i always joked that if little genesseo had been in the south, there would have been a statue before the body was cold, but that was not true in more reserved upstate. so when we started a campaign to get a statue of general wadsworth put on the courthouse lawn where it should be. a courthouse without a statue is naked after all, james mcpherson came and gave the inaugural lecture of our campaign, attended a reception with people who donated and was endlessly patient with everyone. it was a very important way for us to start our effort. i m pleased to say that our courthouse is no longer naked. but i think the most personally compelling example of jim s generosity is that even though as i mentioned i jumped off the tenure track professionally, he kept asking me back to do alumni colleges. when it came time to organize the conference in honor of his retirement, jim asked that i be included, which then led to my contributing to his what an act of generosity. but that is typica
jim mcpherson served as president of the society of historians and american historical association. he contributed a slew of important laws, published books, journals, essays, written introductions to numerous published works. both for cause and comrades and tried by war. abraham lincoln as commander in chief won the lincoln prize. among the many things that distinguished mcpherson s career is relevance of his work as we struggle not to only understand civil war and reconstruction but our own times. his dissertation and first book, struggle for equality 1964 appeared during the heroic years of the civil rights movement, during a time that his advisers termed the second reconstruction. in both reconstructions, northern activists went south to work for racial justice and were accused of doing so for less than noble reasons. before mcpherson s work, they argued that absent ligsists were motivated by status, greed and other unflattering factors. mcpherson showed many during civil
in his hometown. i always joked that if it had been in the south, there would have been a statue before the body was cold. that was not true in more reserved upstate. so when we started a campaign to get a statute of general wadsworth put on the courthouse lawn where it should be. a courthouse without a statue is naked after all, james mcpherson came and gave the inaugural lecture of our campaign, attended a reception with people who donated and was endlessly patient with everyone. it was a very important way for us to start our effort. i m pleased to say that our courthouse is no longer naked. but i think the most personally compelling example of jim s generosity is that even though as i mentioned i jumped off the tenure track professionally, he kept asking me back to do alumni colleges. when it came time to organize the conference in honor of his retirement, jim asked that i be included, which then led to my contributing to his trip. what an act of generosity. but that is t
george henry davis 86 professor of american history emeritus. jim mcpherson served on the society of history sans and american historical association. he contributed a slew of important laws, published books, journals, essays, written introductions to numerous published works. both for cause and comrades and tried by war. abraham lincoln as commander in chief won the lincoln prize. among the many things that distinguished mcpherson s career is relevance of his work as we struggle not to only understand civil war and reconstruction but our own times. his dissertation and first book, struggle for equality 1964 and during the heroic years of the civil rights movement during a time that his advisers termed the second reconstruction. both reconstructions, northern activists went south to work for racial justice and were accused of doing so for less than noble reasons. before argued they were motivated by status, greed, other unflattering factors. mcpherson showed many during civil