David Martin

Jul 11, 2026

 

 

n my most recent article I take America’s professional historians to task one more time for the mainly propagandistic role they seem to be playing in interpreting what has gone on in the country. In that small verbal match I believe I supported my charge of intellectual laziness quite thoroughly against one very minor member of the profession. Noticing how he shrank away from the major issues that provide the underpinning for the case for skepticism about the current campaign against the Confederate battle flag, a stronger charge of intellectual cowardice might well be in order. And in that quality, I fear that he is representative of his entire profession.

William Leuchtenburg, with more than a dozen books to his credit, has been a very industrious fellow. Garden-variety laziness is obviously not his problem. As past president of the American Historical Association, the Organizations of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians, he has also been on the very top of the heap, which one might say makes him, in itself, a very representative example of his group. One can be quite certain that he would never have attained those positions had he demonstrated the independence of thought and expression of, say, a Charles A. Beard. Certainly, he doesn’t demonstrate such independence in the matter for which I took him to task in my May 25 letter:

Dear Professor Leuchtenburg:

The two enclosures to this letter are self-explanatory, except for the reason that I address D.G. Martin in my email to him in a familiar tone. We played basketball against one another when I was on the freshman team and he was a senior on the varsity at Davidson College in 1961. I got back in touch with him a few years ago through a colleague of mine at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who is a cousin of D.G.’s. In between, when he ran for Congress in the seat vacated by James Martin in Charlotte he became the only political candidate to whom I have ever contributed money. (Although all three of us Martins have a Davidson connection, we are not related.)

I have heard nothing from D.G. and am proceeding upon the assumption that you are of the generation that has nothing to do with computers. That might also explain why you are so misinformed about the death of Vincent Foster. It is no excuse for writing about the matter based upon that misinformation, however. To overcome the handicap you might have someone print up my collection of articles to which I link at the end of my latest article (enclosed). The UNC library could also easily obtain and print up for you the letter of the lawyer for Patrick Knowlton, a dissenting witness, which the 3-judge panel that appointed Kenneth Starr ordered to be included with Starr’s report on Foster’s death. It is at Hathi Trust.

Sincerely,

David Martin

Enclosures: May 20 email to D.G. Martin (below); “Is She Onboard with the Cover-Up?”