James M. McPherson, Doctor of Humane Letters
Rarely has a historian of such subtlety and insight gained so popular a following. You have earned the highest honors in your field, including a Pulitzer Prize, two Lincoln Prizes, the Jefferson Lectureship, and the presidency of both the American Historical Association and the Society of American Historians. The fifteen books you have written and the ten you edited have illuminated the U.S. Civil War, including its buildup and aftermath, focusing on both the battlefield and the home front. Your Battle Cry of Freedom is considered the finest single-volume work on the subject. At the same time, you have, in your position at Princeton, helped train some of the finest historians of the next generation. Your work has also fed, and even led, the current surge in public interest in the Civil War. As a broad-based educator you have consulted for the 1990 PBS documentary series, served on the boards of the Civil War Trust and the Association for the Preservation of Civil War sites, and, as president of Protect Historic America, led the successful effort to preserve the battlefield at Manassas. This record you have built as a scholar/citizen has served well both your profession and your nation.
I hereby declare you recipient of the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 7, 2009