Michael Beschloss, an award-winning historian, will discuss Leadership in American Politics from 6 to 7:30 p.m., including a Q&A session, on Monday, April 30, at the Save Mart Center as part of the President’s Lecture Series. The talk is free and open to the public.

Drawing on his years studying leadership at the Harvard Business School and as a presidential historian, Beschloss will discuss the most brilliant successes and the most lethal mistakes made in American politics and what lessons can be learned.

Beschloss is also a best-selling author of nine books, a New York Times columnist and an Emmy-winning contributor to NBC News and the PBS NewsHour.

The President’s Lecture Series features prominent national guests invited to campus by Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro. The series began three years ago.

He follows in the footsteps of national journalists David Brooks, a New York Times columnist who spoke at Fresno State in 2016; Doris Kearns Goodwin, a world-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who spoke on campus in 2016; Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times foreign affairs columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, who visited in 2017; and Robert Costa, a national political reporter for The Washington Post and moderator of PBS’s Washington Week who also visited campus in 2017.

Castro said Beschloss’ appearance continues the trend of inviting nationally known figures to share their insights and experiences with Central Valley residents.

“By inviting historians, journalists and other experts, my hope is to share a variety of voices and perspectives with our Valley neighbors,” Castro said.

The New York Times Book Review has called Beschloss “easily the most widely recognized presidential historian in the United States.” The Charlotte Observer has said, “Michael Beschloss knows more about America’s 44 presidents than perhaps anyone on earth.” Beschloss is currently working on a history of American Presidents and wars from 1812 to the present.

He serves as the NBC News presidential historian — the first time any major TV network created such a position, appearing on various NBC programs. In 2005, he won an Emmy Award for his role in creating the Discovery Channel series “Decisions that Shook the World,” of which he was the host.

For The New York Times, Beschloss writes a monthly business history column on Sundays and a weekly sports history column on Saturdays.

An alumnus of Phillips Academy (Andover) and Williams College, he also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School, where he studied leadership and business history. He has served as an historian at the Smithsonian Institutions, a resident scholar of Oxford University and a senior fellow of the Annenberg Foundation.

The lecture is co-sponsored this year by The Fresno Bee, Valley PBS and KSEE 24.

Doors open for the lecture at 5 p.m. Parking at the Save Mart Center will be free.

For more information or for disability accommodations, call 559.278.2324.