Melvyn P. Leffler
Leffler in 2011
Born	(1945-05-31)May 31, 1945 (age 80) New York City, New York, United States
Occupation	Historian educator
Nationality	American
Education	Cornell University (BS) Ohio State University (PhD)
Notable awards	Bancroft Prize (1993) George Louis Beer Prize (2008)
Spouse	Phyllis Koran ​ (m. 1968)​
Children	1 daughter and son
Parents	Louis Leffler Mollie Leffler

Melvyn Paul Leffler (born May 31, 1945)^[1] is an Americanhistorian and educator, currently Edward Stettinius Professor of History at theUniversity of Virginia.^[2] He is the winner of numerous awards, including theBancroft Prize for his bookA Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration and the Cold War, and theAmerican Historical Association’sGeorge Louis Beer Prize for his bookFor the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War.

The son of businessman Louis and Mollie Leffler, he married historian Phyllis Koran on September 1, 1968; they have one daughter, Sarah Ann and one son, Elliot.

Leffler received a BS fromCornell University in 1966, and a PhD fromOhio State University in 1972.

Leffler taught atVanderbilt University as assistant professor in 1972 to 1977, and associate professor of history in 1977 to 2002. He was chairman of the department of history and dean of the college and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at theUniversity of Virginia from 1997 to 2001. In 1994, he was president of theSociety for Historians of American Foreign Relations. He wasHarold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at theUniversity of Oxford from 2002 to 2003. He currently teaches at the University of Virginia as a professor of history and is a scholar of the Miller Center.

Books he has authored or edited include the following:Safeguarding Democratic Capitalism: U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security, 1920-2015 (Princeton University Press, 2017);The Cambridge History of the Cold War (3 vols.; Cambridge University Press, 2010); andThe Cold War: An International History (2nd ed.; Routledge, 2005).

In 2014, the University of Virginia gave him its Thomas Jefferson Award for excellence in scholarship. The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations honored him in 2012 with its Laura and Norman Graebner Award for lifetime achievement and service.

Leffler has served on advisory committees to the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, particularly concerning the declassification of documents.^[3]

• 2008George Louis Beer Prize forFor the Soul of Mankind: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War
• 2004-2005 Randolph Jennings Fellow,United States Institute of Peace
• 2004-2005 Henry Kissinger Fellow,Library of Congress^[4]
• 2001-2002Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Fellow
• 1993Bancroft Prize forA Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration and the Cold War
• 1993 Ferrell Prize
• 1993 Hoover Prizes
• 1993, 1997 Norwegian Nobel Peace Institute Fellowship
• 1973, 1984-85 American Council of Learned Societies, Fellowships, Grants-in-Aid
• 1984-85 Lehrman Institute Fellowship

• Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq,Oxford University Press, 2023.
• For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. New York, NY:Hill & Wang. 2007.ISBN 978-0-809-09717-3.
• "The Beginning and the End: Time, Context, and the Cold War".InOlav Njølstad, ed., The Last Decade of the Cold War: From Conflict Escalation to Conflict Transformation. London & New York, NY:Frank Cass. 2004. pp. 23–49.ISBN 978-0-7146-8539-7.
• "Bringing It Together: Parts and the Whole".InOdd Arne Westad, ed., Reviewing the Cold War: Approaches, Interpretations, Theory. London & Portland, OR:Frank Cass. 2000. pp. 43–63.ISBN 978-0-714-65072-2.
• Paul Kennedy; William I. Hitchcock, eds. (2000). "American Grand Strategy from World War to Cold War 1940-1950".From war to peace: altered strategic landscapes in the twentieth century. Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0-300-08010-0.
• "Inside Enemy Archives: The Cold War Reopened",Foreign Affairs, July/August 1996
• Eric Foner, ed. (1994).The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953. Hill and Wang.ISBN 978-0-8090-1574-0.
• Gordon Martel, ed. (1994). "The interpretative wars over the Cold War 1945-1960".American foreign relations reconsidered, 1890-1993. Routledge.ISBN 978-0-415-10476-0.
• Michael J. Hogan; Thomas G. Paterson, eds. (2004). "National Security".Explaining the history of American foreign relations. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-54035-3. (2nd edition)
• A Preponderance of Power: National Security, The Truman Administration, and the Cold War. Stanford University Press. 1992.ISBN 978-0-8047-2218-6.
• Loyd E. Lee, ed. (1991). "Adherence to Agreements: Yalta and the Experiences of the Early Cold War".World War II: crucible of the contemporary world: commentary and readings. M.E. Sharpe.ISBN 978-0-87332-732-9.
• Ellis Wayne Hawley, ed. (1981). "Herbert Hoover, the "New Era," and American Foreign Policy 1921-1929".Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce: studies in New Era thought and practice. University of Iowa Press.ISBN 978-0-87745-109-9.
• The Elusive Quest: America's Pursuit of European Stability and French Security, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. 1979.ISBN 978-0-8078-1333-1.

• (Co-editor withOdd Arne Westad).The Cambridge History of the Cold War 3 Volume Set. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. 2010.ISBN 978-0-521-83938-9.
• (Co-editor withJeffrey W. Legro).To Lead the World: After the Bush Doctrine. Oxford University Press. 2008.ISBN 978-0-19-536941-0.
• (Co-editor withDavid S. Painter).Origins of the Cold War: An International History (2nd ed.). New York & London: Routledge. 2005 [1994].ISBN 978-0-415-34109-7.

• Baruch Plan

• "Capsule Reviews:For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War",Foreign Affairs, G. John Ikenberry, November/December 2007
• "Capsule Reviews:A Preponderance Of Power: National Security, The Truman Administration, And The Cold War",Foreign Affairs, Gaddis Smith, Spring 1992
• "Capsule Reviews:To Lead the World: After the Bush Doctrine",Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Mead, November/December 2008 1231
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• Living people
• Bancroft Prize winners
• Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History
• 1945 births
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