“President Obama had a few historians at the White House for a couple of dinners. I was lucky enough to be one of those asked, and he was very interested in Ronald Reagan, and I came away feeling that.”

American author and historian, professor of history

Douglas Brinkley is an American author, historian, and professor of history at Rice University. He is also the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities, a history commentator for CNN, and Presidential Historian for the New York Historical. Brinkley has written widely on American history and public affairs, and he serves as a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. He is also a public spokesperson on conservation issues. He joined the Rice faculty in 2007 and the board of directors of the National Archives Foundation in 2023.