1941-
Author, Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities

NEH.

Lynne Cheney served as head of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for seven years under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush while facing several highly public and controversial issues, not the least of which was the debate surrounding the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) support of a controversial exhibit by artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Her background as an avid champion of education at all levels led the NEH, however, to expand its mission beyond that of supporting scholarly research to include supporting excellence in both elementary and secondary schools. Several annual reports generated by the NEH during Cheney's tenure focused on the place of humanities in education.

Early Career.

Cheney, who earned a doctorate in nineteenth- century British literature at the University of Wisconsin, began her career as an instructor at the...