Mark Updegrove Biography

Mark K. Updegrove is the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, as well as an author and historian. From 2009 to February 2017, he was the director of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, and the first CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum, which will be erected along the Charleston harbor in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Updegrove's achievements as director of the LBJ Library include overseeing an $11 million renovation of the library's primary displays, which resulted in substantial gains in visitorship. Mikhail Gorbachev, Sandra Day O'Connor, Eric Holder, Julián Castro, John Glenn, John Lewis, Hank Aaron, Bob Schieffer, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Cokie Roberts, Robert Gates, Karl Rove, David Axelrod, Bryan Cranston, Woody Harrelson, Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, and Richard Linklater were among the speakers he brought in. Updegrove sponsored the Vietnam War Summit in 2016, a meaningful, honest look at President Johnson's most divisive legacy. John Kerry, Henry Kissinger, and Ken Burns were among the speakers at the summit. Most notably, Updegrove organized the Civil Rights Summit in 2014, which featured Barack and Michelle Obama, George W. and Laura Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and a slew of other civil rights leaders. HarperCollins released his latest book, The Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, in November 2017. Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House (2006), Baptism by Fire: Eight Presidents Who Took Office During Times of Crisis (2009), Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency (2012), and Destiny of Democracy: the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Presidential Library (2013) are some of his other works (2015). He has contributed to The New York Times, American Heritage, The Nation, National Geographic, Parade, Politico, Texas Monthly, The Daily Beast, and TIME, among other publications. In addition, he is presently an analyst for ABC News on presidential issues.

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