| Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian professor suspended for lying about
Vietnam combat
The Associated Press SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (AP) -- Joseph J. Ellis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning history professor who admitted lying to his students about serving in Vietnam will be suspended for one year without pay and will give up his endowed chair at Mount Holyoke College, the school announced Friday. "I strongly rebuke professor Ellis for his lie about his military experience," President Joanne Creighton said.... Ellis, 57, became a popular professor at Mount Holyoke in part by sharing his experiences in Vietnam. In June, The Boston Globe reported that Ellis never went overseas....
President Joanne Creighton - 413-538-2500 - please call and tell her THANK YOU! |
| SPOTLIGHT REPORT
Professor's past in doubt Discrepancies surface in claim of Vietnam duty By Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe Staff, 6/18/2001 SOUTH HADLEY - At Mount Holyoke College, Joseph J. Ellis has never
been more revered. He is a beloved mentor to many students, and perhaps
the college's most popular and engaging professor. Now he has become a
national literary icon for his 1997 Jefferson biography and the Pulitzer
Prize in History he just Yet Ellis's historical focus extends beyond the country's early days. For years now, his course on Vietnam and American Culture has been one of the school's most popular - enriched, say his students, by his sometimes detailed recollections of his own Army service in Vietnam. But Ellis did not serve in Vietnam at all, according to military records obtained by the Globe and interviews with his friends from the 1960s. He spent his three years in the Army teaching history at the US Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Ellis also appears to have exaggerated the extent of the involvement he claims to have had in both the antiwar and civil rights movements....
Walter Robinson's e-mail address is wrobinson@globe.com. Globe Spotlight Team Reporters Sacha Pfeiffer and Matthew Carroll contributed to this report. This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 6/18/2001. |
| College notes regret on falsities by professor
By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff, 6/20/2001 Mount Holyoke College President Joanne V. Creighton yesterday expressed regret at ''the effect'' of the misrepresentation by the college's Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Joseph J. Ellis, who in the classroom and in newspaper interviews has made false claims that he served in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the college said Ellis has decided that he will no longer teach the Vietnam and American Culture course, where he had led students to believe he had served in Vietnam. Creighton's brief statement stopped short of criticizing Ellis for the misrepresentation itself and offered no hint that Ellis would be disciplined for the deceptions, although she said she and Ellis ''will talk further and begin to repair the damage.''....
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 6/20/2001. © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company. Your search results: JOSEPH ELLIS IS A WINDOW TO THE PAST Published on 06/22/2001. Article 1 of 162 found. PROFESSOR JOSEPH ELLIS TEACHES AT ONE OF THE SEVEN SISTERS COLLEGES WHERE STUDYING DEAD WHITE MEN MIGHT BE CONSIDERED AS SOCIALLY APPROPRIATE AS ERECTING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN THE MIDDLE OF CAMPUS. BUT MOUNT HOLYOKE WOMEN FLOCK TO ELLIS'S CLASSES, EAGER TO UNCOVER JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Sitting in his classroom overlooking the spans of the Mount
Holyoke green, I would have believed him had he told us that he
himself had sat with Jefferson as the Founder decided to write
"pursuit
of
Click for complete article (197 words) Published on 06/21/2001. Article 2 of 162 found. SOURCE: By Walter V. Robinson, GLOBE STAFF Mount Holyoke College officials said yesterday they will investigate admissions by Pulitzer prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis that he deceived his students into believing he served in Vietnam. They expect to resolve the issue before students return for the fall semester.
Meanwhile, Vincent Ferraro, a professor of political science and one of
Ellis's friends on the faculty, said last night that he and other
faculty members are angry that Ellis has "betrayed the principles
we all stand for,"
an
Click for complete article (595 words)
A SERIOUS ACADEMIC MATTER RECENT DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING JOSEPH ELLIS HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFICULT FOR THE MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE COMMUNITY, WHERE HE HAS A DISTINGUISHED BACKGROUND AS A SCHOLAR, TEACHER, COLLEAGUE, AND MENTOR (``PROFESSOR'S PAST IN DOUBT,'' PAGE A1, JUNE 18).
To my knowledge, during Professor Ellis's 29 years at Mount Holyoke, no
one has previously brought to the college's attention any allegations
about misrepresentation of his military record, and I presumed his
innocence when I first heard of this
matter.
Click for complete article (190 words) SOURCE: By Walter V. Robinson, GLOBE STAFF Mount Holyoke College President Joanne V. Creighton yesterday expressed regret at "the effect" of the misrepresentation by the college's Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Joseph J. Ellis, who in the classroom and in newspaper interviews has made false claims that he served in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the college said Ellis has decided that he will no longer
teach the Vietnam and American Culture course, where he had led students
to believe he had served in
Vietnam.
Click for complete article (480 words) DESPITE FABRICATIONS, ELLIS DID SERVE AS OFFICER DURING VIETNAM Published on 06/20/2001. Article 6 of 162 found. JOSEPH ELLIS'S ADMISSION THAT HIS PURPORTED VIETNAM SERVICE WAS FICTIONAL (PAGE A1, JUNE 19) IS WELCOME. HOWEVER, YOUR STATEMENT THAT ELLIS HAD NO ARMY SERVICE BETWEEN WILLIAM & MARY AND YALE IS MISLEADING (``PROFESSOR'S PAST IN DOUBT,'' PAGE A1, JUNE 18).
Upon commissioning as second lieutenants in the Army Reserve at
graduation, both Ellis and I applied for a "delay in call to active
duty" that detached us from active Army service and placed us in a
file drawer in St. Louis. We received no
pay,
Click for complete article (296 words) AT WAR WITH THE TRUTH Published on 06/20/2001. Article 7 of 162 found. JOSEPH J. ELLIS, revered history professor, distinguished scholar and writer, was a success story that needed no editing, but, sadly, he didn't read it that way. As Boston Globe reporter Walter V. Robinson revealed this week, Ellis fabricated his military background, telling Mount Holyoke and Amherst College students in his popular courses on the Vietnam War that he fought in that conflict when he actually spent his Army years teaching history at West Point. Click for complete article (400 words) PROFESSOR APOLOGIZES FOR FABRICATIONS Published on 06/19/2001. Article 9 of 162 found. SOURCE: By Patrick Healy, and Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff Declaring that mistakes are made "even in the best of lives," Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Joseph J. Ellis yesterday issued an apology for fabricating a Vietnam War record and for "other distortions" in his personal life.
His statement came after the Globe reported yesterday that Ellis, a
nationally regarded historian, has for years cited his experiences in
Vietnam during classroom discussions and newspaper interviews, even
though his Army service was confined to a teaching post at West
Point.
Click for complete article (1123 words) PROFESSOR'S PAST IN DOUBT DISCREPANCIES SURFACE IN CLAIM OF VIETNAM DUTY Published on 06/18/2001. Article 11 of 162 found. SOURCE: By Walter V. Robinson, GLOBE STAFF SOUTH HADLEY - At Mount Holyoke College, Joseph J. Ellis has never been more revered. He is a beloved mentor to many students, and perhaps the college's most popular and engaging professor. Now he has become a national literary icon for his 1997 Jefferson biography and the Pulitzer Prize in History he just received for his latest best seller, "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation."
Yet Ellis's historical focus extends beyond the country's early days.
For years now, his course on Vietn
Click for complete article (2415
words)
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| Report Questions Pulitzer Winner Story Filed: Monday, June 18, 2001 2:25 AM EDT SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (AP) -- A Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer
who has said he spent time in Vietnam during the war while in the Army
never went overseas, according to a published report. Mount
Holyoke College professor Joseph J. Ellis, who won a 2001 Pulitzer for
history for his book, "Founding On the Web: Mount Holyoke College, |
| www.thetimes.co.uk
WEDNESDAY JUNE 20 2001 Top US scholar invented role in Vietnam War FROM BEN MACINTYRE IN WASHINGTON ONE of America's most celebrated history scholars, who is renowned for vividly recreating the past, has admitted fabricating chapters of his own life, including the claim that he fought in Vietnam. Joseph Ellis, whose latest book, Founding Brothers: The
Revolutionary Generation, won a Pulitzer Prize this year and has been on
the bestseller list for 26 weeks, conceded that he had misled his
students at the Professor Ellis, 57, who teaches a course on the Vietnam War, issued a statement saying: "Even in the best lives, mistakes are made. I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologise to my family, friends, colleagues and students."... /www.telegraph.co.uk/ ISSUE 2218 Thursday 21 June 2001 Professor quits over his Vietnam tall tales A PRIZE-WINNING American professor stood down from teaching history yesterday after admitting making up his own past. Joseph J Ellis informed Mount Holyoke College, a private university in Massachusetts, that he would no longer be teaching Vietnam and American Culture. His decision came after he confessed to lying to students about his own role in the Vietnam War.... dailynews.yahoo.com Wednesday June 20 08:06 PM EDT So now it turns out that Thomas Jefferson was having sex with
Sally Hemings while serving in the 101st In a stupendously humiliating episode this week, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian -- and author of the For years, Mount Holyoke professor Joseph "Full Metal Jacket" Ellis had been regaling students, interviewers and friends with gripping stories of his service in Vietnam. He claimed to have been a platoon leader and paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division. He said he served in Saigon under Gen. William Westmoreland..... Lies About Vietnam By KATHLEEN MEGAN David Oshinsky suspects there are a lot of "Joe Ellis''
clones out there: people who fabricate tales "The era was so emotional that you basically got credibility
by associating yourself with the movements Joseph J. Ellis is the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who admitted this week that he misled his Mount Holyoke students into believing that he served in Vietnam when he actually did not.... www.thescotsman.co.uk Deceit leaves Pulitzer writer's reputation in tatters Robert Tait in Washington A PROMINENT US historian who won this year's Pulitzer prize has been forced to apologise for inventing an imaginary past of military service in the Vietnam war to burnish his lectures. Joseph Ellis, author of several books about America's
revolutionary founders, told his students at Mount However, this week Mr Ellis, one of the country's most distinguished historians, was forced to admit that his experiences were fictitious after the Boston Globe revealed that he had spent the entire war in academia and had never served in Vietnam.... |