In Memoriam
R.B. (Richard) Bernstein
The ASLH lost a stalwart member with the passing of Richard Bernstein on June 26, 2023. More important, countless legal historians lost a friend and colleague, someone always willing to discuss legal history, to listen to a new idea, or just to talk.
A constitutional historian of the founding era, Richard was a prolific scholar, writing and editing over 30 books and numerous articles. Among these were his early works: Are We to Be a Nation? The Making of the Constitution, Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted, and Amending America: If We Love the Constitution So Much, Why Do We Keep Trying to Change It?
Richard was best known for his wonderful short biographies of those he called ‘the founding guys.” These included biographies of Thomas Jefferson (which Gordon S. Wood, reviewing for The New York Times Book Review, called “the best short biography of Jefferson ever written”), The Education of John Adams (which Richard considered his best book), his most recent book, Hamilton: The Energetic Founder, and his collective biography of the founders, The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (which was a finalist for the 2010 George Washington Book Prize).
While Richard’s path to the academy was traditional (BA from Amherst College; JD From Harvard Law School) his journey as a scholar was anything but conventional. After three years practicing as a lawyer, Richard registered at New York University to earn his PhD in history. He never completed that degree. Rather, anxious to do as historians do, Richard began his career as the research curator for the Constitution Bicentennial Project of The New York Public Library. He would later serve as historian on the staff of the New York City Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, and from 1989 to 1990 he was research director of the New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the Constitution. With this start, Richard never looked back. Books both edited and written followed in close order, though his commitment to public-minded history never faltered. Still, lacking his terminal history degree, Richard was limited to adjunct teaching for most of his career, primarily for New York Law School, where he received the rank of distinguished adjunct in 2007. During the days, however, Richard earned his living as a manager of a used bookstore in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Richard’s status as an itinerant scholar changed in the fall semester of 2011 when he joined the Skadden, Arps Honors Program in Legal Studies at the City College of New York as an adjunct professor of political science. This quickly shifted to a full-time lectureship in the Political Science Department where Richard served as both the political science and legal studies advisor. Richard remained at CCNY until his death.
Richard loved working at CCNY. He felt it was his natural home as a teacher of history and constitutional and legal studies. He reveled in the immigrant and working-class nature of his students. He felt that he could do the most good working with these students to help them further their dreams of academic advancement.
Richard was a gifted teacher who showed constant respect for his students. His lectures were filled with the little details that brought the past alive. Richard would often role play – becoming before their eyes John Adams or Thomas Jefferson. His Dick Nixon was spot on. (Even apart from teaching, Richard sometimes lived in the Founding era, routinely addressing at least one of his friends as “Sir,” and signing his emails “Your humble and obedient.”)
His students at CCNY shared Richard’s mutually respectful feelings. Dozens attended his funeral and many more wrote on social media of Richard’s kindness and collegiality. His loss was, and will continue to be, deeply felt at CCNY.
Richard’s skill as a teacher transferred to his role as a colleague. Richard spent thirty years as an active participant in the NYU Legal History Colloquium. He especially spent time working with the Golieb Fellows commenting and editing their work, teaching the craft of the working historian. Richard was, in fact, especially skilled as an editor. He had the gift of being able to edit one’s work while never losing the author’s voice. Richard was also generous in his time, reviewing almost everything that was sent to him. There are dozens of historians who would never think to turn in a finished draft of writing without letting Richard ‘look it over’ first. For those of us who had that privilege, this will be greatly missed. So will the heartfelt support that he offered his many friends; Richard was the truest of friends. His joy in his work, his devotion to good scholarship, and his pure sense of fun made him a force to be reckoned with.
From 1997 to 2004 Richard was co-editor of book reviews for H-Law. H-Law gave Richard a forum to engage with others in scholarly debate and to build a scholarly community. In this, Richard lived up to the adage of his hero, John Adams, to “Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”
Twice, Richard served on the Board of Directors for the ASLH.
Richard Bernstein died in New York City on June 26, 2023, at the age of 67.
Charles Zelden, Joanne Freeman