If history is truly written by the victors, then University of North Carolina professor emeritus of history William “Bill” Leuchtenburg is by all measures a champion nonpareil.

The author of more than two dozen books, Leuchtenburg is considered the foremost scholar of the life and career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He has been an integral part of PBS filmmaker Ken Burns’ documentaries since 1986 and is past president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Histories, and the Society of American Historians, one of only two people to complete the triple crown of historical society leadership.

Along with his wife Jean Anne, Leuchtenburg has been a summer resident of Boothbay Harbor for the past seven years and is a familiar face at the Chowder House Boat Bar where he's been known to hold court over a glass of Maker’s Mark Bourbon on the rocks. A spry 93 years old, he shows no signs of slowing down and recently published “The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton,” a comprehensive history of the United States presidency in the twentieth century.

Born in New York City in 1922 during the Harding administration, Leuchtenburg graduated from high school at 16 and received a B.A. from Cornell university and later his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His passion for history began with a fascination with politics which he discovered at an early age.

“I remember being 9 years old in 1932 and my parents let me sit up to listen to the Democratic National Convention,” he said. “I recorded the states roll call by roll call and was utterly fascinated.”

His distinguished career has included a stint for NBC news as a a presidential election night analyst, the 2007 North Carolina Award for Literature, and he even testified to a Senate Committee Judiciary against the Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination in 1987. 

The Wall Street Journal recently described Leuchtenburg as the “last remaining practitioner of the remarkable group of historians, born around 1920, who did so much to shape how the American past was understood in the 1950s and 1960s.” The heady list includes heavyweights such as Arthur Link, John Morton Blum and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a leading authority on John F. Kennedy. His research and writing on FDR — eight books in total — is considered required reading, but he has begun to look at another famous Roosevelt in a different light. 

“I have said like other historians that the modern presidency begins with FDR,” said Leuchtenburg. “But in writing my last book, I’ve become convinced that it actually begins with Theodore Roosevelt. That’s the big transition from the late 19th century; none of the kinds of notions of America as a world power in foreign affairs, as a military power, and as an engine for domestic reform had barely gotten underway until Theodore Roosevelt. These were expanded later under FDR.”

A lifelong visitor to Maine, his first introduction to the state was in the late 1940s as New England field organizer for civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph. Leuchtenburg was the only white person on the staff. 

“My assignment was to organize chapters of this group in different Maine towns and persuade people to write to (then-Maine) Senator Wallace White to support Civil Rights legislation,” he said.

How receptive were Mainers to the nascent Civil Rights movement? 

“They were, particularly in Brunswick and Waterville,” Leuchtenburg said.

Activism aside, his most vivid early memory of the state came from a trip to the University of Maine campus in Orono where he was the victim of a not altogether terrible prank.

“I was strolling along campus and every single attractive young lady approached me to say hello.” he said. “I thought I was the sexiest thing alive but after talking to one of the deans I found out it was a tradition at the school.”

He has made the trip to Maine yearly for the past 35 years and was the visiting professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick while living on nearby Bailey Island. Through the years, he always wanted to be in Boothbay Harbor and has found a welcoming community here. 

His introduction to Ken Burns came in 1986 when Burns was working on a film about Huey Long, the infamous Louisiana senator who was assassinated in 1935. Since then, Leuchtenburg has been a part of every Ken Burns production.

“We learned a long time ago never to leave home without Bill,” said Burns from his home in Walpole, New Hampshire. “If this was a baseball player, Bill would be Willie Mays. He has been an extraordinary addition to our team.”

Despite his age, Burns calls Leuchtenburg perhaps the youngest historian he knows — his understanding of how history informs the present day is unique, he said. As anyone who has met him in Boothbay Harbor knows, Leuchenburg is quick with a joke, a sly wink, and he has a long memory.

“We’ll have consultant meetings with him and he will remember some arcane moment from the past,” said Burns. “He’ll follow up by sending you a Xerox from his voluminous files with a little handwritten annotated note. His file must be the size of the Pentagon.”

As for the present-day presidential scrum, Leuchtenburg is not shy about his distaste for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“Historians can be counted on to say there’s nothing new under the sun,” he said. “But not this year. Donald Trump is unique and uniquely dangerous. He is overwhelmingly the most unpopular candidate a major party has ever run.”

 When asked if historians are ever tempted to play the game of “what if,” Leuchtenburg said it’s not worth the effort.

“There’s an old expression that says if my aunt had (a certain type of anatomy) then she’d be my uncle,” he joked. 

After a lifetime of observing history unfold in real time, Leuchtenburg retains his optimism for the country despite the steady drumbeat of tragedy which has marked the summer of 2016. He regrets the cynicism which has crept into the political landscape and feels Americans have been well served by the presidential office. As Ken Burns points out, Leuchtenburg has a rare combination of enthusiasm and skepticism that has served him well both professionally and personally.

“He’s the dean of American historians but he’s much more than that. He’s a great human being,” said Burns.