Forrest McDonald

I had only one class with Forrest McDonald in my college career but in that class I learned a lifetimes worth of lessons. The class covered the American Revolution and the New Nation, roughly 1763-1800. I do not believe there was a better teacher of this era. He would sit at the front of the classroom in a very relaxed manner, cigarette (unlit) in hand (he had quit smoking but still used the prop). He would go without notes for the entire class period. After having taught now for a few years myself, I find I am able to go without more than a minimal outline for a class period. There exists danger in this. First, getting sidetracked from the issue at hand. Students are there to learn the subject, perhaps find the relevance to today, and not some obscure point interesting to only three people with doctorates. Second, sometimes in the flow of talking, the facts get jumbled. Dr. McDonald never did this. The first danger he overcame by living, breathing and eating the subject at hand. The second danger was never a problem because Dr. McDonald had his own personal fact-checker. To call Ellen S. McDonald a fact-checker is not just. She kept him grounded, focused, and to use a political term "on message".
Theirs is a great partnership, an example of teamwork in action. Although she might deny it, it is my belief that she made him into a better writer and kept him focused on the task at hand. Without Ellen, we might not have as much of his insight to look back on in the numerous books and articles that he wrote. It is his writing that will be the subject of my next post.