Tulane University announced Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Jon Meacham as the 2024 commencement speaker on Friday. 

Meacham will deliver the keynote address on May 18 at the Unified Commencement Ceremony in Yulman Stadium.

Known as one of America’s most public intellectuals, Meacham is a political commentator, biographer and renowned presidential historian. He is a frequent guest on “Morning Joe,” “Real Time with Bill Maher” and “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle.” Meacham has served as the Canon Historian for the Washington National Cathedral since 2021, and is also a contributing editor at TIME magazine.  

Meacham is also known for his bestselling books on Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson, and his biography of Andrew Jackson won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009. He’s recently published The New York Times bestsellers on George H.W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln and John Lewis. Meacham gave eulogies at George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush’s funerals.

As a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, Meacham is the Rogers Chair in the American Presidency and is co-chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Meacham is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum named him a “Global Leader for Tomorrow.”

“With his focus on fostering informed dialogue across difference, Jon will inspire our graduates to carry these lessons forward into their work – whether they’re architects, artists, entrepreneurs or researchers,” President Mike Fitts wrote in the announcement. “I look forward to celebrating the Class of 2024 with the wise and witty words of one of the great thinkers of our time.”