Jon Meacham
Jon Ellis Meacham (/ˈmiːtʃəm/; born May 20, 1969) is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer who is serving as the Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021. A former executive editor and executive vice president at Random House, he is a contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review, a contributing editor to Time magazine, and a former editor-in-chief of Newsweek. He is the author of several books. He won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Endowed Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University.
"John Meacham" redirects here. For the professor, see John A. Meacham.
Jon Meacham
Early life and education[edit]
Meacham was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[1] His parents are Jere Ellis Meacham (1946–2008), a construction and labor-relations executive who was decorated for valor during the Vietnam War,[2] and Linda (McBrayer) Brodie. His paternal grandparents, Ellis K. Meacham and Jean Austin Meacham,[3] raised him after his parents' divorce.[4] When he was a child, his grandfather had discussions each morning with a group of men about local and national politics. As a result, Meacham developed an interest in politics. He received an invitation to Ronald Reagan's 1981 inauguration in Washington, D.C., in response to a letter that he sent to the president-elect.[4]
Meacham attended The McCallie School,[1][a] where he developed an interest in the civil rights movement.[6] He then went on to attend Sewanee: The University of the South where he graduated salutatorian and summa cum laude in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[1][7]
Career[edit]
Journalist and editor[edit]
After college, he worked at The Chattanooga Times,[7] until he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1993 and became co-editor of Washington Monthly.[4] In 1995, he worked for Newsweek as the national affairs editor, and became managing editor in late-1998.[8][6][b] In 2006, he became editor-in-chief of Newsweek's print and online formats.[9]
A former executive editor and executive vice president at Random House,[10] he is a contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post,[10] and a contributing editor to Time magazine.[11][c]
Biographer and book author[edit]
He was the editor for Voices in Our Blood: America's Best on the Civil Rights Movement which was released in 2001. Spanning the period from 1941 to 1998, the book includes writings of noted civil-rights leaders, novelists, and journalists, like John Lewis, James Baldwin, William Faulkner, and David Halberstam.[6] His book, Franklin and Winston, Partners of an Intimate Relationship about Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, was released in 2003.[4]
Meacham has explored America's leaders in such works as Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power as well as his biography of Andrew Jackson, American Lion, which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.[9][13][a] Jill Abramson writing in a book review in The New York Times states that Meacham's books are "well researched, drawing on new anecdotal material and up-to-date historiographical interpretations" and presents his "subjects as figures of heroic grandeur despite all-too-human shortcomings". In his biography of Jefferson, Meacham identifies qualities that would be helpful in the current political arena, "Jefferson repeatedly reached out to his enemies and showed ideological flexibility." Regarding the former president's stance on slavery, Meacham states, "Slavery was the rare subject where Jefferson's sense of realism kept him from marshaling his sense of hope in the service of the cause of reform."[9]
Selected by the Bush family to be the official biographer for George H. W. Bush, Meacham's book, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, was published in 2015. He gave eulogies for both President Bush and Barbara Bush when they died in 2018.[14]
Meacham has also been awarded honorary doctorates from several universities:
Personal life[edit]
As of 2014, Meacham resides in Belle Meade, Tennessee.[36] He married Margaret Keith Smythe, called Keith, in 1996.[3][6] At the time of their marriage, she was a teacher, having studied at University of Virginia and the University of Provence. She taught in Metz, France under a Fulbright Scholarship.[3] They have three children.[36]
Meacham is an Episcopalian, and was chosen as Canon Historian of Washington National Cathedral in 2021.[37][38]
