Bernard Weisberger | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bernard Allen Weisberger August 15, 1922 New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 9, 2024 (aged 101) |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) University of Chicago (PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Writer Historian |
Bernard Allen Weisberger (August 15, 1922 – April 9, 2024) was an American historian.[1] Weisberger taught American history at several universities including the University of Chicago, Wayne State University, and the University of Rochester, where he was chair of the department.[2] He has written more than a dozen books and worked on documentaries with Bill Moyers and Ken Burns. His article "The Dark and Bloody Ground of Reconstruction Historiography," which received the Charles Ramsdell Prize is considered a standard in the study of the Reconstruction period.[3]
Weisberger was a contributing editor of American Heritage, where he was a columnist for ten years.[4] He published 120 articles in the magazine, with his first appearing in 1955.[5]
Weisberger was also a member of the National Hillel Commission and a participant in the civil rights movement.[1]
In 1942, he graduated from Columbia University and joined the Signal Intelligence Service, which later became the National Security Agency. He studied the Japanese language in a crash course at Columbia, and then served in the Pacific translating intercepted Japanese radio messages that had been decoded by cryptanalysts, but still needed translation.[6] After the war, he received his PhD from University of Chicago.[7]
Weisberger turned 100 in August 2022. He died on April 9, 2024, at the age of 101.[8]