Congressman John Lewis and Dr. James M. McPherson have been named the 2007 recipients of Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medals. Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medals were bestowed on Congressman Lewis and Dr. McPherson by Nicholas D. Chabraja, Vice Chair of the Ford's Theatre Society Board of Trustees and one of the 2005 winners, at the Ford's Theatre annual benefit gala held on Sunday, June 24, 2007.

Given by Ford's Theatre, the site of one of the most significant events in American history, the Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medal is an annual award given to individuals who through their body of work, accomplishments or personal attributes exemplify the lasting legacy and mettle of character embodied by the most beloved president in our nation's history, President Abraham Lincoln.

"This year, Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medals go to two men who have brought Lincoln's legacy and character alive through the power of courageous action and the written word," says Ford's Theatre Chairman of the Board of Trustees Wayne R. Reynolds. "Ford's Theatre is honored to award Congressman Lewis, an architect of the civil rights movement, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Dr. James M. McPherson, whose works on the Civil War continue to enlighten us and illuminate the era that shaped the future of our great nation under our greatest president."...

An American history expert, Dr. James M. McPherson, is one of the nation's most distinguished historians. Dr. McPherson's works include The Struggle for Equality, awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Award, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, for which he received the Lincoln Prize, and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Critics describe Battle Cry of Freedom in The Oxford History of the United States as the best single-volume treatment of the Civil War available.

His other bestselling books include For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War, What They Fought For, 1861-1865; Gettysburg: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution; and Fields of Fury. An active preservationist, he has served on the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission since 1991. He is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University and was named the Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities for 2000 by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

On awarding the Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medal to Dr. James M. McPherson, Tetreault comments, "His passion for Lincoln and the Civil War has translated into incredible literary works-making this period in our nation's history accessible to millions."