Schlesinger, << SHLEHS uhn juhr or SHLAY zihng ur, >> Arthur Meier, Jr. (1917-2007), was an American historian. In 1946, he won the Pulitzer Prize for history for The Age of Jackson. His A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for biography and the 1966 National Book Award for history and biography. Schlesinger won the 1979 National Book Award for biography and autobiography for Robert Kennedy and His Times (1978). He also wrote The Age of Roosevelt (1957, 1959, 1960), a three-volume analysis of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal administration.
Schlesinger was born on Oct. 15, 1917, in Columbus, Ohio. In 1947, he was one of the founders of Americans for Democratic Action, an independent political organization that urges government action to promote and maintain liberal policies. He taught at Harvard University from 1947 to 1961. From 1961 to 1964, he was a special assistant to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Schlesinger taught at City University of New York from 1966 to 1994. His father, Arthur M. Schlesinger, was also a noted historian. Schlesinger died on Feb. 28, 2007.
