FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 8, 2013
Media Contact: Lisa Stites, 434-984-7529
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.–Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the private, nonprofit organization that has owned and operated Monticello since 1923.
“Spending time at Monticello is as close as any of us can ever get to having a conversation with Thomas Jefferson,” said Meacham. “The Foundation does a remarkable job not only in preserving a unique American—indeed global—historical site but in producing and encouraging honest, rigorous, and forthright scholarly work on Jefferson and his world. I am honored to be able to play whatever role I can in furthering Monticello's mission of following the truth wherever it leads.”
Meacham is the author, most recently, of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, a No. 1 New York Times bestseller that has been named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, The Seattle Times, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Meacham received the Pulitzer Prize for American Lion, his bestselling 2008 biography of Andrew Jackson. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Franklin and Winston and American Gospel.
Executive editor and executive vice president of Random House, Meacham is a contributing editor to Time magazine, the former longtime editor of Newsweek, and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. He is a regular contributor on Meet the Press, Morning Joe, and Charlie Rose.
Meacham is a Fellow of the Society of American Historians and serves on the boards of the New-York Historical Society; the Churchill Centre; and of The McCallie School. He is a former trustee and Regent of The University of the South and has served on the vestries of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Church Wall Street.
Born in Chattanooga in 1969, Meacham was educated at McCallie and at The University of the South, where he was salutatorian and Phi Beta Kappa. He began his career as a reporter at The Chattanooga Times. He and his wife live with their three children in Nashville and in Sewanee.
“Monticello is truly fortunate to welcome Jon Meacham to our board,” said Leslie Greene Bowman, president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. “Our vision is to engage a global audience in a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideas. Jon’s a brilliant author, editor and journalist, and brings a deep knowledge and appreciation of Jefferson’s relevance today.”
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About Monticello
Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville, Virginia. Monticello is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a United Nations World Heritage Site. As a private, nonprofit organization, the Foundation receives no regular federal or state budget support for its twofold mission of preservation and education. About 440,000 people visit Monticello each year. For information, visit www.monticello.org.