullough.cfm|archive-date= October 29, 2002|df= mdy-all}} Simon & Schuster, publisher of his first book, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book. Trying not to become "Bad News McCullough", he decided to write about a subject showing "people were not always foolish and inept or irresponsible." He remembered the words of his Yale teacher: "[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something. Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it." McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he had walked across many times. It was published in 1972.

He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor, a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher. Five years later, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914 was released, gaining McCullough widespread recognition. The book won the National Book Award in History,{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1978 |title=National Book Awards – 1978 |access-date=April 24, 2008 |publisher=National Book Foundation |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411052543/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1978/ |url-status=live }} the Samuel Eliot Morison Award,{{cite web|url= http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1978/6/1978_6_107.shtml|title= Samuel Eliot Morison Award 1978 |access-date=April 24, 2008 |publisher= AmericanHeritage.com |url-status= dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122513/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1978/6/1978_6_107.shtml |archive-date= September 29, 2007 |df= mdy-all}} the Francis Parkman Prize,{{cite web |url=http://www.lovethebook.com/Awards.aspx?wid=283&pg=4&bn=9&pbn=1000 |title=Francis Parkman Prize |access-date=April 24, 2008 |work=Book Awards |publisher=LoveTheBook.com |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116023805/http://www.lovethebook.com/Awards.aspx?wid=283&pg=4&bn=9&pbn=1000 |url-status=live }} and the Cornelius Ryan Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.opcofamerica.org/opc_awards/archive/byaward/award_ryan.php |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070311003944/http://www.opcofamerica.org/opc_awards/archive/byaward/award_ryan.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2007 |title=Cornelius Ryan Award |access-date=April 24, 2008 |publisher=Overseas Press Club of America }} Later in 1977, McCullough travelled to the White House to advise Jimmy Carter and the United States Senate on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which would give Panama control of the Canal. Carter later said that the treaties, which were negotiated to transfer ownership of the Canal to Panama, would not have passed had it not been for the book.

McCullough's fourth work was his first biography, reinforcing his belief that "history is the story of people". Released in 1981, Mornings on Horseback tells the story of seventeen years in the life of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/mornings.htm |title=Mornings on Horseback |access-date=April 24, 2008 |publisher=ElectricEggplant |archive-date=April 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421101938/http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/mornings.htm |url-status=live }} The work ranged from Roosevelt's childhood to 1886, and tells of a "life intensely lived." The book won McCullough's second National Book Award{{cite web|url= https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1982|title= National Book Awards – 1982|access-date= April 24, 2008|publisher= National Book Foundation|archive-date= January 31, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145618/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1982/|url-status= live}}Mornings on Horseback won the 1982 award for hardcover "Autobiography/Biography".
From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Award history there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and several nonfiction subcategories including General Nonfiction. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including the 1982 Autobiography/Biography. and his first Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography and New York Public Library Literary Lion Award.{{cite web |url= http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=814&pid=414119 |title= Mornings on Horseback |access-date= April 24, 2008 |publisher= SimonSays.com |archive-date= August 9, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220809191835/https://vimeo.com/simonandschuster/vod_pages |url-status= live }} Next, he published Brave Companions, a collection of essays that "unfold seamlessly".{{cite news |first= Lynn |last= Andriani|title= McCullough and S&S: 40 Years|url= http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20080317/3434-mccullough-and-s-amp-s-40-years-.html|work=Publishers Weekly |date=March 17, 2008 |access-date=April 25, 2008}} Written over twenty years, the book{{ASIN|0131401041|title=Brave Companions: Portraits in History}} includes essays about Louis Agassiz, Alexander von Humboldt, John and Washington Roebling, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Conrad Richter, and Frederic Remington.

With his next book, McCullough published his second biography, Truman (1992) about the 33rd president. The book won McCullough his first Pulitzer Prize, in the category of "Best Biography or Autobiography",{{cite web |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/222 |title=Biography or Autobiography: Past winners and finalists by category |work=The Pulitzer Prizes |access-date=March 17, 2012 |archive-date=June 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628212619/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/222 |url-status=live }} and his second Francis Parkman Prize. Two years later, the book was adapted as Truman (1995), a television film by HBO, starring Gary Sinise as Truman.

I think it's important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn't be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them.

– David McCullough

Working for the next seven years,{{cite news|first= Edward|last= Guthmann|title= Best-selling author David McCullough writes his stories from the inside out|url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2005%2F06%2F27%2FDDG7TDEBOF1.DTL|newspaper= San Francisco Chronicle|date= June 27, 2005|access-date= May 2, 2008|archive-date= December 6, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091206004340/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2005%2F06%2F27%2FDDG7TDEBOF1.DTL|url-status= live}} McCullough published John Adams (2001), his third biography about a United States president. One of the fastest-selling non-fiction books in history, the book won McCullough's second Pulitzer Prize for "Best Biography or Autobiography" in 2002. He started it as a book about the founding fathers and back-to-back presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; but dropped Jefferson to focus on Adams.{{cite news |first=Todd |last=Leopold |title=David McCullough brings 'John Adams' to life |url=http://edition1.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/books/06/07/david.mccullough/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=June 7, 2005 |access-date=May 2, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003071019/http://edition1.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/books/06/07/david.mccullough/index.html |archive-date=October 3, 2011 }} HBO adapted John Adams as a seven-part miniseries by the same name. Premiering in 2008, it starred Paul Giamatti in the title role.{{cite news |title=David McCullough's biography 'John Adams' becomes HBO miniseries |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-johnadams_0315gl.ART0.State.Edition1.464fbd1.html |newspaper=The Dallas Morning News |date=March 8, 2008 |access-date=May 3, 2008 |archive-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319000923/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-johnadams_0315gl.ART0.State.Edition1.464fbd1.html |url-status=live }} The DVD version of the miniseries includes the biographical documentary, David McCullough: Painting with Words.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210345/ David McCullough: Painting with Words] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115220753/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210345/ |date=January 15, 2020 }} on IMDb.

McCullough's 1776 tells the story of the founding year of the United States, focusing on George Washington, the amateur Continental Army, and other struggles for independence. Because of McCullough's popularity, its initial printing was 1.25 million copies, many more than the average history book. Upon its release, the book was a number one best-seller in the United States. A miniseries adaptation of 1776 was rumored.{{cite news |last1=Block |first1=Alex Ben |title=Icons: Tom Hanks |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/icons-tom-hanks-82983/ |access-date=August 8, 2022 |work=Hollywood Reporter |date=April 27, 2009 |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808225817/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/icons-tom-hanks-82983/ |url-status=live }}

McCullough considered writing a sequel to 1776. However, he signed a contract with Simon & Schuster to do a work about Americans in Paris between 1830 and 1900, The Greater Journey, which was published in 2011.{{cite book |url=http://books.simonandschuster.com/Greater-Journey/David-McCullough/9781416571766 |title=The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris |year=2011 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781416571773 |access-date=December 16, 2010 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629070309/http://books.simonandschuster.com/Greater-Journey/David-McCullough/9781416571766 |url-status=live }}{{ASIN|1416571760|title=The Greater Journey}} The book covers 19th-century Americans, including Mark Twain and Samuel Morse, who migrated to Paris and went on to achieve importance in culture or innovation. Other subjects include Benjamin Silliman, who had been Morse's science teacher at Yale, Elihu Washburne, the U.S. Ambassador to France during the Franco-Prussian War, and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the United States.{{cite news

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McCullough's The Wright Brothers was published in 2015.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/books/review-the-wright-brothers-by-david-mccullough.html |title='The Wright Brothers' by David McCullough |first=Janet |last=Maslin |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 3, 2015 |access-date=May 20, 2021 |archive-date=July 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711053015/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/books/review-the-wright-brothers-by-david-mccullough.html |url-status=live }} The Pioneers followed in 2019, the story of the first European American settlers of the Northwest Territory, a vast American wilderness to which the Ohio River was the gateway.{{Cite news|url=http://about.simonandschuster.biz/news/dm-pioneers/|title=New Book by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author David McCullough About American Pioneers to be Published by Simon & Schuster|date=October 6, 2016|newspaper=News and Corporate Information about Simon & Schuster, Inc.|language=en-US|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-date=October 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009140509/http://about.simonandschuster.biz/news/dm-pioneers/|url-status=live}}

File:McCullough speaking 2008.jpg in 2008]]

In 1954, McCullough married Rosalee Barnes; the couple had first met as teenagers, and they remained together until her death on June 9, 2022.{{cite web | url=https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/06/21/rosalee-barnes-mccullough/ | title=Rosalee Barnes McCullough | newspaper=Martha's Vineyard Times | date=June 21, 2022 | access-date=July 18, 2022 | archive-date=July 18, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718030135/https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/06/21/rosalee-barnes-mccullough/ | url-status=live }} They had five children, nineteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.{{cite web |url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/about/staff.cfm?key=12&staffkey=1172&type=board|title= David McCullough|access-date=January 3, 2009 |publisher= Smithsonian Institution|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090418182707/http://americanhistory.si.edu/about/staff.cfm?key=12&staffkey=1172&type=board|archive-date= April 18, 2009|df= mdy-all}} In 2016, the couple moved from the Back Bay of Boston to Hingham, Massachusetts; three of his five children also lived there {{as of|2017|lc=yes}}.{{cite news |url=http://www.patriotledger.com/news/20170606/at-home-in-hingham-mccullough-writes-his-next-book |title=At home in Hingham, McCullough writes his next book |last=Lambert |first=Lane |date=June 6, 2017 |newspaper=The Patriot Ledger |access-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-date=June 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190625022013/https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20170606/at-home-in-hingham-mccullough-writes-his-next-book |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2019/04/30/david-mccullough/ |title=The Interview: Historian David McCullough |magazine=Boston |date=April 30, 2019 |last=Stackpole |first=Thomas |access-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-date=May 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507115800/https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2019/04/30/david-mccullough/ |url-status=live }} He had a summer home in Camden, Maine.{{cite news |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2015/07/26/writer-takes-flight-with-the-wrights/ |title=David McCullough's latest book takes flight with the Wrights |date=July 26, 2015 |access-date=June 24, 2019 |newspaper=Portland Press Herald |last=Routhier |first=Ray |archive-date=June 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190625031654/https://www.pressherald.com/2015/07/26/writer-takes-flight-with-the-wrights/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://newengland.com/yankee-magazine/living/profiles/future-history/ |title=The Big Question: What's the Future of History? |date=October 9, 2012 |last=Aldrich |first=Ian |magazine=Yankee |access-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-date=June 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190625031656/https://newengland.com/yankee-magazine/living/profiles/future-history/ |url-status=live }} McCullough's interests included sports, history, and visual art, including watercolor and portrait painting.{{cite web|url=http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/davidmccullough/synopsis.html|title=David McCullough: Painting With Words|access-date=January 3, 2009|publisher=HBO|year=2009|archive-date=December 19, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219222206/http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/davidmccullough/synopsis.html|url-status=live}}

His son, David Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School in the Boston suburbs, achieved sudden fame in 2012, when he gave a commencement speech in which he repeatedly told graduating students that they were "not special"; his speech went viral on YouTube.{{cite web |url=http://theswellesleyreport.com/2012/06/wellesley-high-grads-told-youre-not-special/ |title=Wellesley High grads told: "You're not special" |date=June 5, 2012 |last=Brown |first=B |work=The Swellesley Report |access-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-date=July 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709211436/https://theswellesleyreport.com/2012/06/wellesley-high-grads-told-youre-not-special/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teacher-defends-youre-not-special-speech/ |title=Teacher defends "You're not special" speech |work=CBS News |date=June 11, 2012 |access-date=June 20, 2012 |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618121924/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57450176/teacher-defends-youre-not-special-speech/ |url-status=live }} Another son, Bill, is married to the daughter of former Florida governor Bob Graham.{{Cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,49456,00.html|title=Take Note of Bob Graham|last=Blackman|first=Ann|date=July 9, 2000|magazine=Time|access-date=August 22, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0040-781X|archive-date=June 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613120457/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,49456,00.html|url-status=live}}

A registered independent, McCullough typically avoided publicly commenting on contemporary political issues. When asked to do so, he would repeatedly say, "My specialty is dead politicians." During the 2016 presidential election season, he broke with his custom to criticize Donald Trump, whom he called "a monstrous clown with a monstrous ego."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/nyregion/donald-trump-david-mccullough-ken-burns.html |title=Scholars Steeped in Dead Politicians Take On a Live One: Donald Trump |last=Dwyer |first=Jim |date=July 12, 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=July 23, 2017 |archive-date=November 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119203643/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/nyregion/donald-trump-david-mccullough-ken-burns.html |url-status=live }}

McCullough taught a writing course at Wesleyan University and was a visiting scholar at Cornell University and Dartmouth College.{{Cite web|url=http://harborlight.hinghamschools.com/7355/arts-entertainment/history-is-human-an-interview-with-writer-and-historian-david-mccullough/|title=History is Human: An Interview with writer and historian David McCullough|last=Taylor|first=Claire|website=The Harborlight|access-date=January 14, 2019|archive-date=January 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114210217/http://harborlight.hinghamschools.com/7355/arts-entertainment/history-is-human-an-interview-with-writer-and-historian-david-mccullough/|url-status=live}}

File:20190831SM1242 (48684513293).jpg on the National Book Festival Main Stage in 2019]]

After a period of failing health, McCullough died at his home in Hingham on August 7, 2022, just two months after his wife's death, at age 89.{{cite news|url = https://apnews.com/article/david-mccullough-historian-dies-7abe5997da74f30b1eab11e36b308fe3|title = David McCullough, Pulitzer-winning historian, dies at 89|last = Italie|first = Hillel|date = August 8, 2022|access-date = August 8, 2022|work = Associated Press|archive-date = August 8, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220808170218/https://apnews.com/article/david-mccullough-historian-dies-7abe5997da74f30b1eab11e36b308fe3|url-status = live}}

File:President George W. Bush presents David McCullough with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.jpg by President George W. Bush in 2006]]

McCullough received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in December 2006, the highest civilian award that a United States citizen can receive. In 1995, the National Book Foundation conferred its lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters.html |title=Distinguished Contribution to American Letters |work=National Book Foundation |access-date=March 12, 2012 |quote=With acceptance speech by McCullough and ex-post introduction by one of his publishers. |archive-date=March 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310053959/http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters.html |url-status=live }}

McCullough was awarded more than 40 honorary degrees, including one from the Eastern Nazarene College in John Adams' hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts.{{cite news| last= Tziperman Lotan| first= Gal| title= McCullough tells Eastern Nazarene graduates their education is just beginning| work= The Patriot Ledger| date= May 17, 2009| url= http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2003/03/21/news/export30841.txt| access-date=May 20, 2009 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090808052524/http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2003/03/21/news/export30841.txt |archive-date= August 8, 2009 |df= mdy-all}}

McCullough received two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, two Francis Parkman Prizes, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, New York Public Library's Literary Lion Award, and the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates,{{Cite web|url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|title=Saint Louis Literary Award – Saint Louis University|access-date=July 25, 2016|archive-date=August 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the St. Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016 |url-status=dead }} among others.{{Cite web |title=Simon & Schuster:David McCullough |url=http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?tab=1&pid=328883&feature_id=3375 |access-date=October 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224101737/http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?tab=1&pid=328883&feature_id=3375 |archive-date = December 24, 2007}} McCullough was chosen to deliver the first annual John Hersey Lecture at Yale University on March 22, 1993.[http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/93_10/hersey.html "A Life in Writing John Hersey, 1914–1993"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018201917/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/93_10/hersey.html |date=October 18, 2008 }}. Yale Alumni Magazine. October 1993. He was a member of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship{{cite web |url= http://www.gf.org/mfellow.html|title= Fellows whose last names begin with M|access-date=May 17, 2008 |author=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080408040108/http://www.gf.org/mfellow.html |archive-date =April 8, 2008}} and the Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://www.achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/|access-date=May 6, 2019|archive-date=December 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212193048/http://www.achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/|url-status=live}} In 2003, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected McCullough for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities.[http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/jefflect.html Jefferson Lecturers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020121101/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/jefflect.html |date=October 20, 2011 }} at NEH Website (retrieved January 22, 2009). McCullough's lecture was titled "The Course of Human Events".David McCullough, [http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/mccullough/lecture.html "The Course of Human Events] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303223157/http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/mccullough/lecture.html |date=March 3, 2009 }}, text of Jefferson Lecture at NEH website.

In 1995, McCullough received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. The Helmerich Award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.{{cite web |title=Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award |url=https://www.tulsalibrary.org/programs-and-services/peggy-v-helmerich-distinguished-author-award |publisher=Tulsa City-County Library |access-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808224855/https://www.tulsalibrary.org/programs-and-services/peggy-v-helmerich-distinguished-author-award |url-status=live }}

McCullough was referred to as a "master of the art of narrative history."{{cite web|url=http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/|title=Biography at ElectricEggplant|access-date=April 21, 2008|archive-date=March 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316085754/http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/|url-status=live}} The New York Times critic John Leonard wrote that McCullough was "incapable of writing a page of bad prose."{{cite web|url= http://www.giambarba.com/mccullough/mccullough.html|title= History is the Story of People. Not Events |access-date=April 24, 2008 |first=Paul |last=Giambarba |publisher= CapeArts2 |url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080518073537/http://www.giambarba.com/mccullough/mccullough.html |archive-date=May 18, 2008|df= mdy-all}} His works have been published in ten languages, over nine million copies have been printed,{{cite episode|title= David McCullough|url= http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/03/21/1/a-conversation-with-author-david-mccullough|series= The Charlie Rose Show|series-link= Charlie Rose (talk show)|network= PBS|airdate=March 21, 2008 |minutes= 60|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080430105624/http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/03/21/1/a-conversation-with-author-david-mccullough|archive-date= April 30, 2008|df= mdy-all}} and all of his books are still in print.

In December 2012, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania announced that it would rename the 16th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh in honor of McCullough.{{cite news |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2012/12/06/Historian-McCullough-humbled-by-Pittsburgh-bridge-honor/stories/201212060432 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |first=Len |last=Barcousky |title=Historian McCullough 'humbled' by Pittsburgh bridge honor |date=December 6, 2012 |access-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-date=June 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190625031657/https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2012/12/06/Historian-McCullough-humbled-by-Pittsburgh-bridge-honor/stories/201212060432 |url-status=live }}

In a ceremony at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, on November 16, 2015, the Air University of the United States Air Force awarded McCullough an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree.{{cite web |author=Phil Berube |title=Air University grants David McCullough honorary degree |date=September 8, 2015 |publisher=Maxwell Air Force Base |url=https://www.maxwell.af.mil/News/story/id/123457812/ |access-date=November 30, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208215800/http://www.maxwell.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123457812 |archive-date=December 8, 2015 }} He was also made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Yale University in 2015.{{cite web|url=http://news.yale.edu/2015/12/08/phi-beta-kappa-inducts-alumnus-david-mccullough-inaugural-joseph-w-gordon-award|title=Phi Beta Kappa inducts alumnus David McCullough with inaugural Joseph W. Gordon Award|date=December 8, 2015|access-date=July 13, 2016|archive-date=October 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017163037/http://news.yale.edu/2015/12/08/phi-beta-kappa-inducts-alumnus-david-mccullough-inaugural-joseph-w-gordon-award|url-status=live}}

On May 11, 2016, McCullough received the United States Capitol Historical Society's Freedom Award. It was presented in the National Statuary Hall.{{cite web|last1=U.S. Capitol Historical Society|title=David McCullough to Receive 2016 Freedom Award|url=http://uschs.org/news-releases/david-mccullough-2016-uschs-freedom-award/|website=USCHS 2016 Freedom Award: David McCullough|date=December 11, 2015|publisher=U.S. Capitol Historical Society|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=August 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807211446/http://uschs.org/news-releases/david-mccullough-2016-uschs-freedom-award/|url-status=live}}

In September 2016, McCullough received the Gerry Lenfest Spirit of the American Revolution Award from the Museum of the American Revolution.{{Cite news|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/20160921_David_McCullough_receives_inaugral_Lenfest_award.html|title=David McCullough receives inaugural Lenfest award|first=Aubrey|last=Whelan|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=September 21, 2016|accessdate=August 8, 2022|archive-date=August 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808212305/https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/20160921_David_McCullough_receives_inaugral_Lenfest_award.html|url-status=live}}

In 2017, McCullough was inducted into the DC Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and received the National Society SAR Good Citizenship Award.{{cite web|url=https://dcssar.org/DCSSAR-Awards |publisher=DC Society, Sons of the American Revolution (DCSSAR) |title=DCSSAR Awards |accessdate=March 12, 2023}}

McCullough narrated many television shows and documentaries throughout his career.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/books/david-mccullough-dead.html|title = David McCullough, Best-Selling Explorer of America's Past, Dies at 89|newspaper = The New York Times|last = Lewis|first = Daniel|date = August 8, 2022|access-date = August 8, 2022|url-access = limited|archive-date = August 8, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220808162115/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/books/david-mccullough-dead.html|url-status = live}} In addition to narrating the 2003 film Seabiscuit, McCullough hosted PBS's American Experience from 1988 to 1999. McCullough narrated numerous documentaries directed by Ken Burns, including the Emmy Award–winning The Civil War, the Academy Award–nominated Brooklyn Bridge,{{cite web|url= https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/about/|title= Brooklyn Bridge: About the Film|access-date= June 19, 2008|publisher= PBS|archive-date= June 18, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080618204806/http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/about/|url-status= live}} The Statue of Liberty,{{cite web|url= https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/statueofliberty/about/|title= The Statue of Liberty: About the Film|access-date= June 19, 2008|publisher= PBS|archive-date= June 6, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080606201855/http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/statueofliberty/about/|url-status= live}} and The Congress.{{cite web|url= https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/congress/about/|title= The Congress: About the Film|access-date= June 19, 2008|publisher= PBS|archive-date= June 17, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080617132007/http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/congress/about/|url-status= live}} He served as a guest narrator for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert special that aired on PBS in 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705350772/Natalie-Cole-performs-with-the-Mormon-Tabernacle-Choir|title=Photo: Natalie Cole performs with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir|date=December 11, 2009|newspaper=Deseret News|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200303175325/https://www.deseret.com/2009/12/11/20358038/natalie-cole-performs-with-the-mormon-tabernacle-choir|archive-date = March 3, 2020|url-status = dead}}

McCullough narrated, in whole or in part, several of his own audiobooks, including Truman, 1776, The Greater Journey, and The Wright Brothers.{{cite web |title=David McCullough, search by narrator | work=AudioFile Magazine |url=https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/listing/?Narrator=David+McCullough |publisher=AudioFile |access-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-date=May 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517064147/http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/listing/?Narrator=David+McCullough |url-status=live }}

{{div col|colwidth=20em|small=no}}

• Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
• Smithsonian World (five episodes, 1984–1988)
• The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1985){{cite web|url = https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/566558%7C0/David-Mccullough#filmography|title = David McCullough|publisher = Turner Classic Movies|access-date = August 8, 2022|archive-date = August 8, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220808232552/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/566558%7C0/David-Mccullough/#filmography|url-status = live}}
• The Statue of Liberty (1985)
• Huey Long (1985){{cite web|url = https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/david_mccullough|title = David McCullough|website = Rotten Tomatoes|publisher = Fandango Media|accessdate = August 8, 2022|archive-date = November 26, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211126091058/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/david_mccullough|url-status = live}}
• A Man, a Plan, a Canal: Panama (NOVA) (1987){{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/1415_panama.html|website = PBS|title = A Man, a Plan, a Canal—Panama|accessdate = August 8, 2022|archive-date = April 23, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210423185831/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/1415_panama.html|url-status = live}}
• The Congress (1988)
• American Experience (1988–1999)
• The Civil War (nine episodes, 1990)
• The Donner Party (1992)
• Degenerate Art (1993)
• Napoleon (2000){{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_about/production/page_4.html|title = Napoleon: About the Production|publisher = PBS|access-date = August 8, 2022|archive-date = June 17, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210617184320/https://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_about/production/page_4.html|url-status = live}}
• George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (2000)
• Seabiscuit (2003)
• The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2010)

{{div col end}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{wikiquote}}

{{Commons category|David McCullough}}

• [http://authors.simonandschuster.com/David-McCullough/938 David McCullough] at Simon & Schuster
• {{C-SPAN}}
• [https://www.c-span.org/video/?167542-1/depth-david-mccullough In Depth interview with McCullough, December 2, 2001]
• {{Charlie Rose guest|2673}}
• {{IMDb name}}
• {{Discogs artist|David McCullough (2)}}
• {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/david-mccullough}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname= David McCullough}}
• {{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep924|description="The Past as an Act of Faith ... In Print and On The Air (1992)"}}
• {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/894/the-art-of-biography-no-2-david-mccullough| title=David McCullough, The Art of Biography No. 2| author=Elizabeth Gaffney and Benjamin Ryder Howe| date=Fall 1999| journal=The Paris Review | volume=Fall 1999| issue=152}}
• [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-4_18_05_DM.html Speech Transcript: "Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are"] at Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar on the topic, "American History and America's Future."

{{David McCullough}}

{{PulitzerPrize BiographyorAutobiographyAuthors 1976–2000}}

{{PulitzerPrize BiographyorAutobiographyAuthors 2001–2025}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCullough, David Gaub}}

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