David M. Kennedy : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- David Kennedy is a Pulitzer-prize winning historian and the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus at Stanford University. In this oral history, he recalls his undergraduate years at Stanford, his experiences in the graduate program in American Studies at Yale, and his research and teaching career as a faculty member in Stanford’s Department of History. Kennedy describes the various figures that influenced his career, including David Potter and John Morton Blum, and explains the intellectual progression of his work, discussing his dissertation and first book on Margaret Sanger and the history of birth control in the United States; Over Here: The First World War and American Society; and Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War. He also describes his work on The American Pageant, a popular U.S history textbook, and The Oxford History of the United States series; his leadership of the Bill Lane Center for the American West; and his administrative experience as an associate dean in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Throughout, in conversation with longtime colleague Professor James Sheehan, he offers trenchant observations on change over time at Stanford and in the study and teaching of history.
- Summary
- Part 1 [00:00:00 – 00:34:08] Cold War-era promotion of engineering careers • Family background • Decision to apply to Stanford to study engineering • Financial considerations for enrolling in Stanford • Early memories of Stanford, including visiting campus as a child and story of asking freshman roommate, who was Jewish, for a ride to mass • Difficult engineering curriculum • Memories of Stanford Overseas Studies Program in Florence, Italy, including studying history with Professor Wayne Vucinich and immersion in Italian language • Switching major to history; interest in the history of Africa during era of decolonization • Memories of historian David Potter and the impact of his course The American Character • Professor Philip Rhinelander’s philosophy course Problem of Evil • Decision to enroll in Yale’s American Studies Program for graduate education • Commentary on development of American Studies field; course of study at Yale combining history, literature, and economics [00:34:08 – 00:59:25] First impressions of Yale and New Haven • Intellectual climate and faculty at Yale, including dissertation supervisor John Morton Blum and professors R.W.B. Lewis, Norman Holmes Pearson, Henry Broude, Howard Lamar, C. Vann Woodward, and Edmund Sears Morgan • Deciding on a dissertation topic with help from economic historian William N. Parker • Doctoral research on Margaret Sanger and the history of birth control • Description of job market in an era of growth in higher education; accepting offer to join Stanford Department of History faculty [00:59:25– 01:20:03] Memories of returning to Stanford as a faculty member in the late 1960s, including anti-Vietnam War protests on campus • David Potter’s address at the 1970 commissioning of ROTC cadets • Political environment within the History Department and Stanford faculty • Reflections on the leadership of Stanford presidents Kenneth Pitzer and Richard Lyman during era of campus unrest • Chairing the Land and Building Committee during hearings regarding low-income housing on campus • Bancroft Prize for Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger; tenure at Stanford • Offers from other universities • Teaching History 200 course on theme of war • Decision to write book on World War I Part 2 [00:00:00 – 00:31:05] Writing Over Here: The First World War and American Society • Professor Thomas A. Bailey and The American Pageant history textbook • Editing The American Pageant with Bailey and then solo • Influence of John Blum and Thomas A. Bailey on Kennedy’s writing style • Textbook writing technique • Collaboration with Lizabeth Cohen on The American Pageant • Adding Margaret O’Mara to the The American Pageant team • Reflections on The American Pageant as a college level text • The Oxford History of the United States series • Kennedy’s volume for the series, eventually titled Freedom from Fear • Conversation with Sir Isaiah Berlin about writing Freedom from Fear through the lens of FDR’s biography [00:31:05 – 00:59:48] University Fellows program • Serving as associate dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences • Role of department chair • Reflections on Stanford’s rise as a research university; the growth of the medical center; and the evolution of university decision-making • Origins of the Bill Lane Center for the American West; directing the center with Richard White • Water in the West research project • Efforts to expand and maintain the center’s scope outside of California [00:59:48 – 01:31:51] Teaching History 151: The American West and reflections on the nature of the West as a region • The center’s annual Sophomore College program • Serving on the Pulitzer board • Involvement with Environmental Traveling Companions • Serving as a trustee for the California Academy of Sciences • Reflections on Stanford’s shift away from its previously contemplative character • Impact of changes in the West and California on Stanford • Collaboration with former Secretary of Defense William Perry on a committee recommending the reinstatement of the ROTC program at Stanford • Reflections on the consequences of the separation between military and civilian society Part 3 [00:00:00 – 00:43:44] Early teaching experiences and faculty models • Teaching introductory courses, especially United States in the Twentieth Century course • Lecturing versus leading discussions • Reflections on changes in Stanford student body since 1967, including declining reading load expectations • Friendships with undergraduate and graduate students • Mentoring graduate students • Influence of undergraduate teaching on his own research projects, particularly Over Here and Freedom from Fear • Discussion of the role of history in undergraduate education today • Final reflection on decision to pursue an academic career
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | October 13, 2020 - 2020-11-10 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Kennedy, David M. | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Kennedy, David M. | |
| Interviewer | Sheehan, James J. | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Kennedy, David M. |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of History |
| Subject | Bill Lane Center for the American West |
| Subject | Historians |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | David M. Kennedy, the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, and founder and former Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University, is a native of Seattle and a 1963 Stanford graduate. He received his PhD in American Studies from Yale University in 1968. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1967. Professor Kennedy has long taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the history of the twentieth-century United States, American political and social thought, American foreign policy, American literature, and the comparative development of democracy in Europe and America. Graduating seniors have four times elected him as Class Day speaker. In 1988 he received the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, and in 2005 the Hoagland Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He has also received the Stanford Alumni Association’s Richard W. Lyman Award for faculty service, and the Organization of American Historian’s Distinguished Service Award. In 2008 the Yale University Graduate School presented him with its highest honor, the Wilbur Cross Medal. Reflecting his interdisciplinary training in American Studies, which combined the fields of history, literature, and economics, Professor Kennedy’s scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history, and for its engagement with the question of America’s national character. His 1970 book, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, embraced the medical, legal, political, and religious dimensions of the subject and helped to pioneer the emerging field of women’s history. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980) used the history of American involvement in World War I to analyze the American political system, economy, and culture in the early twentieth century. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (1999) recounts the history of the American people in the two great crises of the Great Depression and World War II. With Thomas A. Bailey and Lizabeth Cohen, Kennedy is also the co-author of a textbook in American history, The American Pageant, now in its seventeenth edition. Birth Control in America was honored with the John Gilmary Shea Prize in 1970 and the Bancroft Prize in 1971. Over Here was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1981. Freedom From Fear was a Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the History Book Club, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and winner of the Pulitzer and Francis Parkman Prizes, as well as the English-Speaking Union’s Ambassador’s Prize, and the Commonwealth Club of California’s California Book Award Gold Medal, all in 2000. |
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| Audio |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/gp655sw9952 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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