Donald A. Ritchie

Donald A. Ritchie (born December 23, 1945) is Historian Emeritus of the United States Senate.

Education

He graduated from the City College of New York in 1967; and received a master's degree, in 1969, and a Ph.D., in 1975, from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Career

Ritchie served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1969 to 1971.

As associate historian in the Senate Historical Office, beginning in 1976, Ritchie conducted oral history interviews with former senators and retired members of Senate staff as part of the Senate oral history project. In 2009 he became the Senate historian, succeeding Richard Baker, and held that post until his retirement in 2015.

Ritchie was responsible for editing the closed hearing transcripts of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's investigations, and has authored a number of books including Electing FDR. His book Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents won him the Richard W. Leopold Prize of the Organization of American Historians. He has served as president of the Oral History Association and on the councils of the American Historical Association and the International Oral History Association,

Works

Academic: James M. Landis: Dean of the Regulators. Harvard University Press. 1980. Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents. Harvard University Press. 1991.

Our Constitution. Oxford University Press. 2006. Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932. University Press of Kansas. 2007. The U.S. Congress: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2010.

The Columnist: Leaks, Lies, and Libel in Drew Pearson's Washington. Oxford University Press. 2021. Washington's Iron Butterfly: Bess Clements Abell, an Oral History, with Terry L. Birdwhistell. University Press of Kentucky. 2022.

Textbooks: United States History and Geography, The American Vision, The American Republic, and The American Journey, with Joyce Appleby, Alan Brinkley, Albert Broussard, and James McPherson (Glencoe/McGraw-Hill) United States Government, with Richard C. Remy, Lena Morreale Scott, and Megan L. Hanson (McGraw-Hill).

Editing:

The Oxford Handbook of Oral History (Oxford University Press, 2010) Congress and Harry S. Truman: A Conflicted Legacy (Truman State University Press, 2011)