Barry Landau

Barry H. Landau (born c. 1948) is a noted thief of presidential artifacts, collector of presidential artifacts, author, and "self-styled 'America's Presidential Historian'". In July 2011, Landau's associate, 24-year-old Jason Savedoff, was seen taking a document out of a library. After an investigation and various searches, Landau and Savedoff were "charged with stealing valuable historical documents from the Maryland Historical Society and conspiring to steal documents from other archives." After pleading guilty, Landau was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in June 2012.

Biography Landau stated his interest in the presidency began at the age of 10, when his mother took him to see then President Dwight D. Eisenhower; he claimed to have spoken with both the president and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower at that time.

He worked as a press agent in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. and showed off some prized pieces of his collection on The Martha Stewart Show. He also served as a commentator on CNN and NBC's Today Show. According to Landau's plea agreement, from December 2010 through July 2011, Landau and Savedoff stole documents from numerous institutions, including the Maryland Historical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut Historical Society, the University of Vermont, the New York Historical Society, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, a component of the National Archives. In total, more than ten thousand items were taken. Seven signed 'reading copies' of speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (the actual copies of the speeches Roosevelt read from, including his handwritten edits and additions) On June 27, 2012, Landau was sentenced to seven years in prison. He also had to pay restitution of $46,525 to dealers who had unwittingly purchased stolen documents from him.

Return of documents The rightful owners of all the stolen documents recovered have been identified. , only twenty percent of the documents have been returned to them, with the remainder to be returned in the following months.