There Were Giants in Those Days . . .

Perspectives intends during the centenni­al year of the Association to run occa­sional feature articles on our history. We think that the best starting place is a simple list of the presidents of the Asso­ciation from 1884 to 1984. It is indeed a memorable role of honor of the leaders of the profession. Although we can all think of giants who did not make the list, thereby proving that in one hun­dred years there have been more than a hundred great historians, it is difficult to fault the choices that were made. We list them here with the years of their service at the head of the historical profession’s oldest and largest learned society. The list includes two Presidents of the United States, one foreign ambas­sador, at least three who served as presi­dents of the American Political Science Association, three who served as ambas­sadors extraordinary and plenipoten­tiary of the United States, one senator, and two admirals.

1884–85 Andrew Dickson White
1885–86 George Bancroft
1886–87 Justin Winsor
1887–88 William F. Poole
1889 Charles K. Adams
1890 John Jay
1891 William Wirt Henry
1892–93 James Burrill Angell
1893–94 Henry Adams
1895 George Frisbie Hoar
1896 Richard Salter Storrs
1897 James Schouler
1898 George Park Fisher
1899 James Ford Rhodes
1900 Edward Eggleston
1901 Charles F. Adams
1902 Alfred Thayer Mahan
1903 Henry Charles Lea
1904 Goldwin Smith
1905 John Bach McMaster
1906 Simeon E. Baldwin
1907 J. Franklin Jameson
1908 George Burton Adams
1909 Albert Bushnell Hart
1910 Frederick J. Turner
1911 William M. Sloane
1912 Theodore Roosevelt
1913 William A. Dunning
1914 Andrew C. McLaughlin
1915 H. Morse Stephens
1916 George Lincoln Burr
1917 Worthington C. Ford
1918–19 William R. Thayer
1920 Edward Channing
1921 Jean Jules Jusserand
1922 Charles H. Haskins
1923 Edward P. Cheyney
1924 Woodrow Wilson
1924–25 Charles M. Andrews
1926 Dana C. Munro
1927 Henry Osborn Taylor
1928 James H. Breasted
1929 James Harvey Robinson
1930 Evarts Boutell Greene
1931 Carl Lotus Becker
1932 Herbert Eugene Bolton
1933 Charles A. Beard
1934 William E. Dodd
1935 Michael I. Rostovtzeff
1936 Charles McIlwain
1937 Guy Stanton Ford
1938 Laurence M. Larson and Frederic L. Paxson
1939 William Scott Ferguson
1940 Max Farrand
1941 James Westfall Thompson
1942 Arthur M. Schlesinger
1943 Nellie Neilson
1944 William L. Westermann
1945 Carlton J. H. Hayes
1946 Sidney B. Fay
1947 Thomas J. Wertenbaker
1948 Kenneth Scott Latourette
1949 Conyers Read
1950 Samuel E. Morison
1951 Robert L. Schuyler
1952 James G. Randall
1953 Louis Gottschalk
1954 Merle Curti
1955 Lynn Thorndike
1956 Dexter Perkins
1957 William Langer
1958 Walter Prescott Webb
1959 Allan Nevins
1960 Bernadotte E. Schmitt
1961 Samuel Flagg Bemis
1962 Carl Bridenbaugh
1963 Crane Brinton
1964 Julian P. Boyd
1965 Frederic C. Lane
1966 Roy F. Nichols
1967 Hajo Holborn
1968 John K. Fairbank
1969 C. Vann Woodward
1970 R. R. Palmer
1971 David M. Potter and Joseph R. Strayer
1972 Thomas C. Cochran
1973 Lynn White Jr.
1974 Lewis Hanke
1975 Gordon Wright
1976 Richard B. Morris
1977 Charles Gibson
1978 William J. Bouwsma
1979 John Hope Franklin
1980 David H. Pinkney
1981 Bernard Bailyn
1982 Gordon A. Craig
1983 Philip D. Curtin
1984 Arthur S. Link