Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming is a longtime contributor to American Heritage and former president of the Society of American Historians. He is the author of dozens of respected books on American history, including Franklin, George Washington: Spymaster Extraordinaire, My Days with Harry Truman, Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers, The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival After Yorktown, Now We Are Enemies: The Story of Bunker Hill, The Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a Nation, and A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War. Fleming has appeared on C-SPAN, the History Channel, A&E, and PBS. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and graduated with honors from Fordham University.

Articles by this Author

“Take The Hatred Away, and You Have Nothing Left”, December 1968 | Vol. 20, No. 1

An African-American physician and his family were arrested for murder in Detroit after defending their home against an angry mob of whites. Then attorney Clarence Darrow came to their defense.

The Trial Of John Brown, August 1967 | Vol. 18, No. 5

Verdicts Of History: III -- Even his abolitionist friends thought his attack on Harpers Ferry insane, but the old Kansas raider sensed that his death would ignite the nation’s conscience.

A Husband’s Revenge, April 1967 | Vol. 18, No. 3

Verdicts of History: II -- Is it all right to shoot your wife’s lover? Do you have to catch him flagrante delicto? What if your victim is district attorney? And if you are a member of Congress? Now come with us to Washington, D.C., in 1859. Is it all right to shoot your wife’s lover? Do you have to catch him flagrante delicto? What if your victim is district attorney? And if you are a member of Congress? Now come with us to Washington, D.C., in 1859.

Verdicts Of History IV: “A Scandalous, Malicious, And Seditious Libel”, December 1967 | Vol. 19, No. 1

Is it libel to say that the President of the United States tried to seduce his neighbor’s wife—even if he did? Thomas Jefferson tried to gag the venomous editor of upstate New York’s Wasp; Alexander Hamilton argued brilliantly in defense of journalistic candor.

Verdicts Of History I: The Boston Massacre, December 1966 | Vol. 18, No. 1

Even the worst offender, even the most unpopular cause, deserves a good lawyer. Our example is a passionate moment in Boston on the eve of the Revolution, when John Adams undertook to defend the hatred British soldiers who had fired into a Boston mob and created some “martyrs.” There are echoes of our own times in the trial that followed

“We was amazingly fortunate”, October 1965 | Vol. 16, No. 6

—OR—Through the American Revolution with Pluck & Cheek

Good-bye To Everything!, August 1965 | Vol. 16, No. 5

For the first half hour on that fateful Thursday, stock prices were steady.

The Enigma Of General Howe, February 1964 | Vol. 15, No. 2

He had a reputation as a bold, resourceful commander. Yet in battle after battle he had George Washington beaten—and failed to pursue the advantage. Was “Sir Billy” all glitter and no gold? Or was he actually in sympathy with the rebellion?

G. Washington Meets A Test, February 1963 | Vol. 14, No. 2

What were the French up to in the Ohio Valley in 1753? Setting out in search of an answer, a bold young major from Virginia soon found himself skirting catastrophe

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