Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, NEH

Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities

The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, established by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1972, is the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. The lectureship recognizes an individual who has made significant scholarly contributions in the humanities and who has the ability to communicate the knowledge and wisdom of the humanities in a broadly appealing way. The lecturer is chosen each year by the National Council on the Humanities, a board of twenty-six citizens nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate.

The Jefferson Lecture is held in Washington, typically in conjunction with the spring meeting of the National Council. The lecturer receives an honorarium of $10,000.

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1972: Lionel Trilling -- "Mind in the Modern World"

1973: Erik Erikson -- "Dimensions of a New Identity"

1974: Robert Penn Warren -- "Poetry and Democracy"

1975: Paul A. Freund -- "Liberty: The Great Disorder of Speech"

1976: John Hope Franklin -- "Racial Equality in America"

1977: Saul Bellow -- "The Writer and His Country Look Each Other Over"

1978: C. Vann Woodward -- "The European Vision of America"

1979: Edward Shils -- "Render Unto Caesar: Government, Society, and Universities in their Reciprocal Rights and Duties"

1980: Barbara Tuchman -- "Mankind's Better Moments"

1981: Gerald Holton -- "Where is Science Taking Us?"

1982: Emily T. Vermeule -- "Greeks and Barbarians: The Classical Experience in the Larger World"

1983: Jaroslav Pelikan -- "The Vindication of Tradition"

1984: Sidney Hook -- "Education in Defense of a Free Society"

1985: Cleanth Brooks -- "Literature and Technology"

1986: Leszek Kolakowski -- "The Idolatry of Politics"

1987: Forrest McDonald -- "The Intellectual World of the Founding Fathers"

1988: Robert Nisbet -- "The Present Age"

1989: Walker Percy -- "The Fateful Rift: The San Andreas Fault in the Modern Mind"

1990: Bernard Lewis -- "Western Civilization: A View from the East"

1991: Gertrude Himmelfarb -- "Of Heroes, Villains and Valets"

1992: Bernard Knox -- "The Oldest Dead White European Males"

1993: Robert Conquest -- "History, Humanity and Truth"

1994: Gwendolyn Brooks -- "Family Pictures"

1995: Vincent Scully -- "The Architecture of Community"

1996: Toni Morrison -- "The Future of Time"

1997: Stephen Toulmin -- "A Dissenter's Story"

1998: Bernard Bailyn -- "To Begin the World Anew: Politics and the Creative Imagination"

1999: Caroline Walker Bynum -- "Shape and History: Metamorphosis in the Western Tradition"

2000: James M. McPherson -- "'For a Vast Future Also': Lincoln and the Millennium"

2001: Arthur Miller -- "On Politics and the Art of Acting"

2002: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- "Mr. Jefferson and the Trials of Phillis Wheatley"

2003: David McCullough -- "The Course of Human Events"

2004: Helen Vendler -- "The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar"

2005: Donald Kagan -- "In Defense of History"

2006: Tom Wolfe -- "The Human Beast"

2007: Harvey Mansfield -- “How to Understand Politics:
What the Humanities Can Say to Science”

2008: John Updike -- “The Clarity of Things:
What Is American about American Art”

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What is NEH?
NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.

Overview: A brief overview of the Endowment. Budget: NEH's FY 2009 Budget Request (106-page PDF). Awards: The Jefferson Lecture and National Humanities Medals. EDSITEment: NEH’s online resource for teachers and parents. Timeline: How NEH's support of the humanities has nurtured America's intellectual and civic life. Watch a film about NEH's work. [no captions / captions (564 MB)]
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