Henry Fowles Pringle (August 23, 1897 – April 7, 1958) was an American historian and writer most famous for his witty but scholarly biography of Theodore Roosevelt which won the Pulitzer prize in 1932, as well as a scholarly biography of William Howard Taft.
Pringle joined the United States Army in World War I but too late to be sent to Europe.
His book was unique in that it did not shy from criticism of Roosevelt and by depicting him with an adolescent judgment: The Theodore Roosevelt of later years was the most adolescent of men....Failure to receive the Medal of Honor for his exploits [in Cuba] had been a grief as real as any of those which swamp childhood in despair.
"[3]The biography provided information that had been avoided in previous accounts of Roosevelt's life (including his autobiography).
With wit and insight he portrayed Roosevelt as the inimitable Teddy: self-conscious of his place in history, self-confident of his claims to greatness, whimsical, opportunistic, occasionally cruel, and probably sincere.
In any case, Pringle's verdict on Roosevelt was accepted by the reading public as well as by most professional historians.
In 1919, they had a son named Geoffrey who died in middle age due to severe brain damage.
His unique style of teaching involved sending his students out as reporters to learn firsthand.
Prior to US entry in World War II, he urged intervention on the Allied side.
Through writing an article for the Saturday Evening Post on the lack of African-American doctors, Pringle became involved in the issue of inequity towards blacks, which led to lasting friendships with faculty of Howard University.