John Morton Blum
| John Morton Blum | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 29, 1921 New York City, New York |
| Died | October 17, 2011 (aged 90) North Branford, Connecticut |
| Occupation | historian, professor, editor |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | Wilson Era, Progressive presidents, early-mid 20th century |
| Genre | Historical |
| Spouse | Pamela Zink Blum |
| Children | Three |
John Morton Blum (/blʌm/; April 29, 1921 in New York City – October 17, 2011 in North Branford, Connecticut) was an American historian, active from 1948 to 1991. He was a specialist in 20th-century American political history, and was a senior advisor to Yale officials.
Blum was born in New York City, the son of Edna (LeVino) and Morton Gustave Blum, a businessman and inventor. His family was Jewish. He was raised in a household with limited means, and attended Phillips Academy and Harvard University on scholarships and campus jobs. Upon graduation in 1943, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy, serving in the Caribbean, the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and Iwo Jima. In 1950 he returned to Harvard to write his PhD under the direction of Frederick Merk. Blum married Pamela Zink in 1946 and had three children. He taught at MIT from 1948 to 1957 before moving to Yale University in 1957. He retired in 1991.
Blum was on the history faculty at Yale for 34 years, where he taught and influenced thousands of students. One of them in his large lecture class was future U.S. President George W. Bush. Blum later admitted "I haven't the foggiest recollection of him", but Bush remembered and cited Blum's influence in his commencement speech at Yale in May 2001. Other prominent students of his include Professor Henry Louis Gates, who considered Blum to be his mentor, as well as Professor Laura Kalman (University of California, Santa Barbara), Steve Gillon, resident historian of the History Channel, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman.
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