1981
Citation:
William Manchester, a master historian and novelist, has delighted thousands of readers with his probing narrative accounts of the dramas which have shaped our modern lives. Through such monumental books as The Glory and the Dream, American Ceasar,and The Death of a President, he has brought our history into focus, enlivened the past and made the reading of history pleasurable for more people. The writer-in-residence at Wesleyan University, he has at various times used his talents as a reporter and foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, a magazine writer and editor, and as a chronicler of important political families. Manchester severed in the U.S. Marines in World War II and was severely wounded on Okinawa. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and has a master’s degree in English from the University of Missouri.
Award was presented at the President's Cabinet Fourteenth Annual Awards Dinner, May 1, 1981.