The de Tocqueville Prize was intended as a quinquennial prize for the best published work in any language on the history of the United States by a foreign scholar. The prize was created by Council in 1974 to be awarded initially in 1979. No award was made in either 1979 or 1984, however, due to a lack of quality submissions. The future of the prize was discussed in the fall 1985 meeting of the Research Division and the consensus was that it should be offered once more before being discontinued. However, no award was made in 1989.
