(05/22/09)
David Herbert Donald
Millsaps alumnus David Herbert Donald, an Abraham Lincoln scholar, Pulitzer Prize-winner and historian, died on May 17 in Boston. He was professor emeritus at Harvard University.
Donald won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for his biography of abolitionist Charles Sumner, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, and another in 1988 for his biography, Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe.
Donald, who graduated from Millsaps in 1941, gave the commencement address at Millsaps in May 1976 and was awarded an honorary degree. He spoke about “When the United States Rejoined the South.” He was Millsaps Alumnus of the Year in 1982.Dr. Robert S. McElvaine, chairman of the Department of History at Millsaps, said Donald was one of the nation’s foremost historians and among Millsaps’ most notable graduates.
“He always credited his Millsaps history professors for inspiring him to study, teach, and write history. He remained close to Dr. Ross Moore throughout Ross’s life. The death of David Donald marks a major loss to the historical profession and to the Millsaps College family,” he said.
One of six children, Donald was born in Goodman on Oct. 1, 1920. Donald studied at Holmes Junior College and then received a degree in history from Millsaps. He was a Dean’s List student and graduated summa cum laude. He told a newspaper reporter in 1992 that he developed his passion for history under the tutelage of Dr. Vernon L. Wharton at Millsaps.
At Millsaps, he was a member of the literary group Kit Kat, the International Relations Club, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, the Dramatics Club, the Debate Club, the Education Club, the Y.M.C.A. and the band. He was selected for membership in Eta Sigma and Pi Kappa Delta. He worked as a student assistant in the History Department.
Donald went on to receive a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Illinois, where he studied under renowned Lincoln scholar James Randall. His career included stints at Columbia University, Oxford University, Smith College, Princeton University, John Hopkins University and Harvard.
Donald studied how the South has related to the rest of the nation, analyzing the nature of southern politics and exploring patterns of race relations in the region.
On June 19, 1961, he wrote a letter to Shirley Caldwell, editor of Major Notes at Millsaps, and described his reaction to being name Pulitzer Prize winner for his biography, Charles Summer and the Coming of the Civil War.
“I had not the slightest warning of the award and, indeed, had assumed that my book was not under serious consideration because the prize has seldom, if indeed ever, gone to the first volume of a multivolumed, incomplete biography. I was quietly entertaining a friend at home when the telephone rang about four o’clock that afternoon. It was Blanche Knopf, the wife of my publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. I was so flabbergasted at her news that not merely did I fail to believe her; I immediately called back her husband to make sure this was not some sort of joke.”
Donald published his first Lincoln book in the late 1940s and kept at it for more than 50 years. His books included Lincoln at Home and We Are Lincoln Men. Donald’s single-volume biography, Lincoln, came out in 1996, and presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole both claimed they were reading it.
A New York Times reviewer described Donald as one of the most perceptive, original and literate of American historians.
