--- title: Jon Meacham | TIME description: Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and professor at Vanderbilt University, is the author of the new book And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle canonical: https://time.com/author/jon-meacham/ og:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/author/jon-meacham/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:type: profile twitter:card: summary twitter:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production ---  # Jon Meacham  ## Jon Meacham _Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and professor at Vanderbilt University, is the author of the new book_ [_And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle_](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/241155/and-there-was-light-by-jon-meacham/)  ## Jon Meacham *  Oct 12, 2022 ### [Lincoln Saved American Democracy. We Can Too](https://time.com/6221209/lincoln-saved-american-democracy-we-can-too/) The great President’s example can teach us what it takes to stand up for justice. [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Feb 8, 2021 ### [America Needs to Get Back to Facts](https://time.com/5936862/america-unity-evidence-reason/) [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Nov 12, 2020 ### [America's Crises Would Be Daunting for Any President-Elect](https://time.com/5911016/joe-biden-faces-crises/) Division is, in fact, more the rule than the exception in American life, writes @jmeacham [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Nov 7, 2019 ### [How Impeachment Shows Who We Are as Americans](https://time.com/5720747/jon-meacham-trump-impeachment-inquiry/) The possible impeachment of Donald Trump is about more than one man. It is a singular moment in Amer... [POLITICS](/section/politics/) *  Aug 15, 2019 ### [Country Music Should Be Political. After All, It Always Has Been](https://time.com/5652782/what-is-country-music/) The distinctive American music has always reflected the complicated lives of the people who make it [ENTERTAINMENT](/section/entertainment/) *  Mar 28, 2019 ### [Mueller Offers a Lesson in the Power of Reason Over Passion](https://time.com/5560225/jon-meacham-lessons-from-mueller-report/) [POLITICS](/section/politics/) *  Dec 2, 2018 ### [George H.W. Bush Believed in the Essential Goodness of Americans](https://time.com/5468753/george-hw-bush-jon-meacham/) It was Bush who quietly but unmistakably laid the foundations for the 21st century [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Nov 1, 2018 ### [A Leader Should Appeal to Their People’s Best Instincts. Donald Trump Appeals to the Worst](https://time.com/5441481/meacham-beyond-hate/) [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Aug 23, 2018 ### [What President Trump Reveals in His Allusions to Nixon and McCarthy](https://time.com/5375720/trump-nixon-mccarthy/) [POLITICS](/section/politics/) *  Jul 26, 2018 ### [The South Could Mend America’s Divide—If It Reckons With Its Past](https://time.com/5349511/the-many-souths/) A chance to reshape American life [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Jan 18, 2018 ### [50 Years After 1968, We Are Still Living In Its Shadow](https://time.com/5107482/50-years-after-1968-still-living-in-its-shadow/) [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Jan 11, 2018 ### [Could the 25th Amendment Be Trump's Downfall? Here's How It Works](https://time.com/5098402/could-the-25th-amendment-be-trumps-downfall/) The 25th Amendment, a constitutional primer [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Sep 14, 2017 ### [My Father's Vietnam](https://time.com/4941023/my-fathers-vietnam/) The casualties of a lost war didn't end with the fighting [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Sep 14, 2017 ### [The Naughty Nineties Set the Stage for Our Reality-TV Presidency](https://time.com/4941036/naughty-nineties-set-stage-for-reality-tv-presidency/) [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Aug 17, 2017 ### [American Hate, a History](https://time.com/4904290/american-hate-a-history/) [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) Meta: {"meta\_title":"","meta\_description":"","og\_title":"","og\_description":"","og\_imageConnection":{"edges":\[\],"\_\_typename":"SysAssetConnection"},"twitter\_card":null,"\_\_typename":"Seo"} ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/jon-meacham/","name":"Jon Meacham"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/jon-meacham/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/jon-meacham/"},"name":"Jon Meacham","jobTitle":"","description":"Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and professor at Vanderbilt University, is the author of the new book And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle","image":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ccadd4453426501/69868e21810bbb124fc916bc/gasper-tringale_silo.jpg?branch=production","url":"https://time.com/author/jon-meacham/","sameAs":["https://x.com/jmeacham"],"worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```