McCollough Passes, Mr. History's Legacy Lives

David McCollough leaves us at 89, but having won Pulitzers for presidential bios, his biggest impact may be as a rare tv narrator who could make history come alive again in such epic documentaries as Ken Burns’ “The Civil War.”

The man’s voice was haunting, at least, for me. In fact, when Mr. History hosted as well as narrated several episodes of “The American Experience,” including “Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided,” I’d swear I often found myself more mesmerized by his voice and tale-telling ability than the compelling history being portrayed in the film.

Sure, having written 12 books about presidents, his Pulitzers for best-selling bios of Truman and John Adams were well-deserved. But, arguably what made them deserved was his unrelentingly simple, straight forward, balanced, honest, insightful, well-researched replaying of history. He never pandered to his audience or pushed a political agenda. Not a whiff as far as I could ever discern. I don’t even know what his party affiliation was and I won’t be checking to see what it happened to be. Don’t care. I know what he accomplished in also winning the coveted “Presidential Medal of Freedom.” THAT forthright honesty ... and his obvious "Love of the Game aka History" ... is what I will thank & remember him most for, especially in light of today’s abuse of journalistic & historical standards by CRT & other divisive excuses for “works.”

Davd Soul