Henry Brooks Adams

Henry Adams was born into one of the country’s most prominent families, the grandson and great-grandson of presidents John Quincy Adams and John Adams, respectively. After graduating from Harvard University, Adams toured Europe. In 1868, Adams started working as a journalist in Washington D.C. Adams was also an academic, historian, and novelist; he worked as a Professor of Medieval History at Harvard from 1870 to 1877 and authored several books, including and History of the United States During the Administration of Thomas Jefferson and The Education of Henry Adams, the latter of which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919. Adams suffered a stroke in 1912 and died six years later at age 80.