Marc Leepson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 20, 1945 Newark, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Journalist, historian, author. |
| Education | BA, History MA, European History |
| Alma mater | George Washington University |
| Notable works | Desperate Engagement Flag: An American Biography Saving Monticello |
| Website | |
| marcleepson | |
Marc Leepson (born June 20, 1945, in Newark, New Jersey) is an American journalist, historian, and author.
Leepson was educated at Hillside High School in Hillside, New Jersey (Class of 1963) and George Washington University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1967 and his Master of Arts degree in European History in 1971. [1]
Almost immediately after graduating from college, Leepson's draft classification was changed by his local draft board and he was drafted into the United States Army in 1967. Chosen to be trained as a clerk, he served for two years, including a year (December 1967-December 1968) in the Vietnam War with the 527th Personnel Service Company in Qui Nhơn. [2] He received his honorable discharge in 1969. [1]
Leepson was a staff writer at Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. from 1976 to 1986. [3] He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1986. He is Senior Writer, Arts Editor and columnist for The VVA Veteran , [4] the magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America, since 1986.
His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including The Washington Post , The New York Times , The New York Times Book Review , Chicago Tribune , The Baltimore Sun , and Smithsonian , Preservation , and Military History magazines. He has been interviewed many times on radio and television, including on The Today Show, CBS This Morning Saturday , [5] CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, [6] The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, PBS-TV's History Detectives , All Things Considered , Talk of the Nation , Studio 360 , NPR's Here and Now , To The Point, Morning Edition , The Diane Rehm Show , "Imus in the Morning ," [7] the BBC Newshour , Russian Channel 1 TV (RTV), Irish Radio, and CBC (Canada).
He is a contributor to The Encyclopædia Britannica , [8] and has written entries for the Encyclopedia Americana , the Encyclopedia Americana Yearbook , the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography .
Since the early 1990s, he has been active in many non-profit groups. That includes board memberships on the Middleburg (Virginia) Library Advisory Board (President and Vice President), the Loudoun County (Virginia) Library Board of Trustees, the Library of Virginia Foundation [9] (Treasurer), the Virginia State Library Board, the Friends of Thomas Balch Library, the YMCA of Loudoun County (Virginia), the Goose Creek Association (Secretary), and the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association (Secretary, Vice President, President). [10] He taught U.S. history at Lord Fairfax Community College (now known as Laurel Ridge Community College) in Warrenton, Virginia from 2008 to 2015, and was Scholar in Residence [11] at Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Savannah, Georgia, in May 2017.
A member of The Authors Guild, [12] he was elected to the Board of Directors [13] of the Biographers International Organization (BIO) in 2013. He was named the organization's Treasurer in 2014.
Leepson lives in Loudoun County, Virginia. He and his wife, Janna (Murphy) Leepson, have two children, Devin and Cara. He also has a brother, R. Evan Leepson.
Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father and the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 14. Located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Piedmont region, the plantation was originally 5,000 acres (20 km2), with Jefferson using the labor of African slaves for extensive cultivation of tobacco and mixed crops, later shifting from tobacco cultivation to wheat in response to changing markets. Due to its architectural and historic significance, the property has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1987, Monticello and the nearby University of Virginia, also designed by Jefferson, were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The current nickel, a United States coin, features a depiction of Monticello on its reverse side.
Loudoun County is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun County is part of the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2020, Loudoun County had a median household income of $147,111. Since 2008, the county has been ranked first in the U.S. in median household income among jurisdictions with a population of 65,000 or more.
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette, known in the United States as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat, freemason, and military officer who volunteered to join the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, in the American Revolutionary War. Lafayette was ultimately permitted to command Continental Army troops in the decisive siege of Yorktown in 1781, the Revolutionary War's final major battle that secured American independence. After returning to France, Lafayette became a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830 and continues to be celebrated as a hero in both France and the United States.
Three Soldiers is a bronze statue by Frederick Hart. Unveiled on Veterans Day, November 11, 1984, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., it is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial commemorating the Vietnam War. It was the first representation of an African American on the National Mall.
Elizabeth Griscom Ross, also known by her second and third married names, Ashburn and Claypoole, was an American upholsterer who was credited by her relatives in 1870 with making the second official U.S. flag, accordingly known as the Betsy Ross flag. Though most historians dismiss the story, Ross family tradition holds that General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and two members of a congressional committee—Robert Morris and George Ross—visited Mrs. Ross in 1776. Mrs. Ross convinced George Washington to change the shape of the stars in a sketch of a flag he showed her from six-pointed to five-pointed by demonstrating that it was easier and speedier to cut the latter. However, there is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate this story of the first U.S. flag. It appears that the story first surfaced in the writings of her grandson in the 1870s, with no mention or documentation in earlier decades.
The Battle of Baltimore was a battle fought between British and American forces in the War of 1812. American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland, and killed the commander of the invading British forces.
Jefferson Monroe Levy was a three-term U.S. Congressman from New York, a leader of the New York Democratic Party, and a renowned real estate and stock speculator.
Uriah Phillips Levy was a naval officer, real estate investor, and philanthropist. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy. He was instrumental in helping to end the Navy's practice of flogging, and during his half-century-long service prevailed against the antisemitism he faced among some of his fellow naval officers.
Margaret Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell was an American public television executive. Trained as a teacher, she also served as a college administrator and led the first elected school board for the Arlington Public Schools as it attempted to navigate Massive Resistance, then helped found WETA-TV, the first public television station in Washington, D.C.
The Betsy Ross flag is a reconstructed early design for the flag of the United States, which is conformant to the Flag Act of 1777 and has red stripes outermost and stars arranged in a circle. These details elaborate on the 1777 act, passed early in the American Revolutionary War, which specified 13 alternating red and white horizontal stripes and 13 white stars in a blue canton. Its name stems from the story, once widely believed, that shortly after the 1777 act, upholsterer and flag maker Betsy Ross produced a flag of this design.
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family is a 2008 book by American historian Annette Gordon-Reed. It recounts the history of four generations of the African-American Hemings family, from their African and Virginia origins until the 1826 death of Thomas Jefferson, their master and the father of Sally Hemings' children.
Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel is the Jewish chapel at the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland.
Nolands Ferry I Archeological Site is an archaeological site near the historic Noland's Ferry boat landing at mile 44.58 on the C&O Canal and Tuscarora. The Archeological Site is a prehistoric occupation site located in the Monocacy region of southern Frederick County, Maryland. Diagnostic artifacts at the site indicate that the site was almost continuously inhabited from the Paleo-Indian period to the early 19th century, with the most substantial inhabitation occurring during the Late Woodland period.
Newton Foust Heisley was an American commercial artist who was responsible for the design of the POW/MIA flag adopted by the National League of Families, and officially recognized by the United States Congress in relation to the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation".
Daniel Serafin Lliteras is an American author best known for his spiritual novels.
William "Bill" Albracht was an Army captain in the Vietnam War. He is a recipient of three Silver Stars, and is the author of Abandoned in Hell: The Fight for Vietnam's Firebase Kate.
"The "A" Team" is a 1966 song and charting single by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. It was Sadler's second and final American patriotic hit song at the time of the Vietnam War, following the success of "The Ballad of the Green Berets".
Billy Glen McCloud is an American adjunct professor of American History at Rogers State University. He has written two books, What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam? and a book of poems, The Smell of the Light: Vietnam, 1968-1969.
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is an American teacher and author.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
