News Detail

46th Annual Fortenbaugh Lecture Nov. 19 at Majestic Theater

11/15/2007

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The 46th Annual Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture will take place at the Majestic Theater Nov. 19, the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."

Leading historian and George Mason University professor Richard Norton Smith will speak at 8 p.m. on "Abraham Lincoln and the Triumph of Politics" following the awarding of the $5,000 Michael Shaara Prize for Excellence in Civil War Fiction by Jeff Shaara to Howard Bahr for his book "The Judas Field: A Novel of the Civil War." A reception and book signing will follow with Bahr, Smith and Shaara, author of "The Rising Tide: A Novel of the Second World War." The lecture coincides with events scheduled to remember President Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address, which he delivered in 1863.

Smith is a nationally-recognized authority on the American presidency and a familiar face to viewers of C-SPAN and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," where he appears regularly as part of the show's round table of historians. He graduated from Harvard University in 1975 majoring in government. Following graduation he worked as a White House intern and as a freelance writer for The Washington Post. From 1987 and 2001, Smith served as director at variety of presidential libraries, museums and foundations, including the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa; Dwight D. Eisenhower Center in Abilene, Kan.; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Reagan Center for Public Affairs in Simi Valley, Calif.; and Gerald R. Ford Museum and Library in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, Mich. In 2001, Smith became director of the new Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he supervised construction of the institute's $11.3-million home and launched a presidential lecture series. In 2003, he was appointed the first executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a four-building complex in Springfield, Ill. Perhaps best-known as a historian and biographer, Smith is currently at work on a life of Nelson A. Rockefeller based on extensive original research and interviews with Rockefeller associates. Smith's first major book, "Thomas E. Dewey and His Times," was a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and "The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick" received the prestigious Goldsmith Prize awarded by Harvard's John F. Kennedy School. He has also written "An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover," "The Harvard Century: The Making of a University to a Nation" and "Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation."

Established in 1997 by "Gods and Generals" author Jeff Shaara, the $5,000 prize is named in honor of his father, author of the novel, "The Killer Angels." The prize, administered by Gettysburg College, honors a novel about the Civil War, and encourages fresh approaches to Civil War fiction.

From 1964 to 1968, Bahr served as a gunner's mate in the United States Navy, participating in coastal and amphibious operations in Vietnam and the Western Pacific. After his service, Bahr worked as a brakeman and yard clerk on several railroads in the South and Midwest. In 1973, Bahr enrolled at the University of Mississippi where he earned a bachelor's degree majoring in English and history and a master's in English. He completed the coursework and examinations for a doctoral degree, but withdrew before completing a dissertation. From 1976 to 1993, he was on the staff at Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner, serving as curator from 1982 to 1993. He was also an instructor of literature at the University of Mississippi. In 1993, Bahr became an English professor at Motlow State Community College in Lynchburg, Tenn., until 2006. Bahr has published in various magazines and journals including "Southern Living," "Civil War Times Illustrated," "The Southern Partisan" and "The Saturday Evening Post." He is the author of "The Black Flower," "The Year of Jubilo," "Pelican Road" and a children's book, "Home for Christmas."

The Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture is presented each Nov. 19. The series was sustained during its first two decades by an endowment contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Clyde B. Gerberich of Mt. Joy, Pa., in honor of Fortenbaugh, who taught history at Gettysburg College from 1923 until his death in 1959. The endowment has been substantially supplemented by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Harry D. Halloway Fund and the Helwett Foundation. Bruce Catton delivered the first Fortenbaugh Lecture in 1962. He was followed by, among others, David Herbert Donald, John Hope Franklin, David Brion Davis, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., C. Vann Woodward, Eric Foner, John Keegan, Drew Faust, Jean H. Baker and Ira Berlin.

In addition, Dedication Day will take place Nov. 19, which will celebrate the 144th anniversary of the "Gettysburg Address." Sharra will deliver the keynote address during the 10:30 a.m. ceremony at Gettysburg National Cemetery.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences. With approximately 2,600 students, it is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.

Issued: 11/15/07
By: Kendra Martin