James MacGregor Burns (August 3, 1918 – July 15, 2014)[4] was an American historian and political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies.
In 1971 Burns received the Pulitzer Prize[5] and the National Book Award in History and Biography[6] for his work on America's 32nd president, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom.
[7] Burns shifted the focus of leadership studies from the traits and actions of great men to the interaction of leaders and their constituencies as collaborators working toward mutual benefit.
[11] During the early 1990s he taught classes at the University of Maryland, where he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) and was honored with the naming of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.
Burns gained personal access that allowed him to write his biography of Kennedy, published in 1960, which calls JFK "casual as a cash register," "quiet, taut, efficient—sometimes, perhaps, even dull," and generally too cerebral and lacking in heart.
[1] As an admirer of a strong leader in the White House, Burns was critical of the U.S. governmental system of checks and balances, which he viewed as an obstacle to progress in times of a divided or oppositional Congress.
The group led by James MacGregor Burns, a leadership scholar, presidential biographer, and Pulitzer Prize winner, contributed much, but admittedly did not attain that goal.