The Power of History: The Weakness of a Profession

Abstract

Winston Churchill and George Burns, among others, are reputed to have said, “If I had known that I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” My revision of that sentiment is simple: “If I had had any idea that I would ever be considered for the presidency of the Organization of American Historians, I would have worked harder to deserve the honor.” The first meeting of this group I ever attended was in Kansas City in 1965, the place and the moment when the old Mississippi Valley Historical Association voted to become the Organization of American Historians (OAH). That name change simply ratified the fact that the Mississippi Valley Historical Association had become the most important professional society in the nation for persons interested in the history of the United States. Indeed, the long list of OAH presidents over the years is a virtual roll call of the great historians of the twentieth century—James G. Randall, Merle Curti, Walter Prescott Webb, Avery Craven, Thomas C. Cochran, C. Vann Woodward, John Hope Franklin, Gerda Lerner, William E. Leuchtenburg, Joyce Appleby, David Brion Davis, and Eric Foner among them. I am humbled to be associated with them in any way. The 1965 OAH convention also has personal significance because it led directly to the birth of my son Kevan nine months later.