Why a New Biography of William Herndon Is Needed

In the interests of full disclosure, I should tell a bit about my relationship with David Herbert Donald, whose biography of Herndon is examined in this article. A brilliant teacher as well as a gifted writer and a diligent scholar, Donald mesmerized me with his scintillating lectures and lively preceptorials when I was a freshman at Princeton in 1961. Later that year he hired me as his research assistant, and we became quite close. When he left Princeton in 1962 to take a position at Johns Hopkins, I stayed in touch and, upon graduation, followed him to Baltimore and pursued my PhD under his direction. Toward the end of my graduate career, we-like many other mentors and proteges-had a falling out. Adapted from the source document.