Youth and education
Born to Christian Hax and Ruth McCullough, McCullough was educated at Linden Avenue Grade School and Shady Side Academy, in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of four sons, McCullough had a "marvelous" childhood with a wide range of interests, including sports and drawing cartoons. McCullough's parents and his grandmother, who read to him often, introduced him to books at an early age. His parents talked openly about history, a topic he feels should be discussed more often. McCullough "loved school, every day"; he contemplated many career choices ranging from architect, actor, painter, writer, lawyer, and even attending medical school.
In 1951, McCullough began attending classes at Yale University. He believed that it was a "privilege" to study English at Yale because of the faculty that included John O'Hara, John Hersey, Robert Penn Warren, and Brendan Gill. He occasionally ate lunch with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder. While at Yale, he became a member of Skull and Bones. He served apprenticeships at
Time,
Life, the United States Information Agency, and
American Heritage., where he found enjoyment in research. "Once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I wanted to do in my life." While attending Yale, McCullough studied Arts and achieved his Bachelor's degree in English, with the intention of becoming a fiction writer or playwright. He graduated with honors in English literature (1955).
Writing career
Early career
After graduation, McCullough moved to New York City, where the recently formed
Sports Illustrated hired him as a trainee. He was later hired by the United States Information Agency, in Washington, D.C., as an editor and writer. After working for twelve years, including a position at
American Heritage, with a consistent concentration on editing and writing, McCullough "felt that [he] had reached the point where [he] could attempt something on my own." McCullough "had no anticipation that [he] was going to write history, but [he] stumbled upon a story that [he] thought was powerful, exciting, and very worth telling." While working at
American Heritage, McCullough wrote in his spare time for three years.
The Johnstown Flood, a chronicle of one of the worst flood disasters in United States history, was released in 1968 to high praise by critics. John Leonard, of
The New York Times, said of McCullough, "We have no better social historian." Despite rough financial times, McCullough, with encouragement from his wife, Rosalee, made the decision to become a full-time writer.
Gaining recognition
After the success of
The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake. However, Simon & Schuster, publisher of
The Johnstown Flood, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book. Trying not to become "Bad News McCullough", he decided to write about a subject showing "people were not always foolish and inept or irresponsible." Remembering the words of his Yale teacher, "[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something. Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it." McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he had walked across many times.
"To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is." ... David McCullough
He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor, a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher. Published in 1972, critics hailed
The Great Bridge as "the definitive book on the event." Five years later,
The Creation of the Panama Canal was released, gaining McCullough widespread attention for the first time. The book won the National Book Award for history, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, the Francis Parkman Prize,, and the Cornelius Ryan Award. Later in 1977, McCullough travelled to the White House to advise Jimmy Carter and the United States Senate on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which would give Panama control of the Canal. Carter later said that the treaties, which were agreed upon to hand over ownership of the Canal to Panama, would not have passed, had it not been for the book.
"The story of people"
McCullough's fourth work was his first biography, reinforcing his belief that "history is the story of people". Released in 1981,
Mornings on Horseback tells the story of seventeen years in the life of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. The work, ranging from 1869, when Roosevelt was ten years old, to 1886, tells of a "life intensely lived." The book won McCullough's first Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography and New York Public Library Literary Lion Award and his second National Book Award. Next, he released
Brave Companions, a collection of essays that "unfold seamlessly". Written over twenty years, the book includes works about Louis Agassiz, Alexander von Humboldt, John and Washington Roebling, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Conrad Aiken, and Frederic Remington. McCullough's next book and second biography continued the trend of writing about American presidents...
Truman (1993) about the 33rd president. The book won McCullough his first Pulitzer Prize, in the category of "Best Biography or Autobiography." Two years later, the book was adapted into
Truman, a television movie by HBO, starring Gary Sinise as Truman.
"I think it's important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn't be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them." ... David McCullough
Working for the next seven years, McCullough released
John Adams (2001), his third biography about a United States president. One of the fastest-selling non-fiction books in history, the book won McCullough's second Pultizer Prize for "Best Biography or Autobiography." It began as a book about founding fathers and back-to-back presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; but Jefferson was eventually dropped, and the book focused solely on Adams. HBO returned to McCullough's works to adapt
John Adams. Premiering in 2008, the seven-part miniseries starred Academy Award-nominated actor Paul Giamatti in the title role. The DVD version of the miniseries includes the biopic, "David McCullough: Painting with Words."
McCullough's latest work,
1776, tells the story of the founding year of the United States, focusing on George Washington, the amateur army, and other struggles for independence. Because of McCullough's popularity, its initial printing was 1.25 million copies, many more than the average history book. Upon its release, the book was a number one best-seller in the United States. HBO is scheduled to release a miniseries adaptation of
1776 in 2011, possibly involving Tom Hanks, who produced
John Adams.
McCullough considered writing a "sequel" to
1776. However, he signed a contract with Simon & Schuster to do a work about Americans in Paris between the 1830s and the 1930s, which is scheduled for release in 2010. Spanning multiple topics and people, "the book will touch on achievements in literature, medicine, art, architecture, music, and dance."
Personal life
David McCullough is married to Rosalee Barnes McCullough, whom he met at age 17, in Pittsburgh. He is a fan of sports, art history, and watercolor and portrait painting. The couple have five children and eighteen grandchildren. One of his sons, David McCullough Jr, is a high school English teacher at Wellesley High School. His daughter, Dorie McCullough Lawson, is an author of two books,
Along Came a Stranger and
Posterity; she is married to the painter T. Allen Lawson.
