Joseph Ellis

Joseph Ellis
Joseph Ellis in 2007
Born	July 18, 1943 (1943-07-18)
Occupation	Professor
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	College of William and Mary (B.A.) Yale University (M.A.) (Ph.D.)
Genres	History
Notable work(s)	Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

For the basketball player, see Joe Ellis

Joseph John Ellis (born 18 July 1943 in Washington, D.C.) is a Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College who has written histories on the founding generation of American presidents. His book Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (2000) received the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2001.

Background and teaching

He received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary, where he was initiated into Theta Delta Chi. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University in 1969. He served in the United States Army and also taught at West Point until 1972.

That year Ellis joined the faculty at Mount Holyoke College. He is the former dean of faculty at Mount Holyoke and also served as Acting President for part of 1984 while President Elizabeth Topham Kennan was on leave.

Jefferson and Hemings

Main article: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

Ellis in his book American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (1996) suggested that evidence for an affair between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings was "inconclusive". Specifically, Ellis states in the appendix to American Sphinx,

Unless the trustees of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation decide to exhume the remains and do DNA testing on Jefferson as well as some of his alleged progeny, it leaves the matter a mystery about which advocates on either side can freely speculate... This means that for those who demand an answer the only recourse is plausible conjecture, prefaced as it must be with profuse statements about the flimsy and wholly circumstantial character of the evidence. In that spirit, which we might call the spirit of responsible speculation, after five years mulling over the huge cache of evidence that does exist on the thought and character of the historical Jefferson, I have concluded that the likelihood of a liaison with Sally Hemings is remote.

On November 5, 1998, Dr. Eugene Foster and his team published an article with their results of DNA analysis of Jefferson male line descendants and others reputed to be associated with him. Foster reported that DNA results showed a match between the Jefferson male line and the descendant of Eston Hemings. Given that and other historical evidence, they concluded that that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston and probably Hemings' other children.

On November 2, 1998, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer featured this topic and stated, "According to an article in an upcoming issue of the journal Nature, DNA analysis shows that Jefferson almost certainly fathered at least one of Sally Hemings' children, her last son, Eston." Ellis, who was interviewed during this broadcast, stated that he had revised his opinion due to this new evidence:

It's not so much a change of heart, but this is really new evidence. And it—prior to this evidence, I think it was a very difficult case to know and circumstantial on both sides, and, in part, because I got it wrong, I think I want to step forward and say this new evidence constitutes, well, evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that Jefferson had a longstanding sexual relationship with Sally Hemings.

Vietnam War

Ellis became the subject of embarrassing controversy when the Boston Globe published an article on June 18, 2001, revealing that Ellis lied about fighting in the Vietnam War (he served in uniform in America but did not go to Vietnam as he had claimed to his students and to the media). Ellis also falsely claimed to have scored a winning touchdown in a decisive game while playing for his high school football team. In fact, Ellis never played for his high school team. Ellis issued a public apology in August. Mount Holyoke suspended him without pay from his endowed chair until further review, as well as from teaching during the 2001-2002 academic year. In May 2005, Mount Holyoke restored his chair.

Awards

• 2001 Pulitzer Prize for History for Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
• 1997 National Book Award (nonfiction) winner for American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson.

Publications

Books

• First Family: Abigail and John Adams, 2010.
• American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, 2007.
• His Excellency: George Washington, 2004.
• After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture, 2002.
• Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, 2000.
• What Did the Declaration Declare? (Historians at Work), 1999.
• American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, 1996.
• Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, 1993.
• School for Soldiers: West Point and the Profession of Arms, 1974.
• The New England Mind in Transition: Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, 1696–1772, 1973.

Editorials

• "A promise of unpredictability: Presidential candidates pledge a lot, but history says you can ignore most of it" - Los Angeles Times (Jan. 2, 2008)
• "What Would George Do?: Okay, He Never Saw a Chopper, but He Can Still Teach Us a Thing or Two." - Washington Post (Dec. 23, 2007)
• "Finding a Place for 9/11 in American History" - New York Times (Jan. 28, 2006)

External links

• Biography from The Pulitzer Board
• Biography from Mount Holyoke
• Booknotes interview with Ellis on Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, September 5, 1993.