Glossary of Terms
Important people, places, and concepts mentioned in the diaries
People
Each person's entry lists up to ten pages on which he or she is mentioned. Some people are mentioned more than ten times in the 1990-1991 diaries.
A
Abbot, Dotty: Dotty Abbot was the assistant manager and program director of WHER, the nation’s first "All-Girl" radio station which aired from 1955 to 1971. Broadcasted from Memphis, Tennessee, the show demonstrated the new possibilities for women in broadcasting. Foote edited a play-form monologue entitled “The Freedom Kick” for Abbot and a Mississippi anthology. 1/24/1990, 1/29/1990, 2/5/1990
Ashby, Steve: Steve Ashby is a financial advisor working with William Blair & Company in Chicago, Illinois. He covers areas such as Illinois, Tennessee, California and Arizona. In 1991, Foote considered investing in treasury bills with him. 5/1/1991, 5/2/1991, 8/12/1991, 8/14/1991, 10/30/1991
Astor, Brooke: Roberta Brooke Astor (1902-2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer. Her third marriage was to Vincent Astor, great-great grandson of the first American multi-millionaire. Shelby Foote and Astor were at the same Literary Lions event in New York in November 1991. 11/7/1991
B
Bach, Johann Sebastian: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and musician during the Baroque period. His is considered one of the best composers of all time because of the artistic beauty, technical demand, and intellectual depth of his music. Will Percy preferred nineteenth century composers such as Bach, and exposed young Shelby Foote to this music in his Greenville home. 6/10/1990, 6/23/1990, 7/27/1990, 12/10/1990
Bell, Charles: Born in 1916 in Greenville, Mississippi, Bell was a childhood friend of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy. He later went on to become a writer as well, though his work (both novels and verse) has gone relatively unrecognized in comparison. His major works include Songs for a New America, Delta Return, The Married Land, and The Half Gods. 7/2/1990
Booker: Booker was one of Shelby Foote’s dogs. 7/8/1990, 7/9/1990, 7/10/1990, 9/1/1990, 9/28/1990, 10/1/1991
Broderick, Matthew: Matthew Broderick (b. 1962) is an American actor and singer, best known for his lead role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). Broderick starred in Glory, a 1989 American Civil War film directed by Edward Zwick, playing the role of Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Foote worked as a technical adviser on the film, and presumably met Broderick through this production. 3/28/1990 , 8/23/1990
Brooks, Richard: Richard Brooks (b. 1962) is an American television and movie actor. He acted in the television movie Memphis (1992), an adaptation of Shelby Foote’s 1977 novel September, September. 10/29/1990
Browning, Robert: Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet. As a young man, Foote read and imitated Browning. 4/13/1990, 5/15/1990, 8/16/1991
Buckley Jr., William Frank: William Frank Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008) was an American author and commentator. He founded the National Review magazine in 1955, an important publication for the midcentury conservative movement, and his capitalist and anticommunist philosophies paved the way for Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Buckley was a great admirer of Walker Percy and his writing, and attended Percy’s New York memorial service in October 1990. 9/7/1990
Bumpers, Dale: Dale Bumpers (1925-2016) was an American politician who served as the governor of Arkansas in the early 1970s and in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat (1975-1999). He acted as Clinton’s defense attorney during the impeachment trial. In September 1990, he called Shelby Foote. 9/10/1990
Burch, Elsie: Elsie Burch was the wife of Lucius Burch, Shelby Foote’s friend. 2/6/1991, 3/17/1991
Burch, Lucius: Lucius Burch (1912-1996) was a prominent Memphis attorney best known for his contributions to conservation and civil rights. He was a longtime friend and confidant of Shelby Foote and fellow member of the Hunt and Polo Club. 2/5/1991, 2/6/1991, 3/17/1991, 4/10/1991, 10/22/1991
Burns, Ken: Kenneth "Ken" Burns (b. 1953) is an American documentary filmmaker, most famous for his eleven-hour PBS series on the Civil War, which debuted in September 1990. Foote's interpretation of the Civil War would dominate the Burns series. 1/10/1990, 1/17/1990, 2/8/1990, 4/11/1990, 6/19/1990, 7/23/1990, 8/9/1990, 8/13/1990, 9/24/1990, 1/17/1991, 1/19/1991, 1/28/1991
Burns, Ric: Like his brother Ken Burns, Ric Burns (b. 1955) is also an American documentary filmmaker. He helped Ken piece together the famous Civil War documentary series on PBS. 3/26/1990, 3/27/1990
C
Campbell, Will: Will Campbell (1924-2013) was a Mississippi-born Baptist minister and activist, notable for his support of the civil rights movement as a white southern man. 8/30/1991
Carmignani, Paul: Paul Carmignani is a French literary critic who wrote his doctoral thesis on Foote’s works. It was eventually published in Paris in 1998 as Shelby Foote: Un Sudiste au Carré. 7/15/1990, 7/16/1990, 8/8/1990
Carr, E.H.: Edward Hallett Carr (1892-1982) was an English historian and intellectual, famous for his 1961 work, What is History?, which redefined historiographical approaches and challenged traditional historical methods. Foote read part of this work in August 1990. 8/11/1990
Carson, John “Johnny”: Johnny Carson (1925-2005) was an American television personality and the host of NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1962-1992. Shelby Foote appeared on the show in November 1990. 10/10/1990
Carter, Betty: Betty Werlein Carter was the wife of Hodding Carter, Jr., a well-known newspaper editor. Together, the Carters published Greenville’s Delta Democrat-Times. Foote worked at the paper as a copy editor before the war, as he wrote the first manuscript for Tournament (1949). 5/20/1990
Carter, Bill: William C. (“Bill”) Carter compiled and edited Conversations with Shelby Foote, the 1989 collection of interviews with Foote. 2/3/1990, 2/24/1990, 2/26/1990, 4/25/1990, 9/11/1991, 9/14/1991, 10/20/1991
Catton, Bruce: Born in 1899 in Michigan, Bruce Catton (d.1978) was an American historian and journalist who specialized in the American Civil War. He was known as a narrative historian and sometimes even compared to Foote. Like Foote, Catton also wrote a three-volume history of the war without a college degree. But unlike Foote, Catton defended his works to the historical academy with full footnotes. 11/16/1990, 3/4/1991
Chappell, Fred: Fred Chappell (b. 1926) is a poet and author from North Carolina. 10/13/1990
Chekhov, Anton: Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a late nineteenth-century Russian literary figure, considered one of the best writers of short story fiction. He also wrote plays, and helped revolutionize the theater. Foote wrote the introduction to a 1999 collection of Constance Garnett’s English translations of Chekhov’s short stories. 1/15/1990, 1/17/1990, 1/18/1990, 2/11/1990, 7/9/1991
Cheney, Richard Bruce: Richard “Dick” Bruce Cheney (b. 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as Vice President under George W. Bush. Cheney also served as the 17th United States Secretary of Defense between 1989 and 1993. When Foote went to a National Endowment for the Humanities dinner in September 1990, he sat with Cheney and his wife Lynne. 9/18/1990
Ciuba, Gary M.: Gary M. Ciuba is an English professor at Kent State University. A specialist in southern literature, he has written many articles and books on southern authors, including Walker Percy in the work Walker Percy: Books of Revelations. 6/9/1991, 12/23/1991
Comora, Owen: Owen Comora (1931-2016) was the owner and operator of Owen Comora Associates, which ran a nationwide promotion for the Burns Civil War series on PBS. He also worked on the promotion of many of Burns’ projects. 6/19/1990, 6/20/1990, 7/23/1990
Comora, Betty: Betty was an associate producer for the PBS documentary “Palisades Amusement Park: A Century of Fond Memories,” for which she interviewed a number of celebrities. Ken Burns, award-winning documentary filmmaker, was the narrator. Owen Comora was her husband. 7/23/1990
Copland, Aaron: An American composer, Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was known for his slow harmonies. In 1991, Foote read speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln during a Detroit Symphony Orchestra performance of Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” 2/19/1991, 2/26/1991, 3/5/1991, 3/9/1991, 6/16/1991
Copp, Nancy & Danny: Danny Copp (1922-2015) graduated from Yale and served in the U.S. Navy. He lived in Memphis and worked as a machinery supplier for furniture manufacturers. Nancy Copp was Danny’s wife. In the 1990s, they traveled in the same social circles as the Footes. 2/23/1991
Cosel, William: William “Bill” Cosel served as the Executive Producer for thirty-five years of the Boston Pops, an American orchestra. He asked Foote to narrate the 1991 Detroit Symphony Orchestra performance of Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” 2/19/1991, 2/26/1991, 3/5/1991, 3/11/1991
D
Davis, Jefferson: Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Foote deeply admired Davis, opening the first volume of his Civil War trilogy with Davis’ farewell speech to the Union, and closing his final volume with a description of Davis’ postwar life in Memphis. 2/1/1991
Deans, Fred: Fred Dean was a member of the Wolf River Society, the Memphis book club in which Foote participated later in life. 1/9/1990, 10/16/1990, 12/11/1990
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, essayist, and philosopher, best known for his novels Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Throughout his life, Foote avidly read and imitated Dostoyevsky’s works, and the Wolf River Society read his novel, Notes from Underground (1864). 3/19/1991
Dunbar, Tony: Anthony "Tony" Dunbar is an American author, civil rights activist, and attorney. Dunbar studied the Mississippi Delta, and wrote Delta Time: A Journey Through Mississippi (1990). Foote helped proof drafts of this work. 3/3/1990
E
Eagle, Mary Ann and Bryan: Mary Ann and Bryan Eagle were friends of the Footes in the Memphis area in the 1990s. 2/3/1990, 4/6/1990, 6/2/1990, 6/16/1990, 10/20/1990, 9/22/1991, 11/12/1991, 11/26/1991, 12/7/1991
Eggleston, William "Bill": Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1939, Bill Eggleston is an American photographer credited for helping to legitimize color photography as an artistic medium to display in galleries. Eggleston also collaborated with Huger Foote in his 2000 book entitled Huger Foote: My Friend from Memphis, a collection of Foote’s photography. Eggleston is married to Sussanah Eggleston. 1/4/1990, 2/16/1990, 9/27/1990, 10/19/1990, 3/28/1991, 5/12/1991, 9/10/1991, 10/9/1991
Ellis, Haydée: Haydée Ellis is a musician and artist who lives in St. Tammany, Louisiana with her husband Steve Ellis. The Ellis’ were close friends with the Percys. 5/2/1990, 5/11/1990, 5/14/1990, 5/18/1990, 8/29/1990, 10/23/1990
Ellis, Steve: Steve Ellis is a distinguished lawyer and jurist, World War II veteran, and historian from St. Tammany, Louisiana. He was a very close friend to Walker Percy. 5/2/1990, 5/11/1990, 5/12/1990, 8/29/1990
Epstein, Joseph: Joseph Epstein (b.1937) is an American short story writer and essayist. He was the editor of The American Scholar magazine from 1975 to 1997 and taught English at Northwestern University. Foote sent him a copy of his memorial address for Walker Percy. 11/11/1990, 11/12/1990
F
Faulkner, William: William Faulkner (1897-1962) was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi, best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County in which he critically analyzed and presented his home region. In 1949, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and he received two Pulitzer Prizes for his 1954 novel A Fable and his 1962 novel The Reivers. Shelby Foote admired and imitated Faulkner, first meeting his literary idol in 1937 and initiating a professional and personal relationship. Faulkner read and critiqued some of Foote’s novels, including Follow Me Down (1950) and Shiloh: A Novel (1952) and Foote led Faulkner on a tour around the Shiloh battlefield in 1952. 5/1/1990, 9/30/1990, 10/1/1990, 7/23/1991
Ferris, William “Bill”: Bill Ferris (b. 1942) is an American author, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and co-founder of the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis, Tennessee. Foote presumably met Ferris through his involvement with the National Endowment for the Humanities. 4/23/1990, 3/7/1991
Fisher, Lucy: Lucy Fisher was a friend of Walker Percy and Shelby Foote in Memphis, Tennessee. 4/6/1990, 5/28/1990, 5/30/1990, 10/20/1990, 4/30/1991, 6/1/1991
Fitzgerald, F. Scott: F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American novelist and short story writer and a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s. His works include This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), and The Great Gatsby (1925). When Shelby Foote taught a modern novel class at Hollins College in the spring of 1968, he assigned Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night(1934). 8/28/1990, 9/5/1990
Foote, Gwyn Rainer Shea: In 1956, Gwyn (1930-2009) married Foote, becoming his third wife and beginning a marriage that lasted until Foote's 2005 death. Huger Foote (b.1963) is Gwyn and Shelby Foote's son. 1/23/1990, 2/26/1990, 7/6/1990, 10/26/1990, 12/2/1990, 3/2/1991, 4/19/1991, 7/3/1991, 8/22/1991, 10/26/1991
Foote, Horton: Horton Foote (1916-2009) was an American playwright and screenwriter, best known for his screenplays for the films To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Tender Mercies (1983). Foote was the third cousin of Shelby Foote – their great-grandfathers were brothers. Horton Foote also participated in Ken Burns’s Civil War documentary as the voice of Jefferson Davis. 1/29/1990, 1/30/1990, 2/1/1990, 6/3/1990, 3/15/1991
Foote, Huger Lee "Huggy" "Hugs": Huger Foote (born in 1963 and usually referred to in the diaries as "Hugs") is Shelby Foote's son by his third wife, Gwyn Rainer Foote. Huger Foote currently lives in New York and works as a professional photographer. 1/4/1990, 3/13/1990, 4/11/1990, 10/25/1990, 11/15/1990, 1/17/1991, 3/27/1991, 10/8/1991, 11/12/1991, 11/27/1991
Foote, Margaret: Margaret Dade Foote is Shelby Foote’s daughter by his second wife, Peggy Stinson of Memphis, Tennessee. Margaret currently lives in Memphis. 3/17/1990, 6/30/1990, 8/20/1990, 8/26/1990, 8/27/1990, 2/1/1991, 7/21/1991, 8/10/1991, 8/11/1991, 8/14/1991
Forrest, Nathan Bedford: Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) was a Confederate lieutenant general in the American Civil War, fighting primarily in the Western theater. Shelby Foote greatly admired Forrest, despite his brutal reputation as a slave-dealer and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. 9/25/1991, 12/24/1991
Freeman, Douglas Southall: Douglas Southall Freeman (1886-1953) was an American historian and author. He is best known for his biographies on Robert E. Lee and George Washington, both of which earned Pulitzer Prizes. Shelby Foote mentions Freeman’s biography of Robert E. Lee in the bibliographical note of the first volume of The Civil War. 11/16/1990, 6/10/1991
G
Gardner, Grover: Grover Gardner is a highly accomplished and celebrated audiobook narrator, and he recorded Foote’s three-volume Civil War narrative. 9/11/1990, 9/14/1990, 9/22/1990, 12/31/1991
Garrett, George: George Garrett (1929-2008) was an American poet and novelist, whose works include The Finished Man (1959), Entered from the Sun (1990), and Double Vision (2004). He was the Poet Laureate in Virginia from 2002 to 2004. Foote read Entered from the Sun in February 1990 and met with Garrett in October of that same year. 2/24/1990, 2/26/1990, 7/27/1990, 10/13/1990, 9/15/1991
Genscher, Hans-Dietrich: Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927-2016) was a German politician and foreign minister, acting as the chairman of the West German Free Democratic Party from 1974-1985 and as the foreign minister to both the Social Democratic Party and Christian Democratic Union. After 1990, he was elected as the first foreign minister in the unified Germany. He continued to be active in the Bundestag (Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Reichstag building) until his retirement in 1998. He was at the graduation ceremony in Columbia in May 1991 when Foote received his honorary degree from the University of South Carolina. 5/11/1991
Giobbi, Ed: Ed Giobbi (b. 1926) is an artist in the Memphis area, who often found inspiration for his artwork in Italian culture. He also wrote a cookbook entitled Italian Family Cooking (1971). He and his wife Elenor traveled in the same social circles as the Footes in the 1990s. 6/17/1990
Gioia, Frederick: Dr. Frederick Gioia, and his wife Andrée, were family friends of the Footes. Dr. Gioia also happened to be the neurosurgeon that attended Dr. Martin Luther King's wounds after he was shot in Memphis in 1968. 1/1/1990, 6/1/1991
Giroux, Robert "Bob": Bob Giroux (1914-2008) was an American publisher and editor, who edited for several important twentieth-century American writers including Walker Percy. Foote gave Giroux a copy of his memorial address for Walker Percy. 5/10/1990, 9/7/1990, 10/24/1990, 11/11/1990, 11/12/1990
Gooch, Robert: Robert Gooch is a financial advisor in Memphis Tennessee, who worked at the regional brokerage firm Morgan & Keegan. He advised Shelby Foote. 3/24/1990, 5/1/1991
Green, Al: Al Green (b. 1946) is an American singer, song writer, and record producer who is commonly known as The Reverend Al Green. His genres include R&B, soul, and gospel. Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine. Hugs Foote unsuccessfully tried to create a photo-essay with Al Green as the subject. 1/4/1990, 1/14/1990, 1/19/1990, 1/24/1990, 1/28/1990
Gresset, Michel: Michel Gresset is a French scholar who studied William Faulkner and published several books on him. 10/18/1991, 11/5/1991, 11/29/1991, 12/18/1991
Grunwald, Louise & Henry: Austrian-born American journalist Henry Grunwald (1922-2005) fulfilled editorial positions for Time and led the magazine through a period of dramatic change. In 1988, President Reagan appointed him ambassador to Austria; toward the end of his life, Henry Grunwald produced two memoirs and a novel. Louise Melhado Grunwald, a New York businesswoman, married Henry Grunwald in 1987. They were friends of the Footes in the 1990s. 1/1/1991
Gunn, Moses: Moses Gunn (1929-1993) was an American stage and screen actor, nominated for an Emmy in 1977 for his role in the television mini-series Roots. He also acted in Memphis (1992), the television movie adaptation of Shelby Foote’s 1977 novel, September, September. 10/29/1990
H
Hackett, Richard Cecil: Richard Cecil “Dick” Hackett (b. 1949) was the mayor of Memphis from 1982-1991. Hackett was 33 at the time he took office, making him the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city. On September 16, 1990, Hackett then-mayor of Shelby County William N. Morris, jointly proclaimed this to be “Shelby Foote Day” in Memphis, in recognition of Foote’s works. 9/16/1990
Hannah, Barry: Barry Hannah (1942-2010) was a novelist and short story writer from Meridian, Mississippi. He wrote eight books and five short story collections. His 1972 book Geronimo Rex took place during the Civil War and was nominated for the National Book Award. In 1991, Foote received a review copy of Hannah’s 1993 novel Never Die. 3/3/1991, 3/5/1991
Harriman, Pamela: English-born American socialite and Democratic Party activist Pamela Harriman (1920-1997) served as the United States Ambassador to France from 1993-1997. She named her only son, Winston Churchill, after his illustrious grandfather. She traveled in the same social circles as the Footes in the 1990s. 1/1/1991
Haxton, Josephine "Jo": Jo Haxton (1921-2012) was an American writer who wrote under the name Ellen Douglas. Some of her works include A Family's Affairs (1962) and Black Cloud White Cloud (1963). Foote knew Haxton from Greenville, and the two writers traveled in the same social circles in the 1990s. 3/6/1990, 4/5/1990, 5/20/1990
Hoagland, Jim: Jim Hoagland (b. 1940) was the Chief Foreign Correspondent & Associate Editor of the Washington Post. He first joined the Washington Post in 1966 as a metropolitan reporter, and then became the Foreign Editor in 1979. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice, once for International Reporting in 1987 and then again for Commentary in 1991. He was at the graduation ceremony in Columbia in May 1991 when Foote received his honorary degree from the University of South Carolina. 5/11/1991
Hollings, Ernest Frederick: Ernest Frederick “Fritz” Hollings (1966-2005) was a Senator from Charleston, South Carolina. After serving in the military and other offices in the public sector, he acted as South Carolina’s governor from 1959-1963. In a special 1966 election, he was elected as a Democrat to the United State Senate to complete Olin D. Johnston’s unexpired term. He was re-elected multiple times and served from 1966 to 2005. Hollings, Maine Senator George Mitchell, and Foote lunched together at a fundraiser organized by Fred Smith of FedEx in May 1990. 10/1/1990, 5/4/1991
Hussein, Saddam: Saddam Hussein served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. Hussein defied the UN Security Council and refused to withdraw from Kuwait in mid-January 1991, spurring U.S. Operation Desert Storm and the Persian Gulf War. 1/15/1991, 1/26/1991, 2/22/1991, 2/23/1991
J
James, Henry: Henry James (1843-1916) was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of nineteenth-century literary realism. His novels include The Portrait of a Lady (1880) and The Princess Casamassima (1885). Shelby Foote avidly read his works, and even mentioned James in his memorial speech for Walker Percy. In fact, Foote inherited Percy’s James collection after Percy’s death. 5/8/1990, 5/15/1990, 5/17/1990, 6/14/1990, 6/30/1990, 7/10/1990, 7/16/1990, 7/31/1990, 8/18/1990, 8/24/1990
Jeffries, Georgia: Georgia Jeffries is a Hollywood producer and screenwriter known for her work on the television shows Cagney & Laceyand Sisters. Presumably she was working on a new show called Dixie, for which she sought the aid of Foote. The show was never produced. 5/5/1991, 6/20/1991, 6/27/1991, 7/3/1991, 9/16/1991
Jennings, Waylon: Waylon Jennings (1937-2002) was an American country singer and songwriter. He collaborated with Willie Nelson, and the two musicians invited Shelby Foote to their Memphis, Tennessee concert in August 1991. 8/30/1991
Johnson, Bob: Bob Johnson was a member of the Wolf River Society, the book club that Shelby Foote also attended. 1/9/1990, 2/2/1990, 3/20/1990, 3/27/1990, 9/10/1991
Johnson, Robert: Robert Johnson (1911-1938) was an African American blues singer from Hazlehurst, Mississippi, whose hits include “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom,” and “Sweet Home Chicago.” He died at 27 under mysterious circumstances (he was most likely poisoned), and he enjoyed fame posthumously, when his works were reissued in the 1960s. Also, part of his intrigue is the Faustian legend that he traded his soul to the devil at a crossroads to achieve success. Foote greatly admired Johnson, and even wrote an article about him in a 1991 issue of American Heritage. 3/7/1990, 3/10/1990, 6/18/1990, 2/21/1991, 3/3/1991, 3/6/1991, 3/8/1991, 3/9/1991, 3/10/1991, 3/11/1991, 3/12/1991, 3/15/1991, 4/20/1991, 7/19/1991
K
Kauffmann, Stanley: Stanley Kauffman (1916-2013) was an American writer, film critic, and editor. In fact, as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf, he revised Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, which was published in 1961. He delivered a memorial speech for Walker Percy in October 1990. 10/24/1990
Keats, John: John Keats (1795-1821) was an English Romantic poet. Shelby Foote first encountered Keats’ work in Greenville, Mississippi, under Will Percy’s tutelage. Foote often quoted Keats to defend his novelistic approach to writing history, claiming, “a fact is not a truth until you love it.” 1/25/1990, 8/10/1991
Kesey, Kenneth Elton: Kenneth Elton “Ken” Kesey (1935-2001) was an American novelist from La Junta, Colorado. Kesey was a great influence on popular rock band, The Grateful Dead. In September 1990, Kesey and Foote attended the same dinner party in Washington D.C. 9/30/1990
L
Lampton, Luke: Luke Lampton was a Rhodes College student newspaper editor who met and spoke with Shelby Foote in 1988, which ultimately led to Foote’s series of guest lectures on the Civil War at the college. Lampton attended the class and recorded what amounted to twenty-five cassette tapes, which he later donated to the Shelby Foote Collection. 3/7/1990
Leatherman, Richard & Carroll: Richard Leatherman (1926-2016) was a Memphis businessman, Delta planter, and fan of Shelby Foote’s Civil War trilogy. He and his wife, Carroll Leatherman, traveled in the same social circles as the Footes in the 1990s. 4/24/1991
Lemann, Nancy: Nancy Lemann is an American novelist from New Orleans, and a friend of the Footes in the 1990s. 4/12/1990, 10/8/1991
Levy, Nell and Herb: Nell Rainer Levy was Gwyn Foote’s younger sister and Shelby Foote’s sister-in-law. 5/25/1990, 9/6/1990, 9/8/1991, 9/21/1991
Loomis, Bob: Robert "Bob" Loomis (b. 1926) worked at Random House as an editor from 1957 to 2011. Among other writers, Loomis edited for Maya Angelou, Calvin Trillin, Edmund Morris, and Jonathan Harr. He began working with Foote after Robert Linscott, Foote's first Random House editor, retired in 1957. At this time, Foote was writing the second volume of the narrative. 3/27/1990, 4/9/1990, 10/8/1990, 11/16/1990, 12/5/1990, 12/17/1990, 1/11/1991, 1/15/1991, 2/8/1991, 2/19/1991
M
Mabus, Ray: Raymond Edwin “Ray” Mabus (b. 1948) is the 75th Secretary of the Navy for the United States, appointed by President Obama. Before this position, he served as the governor of Mississippi between 1988 -1992, and the ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994-1996. In 2013, he was ranked one of the top 50 highest CEOs through an online jobs and career community, Glassdoor, making him the only government officer to receive this award. Mabus asked Foote to write an introduction for a Mississippi pictorial; Foote declined. 3/23/1991, 4/21/1991
Mailer, Norman: Norman Kingsley Mailer (1923-2007) was an American novelist, film-maker, actor, and political activist. Mailer was awarded with the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize twice, once for his celebrated novel The Executioner’s Song (1979). In September 1990, Mailer and Foote attended the same dinner party in Washington, D.C. 9/30/1990
Marlowe, Christopher: Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was an English playwright and poet of the Elizabethan era, who greatly influenced William Shakespeare. He was arrested in 1593 for no named reason and brought to court soon after. Ten days later, he was stabbed to death and the mystery of his arrest and death was never resolved. He is the subject of George Garrett’s 1990 novel Entered from the Sun, which Foote read in February 1990. 7/27/1990
Marrs, Suzanne: Suzanne Marrs is a Professor in the English Department at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. She has taught classes on Faulkner, the Southern and Mississippi Renaissance, and twentieth-century history novels, but her main research focus is the life and works of Eudora Welty. Foote met Marrs in March 1990 when he delivered a guest lecture at Millsaps College. 2/26/1990, 3/5/1990, 3/6/1990
Mattheissen, Peter: Peter Mattheissen (1927-2014) was an American novelist, wilderness writer, and CIA agent. He co-founded The Paris Review and was the only writer to have won the National Book Award in both fiction and non-fiction. Mattheissen also acted as a prominent environmental activist. In September 1990, Mattheissen and Foote attended the same dinner party in Washington, D.C. 9/30/1990, 10/2/1990
McDonnell, Mike: Mike McDonnell was a member of the Wolf River Society, the book club which Shelby Foote also attended. 1/9/1990, 4/24/1990, 2/5/1991, 10/22/1991
McFeely, Bill: William “Bill” McFeely (b. 1930) is an American historian who specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Like his Yale classmate C. Vann Woodward, McFeely used his research to promote the civil rights movement. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for his biography on Ulysses S. Grant. McFeely and Shelby Foote attended the same Literary Lions event in New York in November 1991. 11/7/1991
McPherson, James: James “Jim” McPherson (b. 1936) is an American Civil War historian who studied under C. Vann Woodward at John Hopkins University and won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for his book, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988). He also headed Protect Historic America – a group that Foote also belonged to which fought to prevent an American-history themed Disney park at the Manassas battlefield in the early 1990s. 10/12/1990, 10/2/1991, 11/7/1991
Mehta, Ajai Singh "Sonny": Sonny Mehta (b. 1942) is currently the editor-in-chief of New York publishing company Alfred A. Knopf. He succeeded Robert Gottlieb in 1987. Foote met Mehta in New York in January 1991. 1/17/1991
Minot, Susan: Susan Minot (b. 1956) is an American novelist and short story writer from Massachusetts. She taught creative writing at New York University and Stony Brook University. She traveled in the same social circles as the Footes in the 1990s. 4/12/1990, 8/27/1990
Mitchell, George John: Democrat George John Mitchell (b. 1933) of Maine served in the U.S. Senate from 1980-1995. He became Special Advisor to the Secretary of State and the President for the Economic Initiatives in Ireland from 1995-2000. In 2009, President Obama appointed him Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace. Mitchell, South Carolina Senator Fritz Hollings, and Foote lunched together at a fundraiser organized by Fred Smith of FedEx in May 1990. 5/4/1991
Morgan, Allen: Allen Morgan is business man from Memphis, who served as the chairman and CEO of Morgan Keegan & Company, of which he is also a founder. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he went on to work for Courts & Co. in their Memphis offices in 1965. In 1969, he and James Keegan started Morgan and Keegan. Morgan retained the title of chairman until his retirement in 2007. In May 1991, Morgan and Foote attended the same lunch hosted by Fred Smith. 5/4/1991
Morris, William: William N. “Bill” Morris is a prominent West Tennessee politician who served as Mayor of Shelby County from 1978 to 1994, and Sheriff of Shelby County from 1964 to 1970. Morris was in charge of the custody of James Earl Ray, who was convicted for the 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King. Morris and Foote ate lunch together in December 1990; afterwards, Foote received the “Meritorious Service Reward.” 9/16/1990, 12/17/1990
Moyers, Bill: Billy Don “Bill” Moyers (b. 1934) is an American broadcast journalist and the former White House Press Secretary (1965-1967). In June 1990, Foote attended a cocktail reception hosted by Moyers in Dallas, Texas. 6/20/1990
Mudd, Roger: Roger Mudd (b. 1928) is an American broadcast journalist who has worked for The History Channel, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and NBC-TV Meet the Press. Mudd has won many awards, including five Emmys. In September 1990, Mudd and Foote attended the same dinner party in Washington, D.C. 9/30/1990
Murray, Albert: Born and educated in Alabama, Albert Murray (1916-2013) rose to prominence as a literary critic, essayist, and jazz scholar based in Harlem. Like his friend Ralph Ellison, Murray championed integration and challenged black separatism, contending that the black experience shaped the wider American culture. In January 1991, Foote met Murray in New York City. 1/17/1991
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Nelson, Willie: Willie Nelson (b. 1933) is an American country music singer and songwriter, recognized as one of the key outlaw country musicians in the late 1960s. In August 1991, Willie Nelson and fellow country singer Waylon Jennings invited Shelby Foote to their concert in Memphis, Tennessee. 8/30/1991
Newman, Charlie: Charles “Charlie” Newman is a prominent Memphis lawyer who represented Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. against attempts to prevent his April 1968 march, and the Citizens to Preserve Overton Park in the 1971 landmark Supreme Court case blocking the construction of an interstate through the park. He was a friend of Shelby Foote’s, and a member of the Wolf River Society. 1/9/1990, 4/6/1990, 5/15/1990, 5/29/1990, 6/2/1990, 3/19/1991, 7/23/1991, 10/22/1991, 12/10/1991
Noriega, Manuel: Manuel Noriega (b. 1934) was the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He was wanted in various countries for crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder. Noriega was captured on January 3, 1990 and brought to the United States for sentencing. 1/4/1990
Novick, Lynn: Lynn Novick is an American documentary director and producer, most-well known for her collaborative efforts with Ken Burns. 4/12/1990, 6/19/1990, 6/21/1990, 6/22/1990 , 1/22/1991
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Pearson, Bill: Bill Pearson was a member of the Wolf River Society, Shelby Foote’s book club. 1/9/1990, 6/26/1990
Percy, Ann Boyd: Ann Boyd Percy (b. 1954) was the second daughter of Walker and Bunt Percy. She was born deaf, and Shelby Foote asked Dr. John Shea to recommend a specialist teacher for Ann’s education. 8/22/1990
Percy, Billups Phinizy "Phin": Phin Percy (b. 1922) was Walker Percy’s youngest brother. When he was ten years old, Phin and his two older brothers began living with their older cousin William Percy in Greenville, Mississippi. 5/4/1990, 5/6/1990, 5/12/1990, 8/31/1990
Percy, Jane: Jane Percy was the wife of Phin Percy, Walker Percy’s youngest brother and Shelby Foote’s childhood friend. 5/6/1990
Percy, LeRoy Pratt: LeRoy “Roy” Percy (b. 1917) is Walker Percy’s younger brother, and slightly younger than Shelby Foote. In their youth and young adulthood, Roy, Walker, and Foote passed their summers together in Greenville, remaining lifelong friends. 4/28/1990, 4/29/1990, 5/2/1990, 5/4/1990, 5/6/1990, 5/30/1990, 6/17/1990, 9/12/1990, 9/13/1990, 11/12/1990
Percy, Mary Townsend “Bunt”: Bunt Percy was the wife of Walker Percy, the lifelong friend of Shelby Foote. She lived in Covington, Louisiana until her death in 2012. 2/2/1990, 4/20/1990, 5/4/1990, 5/5/1990, 5/6/1990, 5/8/1990, 5/10/1990, 8/29/1990, 8/30/1990, 8/23/1991
Percy, Sarah: Sarah Percy was the wife of LeRoy Percy, Walker Percy’s younger brother and Shelby Foote’s childhood friend. 5/6/1990, 5/20/1990, 5/21/1990, 5/24/1990
Percy, Walker: Walker Percy (1916-1990) was a celebrated author of the American South from Covington, Louisiana. His most notable works include The Moviegoer (1961) and The Last Gentleman (1966). After the death of both of his parents, he and his two younger brothers moved to Greenville, Mississippi, to live with his cousin William Percy. There in Greenville, Walker Percy and Shelby Foote began a lifelong friendship. 3/8/1990, 4/20/1990, 4/28/1990, 4/30/1990, 5/8/1990, 5/10/1990, 10/24/1990, 11/12/1990, 6/9/1991, 12/23/1991
Peterson, James "Pete": James Peterson was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. His service included three and a half years in the Pacific theater, and he would eventually retire as a major in the U.S. Air Force. He retired in Memphis and died in October 2010. He was a friend of Foote, who frequently visited him in Memphis’ veterans’ hospital in 1990. 1/5/1990, 1/13/1990, 1/27/1990, 2/3/1990, 2/11/1990, 2/18/1990, 3/3/1990, 3/24/1990, 4/1/1990
Phillips, Robert: Robert "Bob" Phillips is an American scholar who wrote a 1992 biography on Shelby Foote entitled Shelby Foote: Novelist and Historian. 2/24/1991, 2/27/1991, 2/28/1991, 12/16/1991, 12/17/1991
Potts, Ramsay: Memphis-born Ramsay Potts (1916-2006) was a decorated combat pilot during World War II, and he participated in the 1943 Ploesti raid. After the war, he graduated from Harvard and established a law firm in Washington, D.C. Shelby Foote met Potts in Alexandria, Virginia in December 1990. 12/3/1990
Preston, Lew & Patsy: Lewis “Lew” Preston (1926-1995) served as president of J.P. Morgan in the 1980s, and on the World Bank board from 1991 until his death in 1995. Gladys Pulitzer “Patsy” Preston (d. 2011) was a philanthropist and advocate for refugee women’s education. They were friends of the Footes in the 1990s. 1/1/1991
Pritchard, Ross: Ross Pritchard (b. 1924) was a professor at Southwestern at Memphis (in Tennessee), now called Rhodes College. Shelby Foote and Pritchard once took a vacation to New Orleans together with their families. He was married to Lila Saunders. 4/6/1990, 5/25/1990, 9/6/1990, 2/23/1991, 6/1/1991
Proust, Marcel: Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist, best known for his seven-volume work, Remembrance of Things Past. Will Percy first exposed Shelby Foote to Proust, claiming that Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, and James Joyce’s Ulysses were the three most important works of their time. His mother gifted Foote Remembrance of Things Past for his seventeenth birthday, and Foote later declared that the experience of first reading this work was “what, if anything, made me an author.” Foote would reread Proust for the rest of his life. 4/25/1990, 2/4/1991, 7/18/1991, 9/11/1991, 9/14/1991, 10/19/1991, 10/20/1991
Pruette, George: George Pruette was once the director of public affairs and advertising for General Motors, and he helped sponsor Burns’s 1990 PBS Civil War documentary series. 7/23/1990, 6/24/1991
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Reed, Bill "Billy": Billy Reed was a member of the Wolf River Society, Shelby Foote’s book club. 1/9/1990, 2/13/1990, 8/28/1990, 9/13/1990, 10/16/1990
Rehm, Diane: Diane Rehm (b. 1936) is a radio presenter best known for her National Public Radio program, The Diane Rehm Show, previously called “Kaleidoscope.” She has received several awards for her work in radio, including a National Humanities Medal in 2014 presented by President Obama. Additionally, Rehm is the author of three best-selling autobiographical books. Rehm interviewed Foote in April 1991. 4/24/1991
Reiser, George: George Reiser was Walker Percy’s doctor and friend in Lousiana. 5/11/1990, 8/29/1990
Rockefeller, Sharon: Sharon Rockefeller (b. 1944) is the wife of former West Virginia Senator John Davison “Jay” Rockefeller IV (1977-1985). As West Virginia’s First Lady, she promoted the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). In 2005, she was diagnosed with colon cancer, and later convinced filmmaker Ken Burns to produce the documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015). Rockefeller and Foote were at the same dinner in Los Angeles in July 1990. 7/23/1990
Rodgers, Pepper: Pepper Rodgers (b. 1931) is a former American football player and coach. He coached the short-lived Memphis Showboats (1984-1986), a team in the United States Football League. Rodgers and Shelby Foote were both guests of a lunch hosted by Fred Smith in May 1991. 5/4/1991
Rohatyn, Liz & Felix: Felix Rohatyn (b. 1928) is a prominent American investment banker who chaired the Municipal Assistance Corp. of New York City from 1975 to 1993. Under the Clinton administration, Felix Rohatyn served as U.S. ambassador to France. His wife, Elizabeth “Liz” Rohatyn (b., founded the French Regional & American Museum Exchange, and currently serves on the New York Public Library Board of Trustees. They were friends of the Footes. 10/25/1990, 11/7/1990, 1/1/1991, 10/4/1991, 11/7/1991
Rone, John: John Rone is the Director of College Event and the Meeman Centre at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. In April 1991, he was communicating with Foote about accepting Foote into the national honor society Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK). 4/3/1991
Roosevelt, Theodore: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858-1919) served as the 26th President of the United States (1901-1909). He was a member of the Republican Party and a significant figure in the Progressive Era. When Roosevelt visited the Mississippi Delta to bear hunt in the 1890s, Shelby Foote’s grandfather, Hugh Foote, served as the hunting party’s guide. 6/25/1990, 7/5/1990, 7/6/1990
Rosen, Robert Lewis "Bob": President of R.L.R. Associates, Bob Rosen began acting as Foote's literary agent in 1975.
Rosenberg, R.E: Dr. Rosenberg was Shelby Foote’s podiatrist in Memphis, Tennessee. 2/5/1990, 3/1/1990, 5/14/1990, 6/5/1990, 8/14/1990, 10/24/1990, 1/5/1991, 2/13/1991, 9/23/1991, 10/16/1991
Rubin, Louis: Louis D. Rubin, Jr. (1923-2013) was an American literary scholar and critic, best known for co-founding publishing house Algonquin Books and for establishing Southern literature as a distinct regional genre. Rubin wrote glowing reviews of Foote's Civil War narrative, and encouraged his fellow southern writer throughout both their careers. As a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, Rubin convinced Foote to donate his Civil War narrative manuscripts; even before the Burns series, Rubin had nominated Foote to receive an honorary degree from UNC. 5/22/1990, 6/2/1990, 6/3/1990, 6/9/1990, 6/10/1990, 6/11/1990, 1/13/1991, 10/26/1991, 10/27/1991
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Samway, Father Patrick H.: Father Patrick Samway is a Jesuit priest and scholar who was Walker Percy’s personal friend in his final years. Samway edited Signposts in a Strange Land (1991), a collection of Percy’s posthumously published essays, and wrote a 1999 biography of Percy. 5/10/1990, 10/24/1990
Sarah: Sarah worked as the Foote family's housekeeper. 1/1/1990, 4/16/1990, 5/2/1990, 6/15/1990, 7/27/1990, 9/1/1990, 1/25/1991, 9/17/1991, 12/2/1991, 12/16/1991
Sasser, James Ralph: James Ralph Sasser (b. 1936) served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1977-1995. Before his political career, he served in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1957-1963. In 1995, President Clinton appointed him of the People’s Republic of China, a role which he served until 2001. Sasser and Shelby Foote attended the same lunch hosted by Fred Smith in May 1991. 5/4/1991
Saunders, Lila: Memphis realtor Lila Saunders, and her husband Ross Pritchard, were friends of the Foote family. 4/6/1990, 5/25/1990, 9/6/1990, 2/23/1991, 6/1/1991
Settle, Mary Lee: Mary Lee Settle (1918-2005) was an American writer who received the 1978 National Book Award for her novel Blood Tie (1977). She delivered a memorial speech for Walker Percy in October 1990. 10/24/1990
Shea, Debbie: Debbie Shea is the wife of Johnny Shea, Shelby Foote’s stepson. 3/2/1990, 4/7/1990, 4/8/1990, 7/6/1990, 10/2/1990
Shea, Johnny: John J. “Johnny” Shea III is Shelby Foote’s stepson – one of Gwyn Foote’s two children by her first marriage to the prominent Memphis otologist Dr. John Joseph Shea, Jr. Johnny Shea himself is an otologist based in Memphis. He is married to Debbie Shea. 3/2/1990, 3/3/1990, 3/10/1990, 3/31/1990, 4/7/1990, 4/8/1990, 4/17/1990, 7/6/1990, 10/2/1990, 7/9/1991
Sheed, Wilfred: Wilfred Sheed (1930-2011) was an English-born American novelist and essayist. His first novel, A Middle Class Education, was published in 1961, and his last novel The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty, was published in 2007. He delivered a memorial speech for Walker Percy in October 1990. 10/24/1990
Shepherd, Cybill: Cybill Shepherd (b. 1950) is an American actress and singer, born in Memphis, Tennessee. Shepherd co-produced and starred in Memphis, the 1992 television movie based on Shelby Foote's 1977 novel, September, September. 3/22/1990, 4/3/1990, 7/10/1990, 7/24/1990, 7/26/1990, 8/13/1990, 9/14/1990, 9/15/1990, 11/9/1990, 11/15/1990
Shreve, Susan: Susan Shreve is an American author and novelist. Shreve has also written several children’s books and works as a professor at George Mason University. In September 1990, Foote attended her dinner party in Washington, D.C. 9/30/1990
Sidey, Hugh: Hugh Sidey (1927-2005) was an American journalist who wrote for both Time and Life magazines. Though mostly known as a White House insider, he also wrote a piece called "Hugh Sidey's America: Sad Song of the Delta," for which he interviewed Foote. Published in 1991, the piece explores life in the Mississippi Delta. 6/3/1991
Smith, Frederick “Fred”: Born in Marks, Mississippi, Frederick Smith is the founder, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Foote wrote a note to Smith to accompany a gift of the nine cassettes of the recorded Civil War trilogy that WKNO-TV gave to Smith in August 1990. In May 1990, Foote attended a fundraiser lunch organized by Smith. 8/1/1990, 5/4/1991
Snow, Richard: Richard Snow was the managing editor of American Heritage magazine. He worked for American Heritage for 37 years, spending 17 years as the managing editor. Foote worked with Snow when he wrote his 1991 American Heritage piece on Robert Johnson. 3/24/1990, 2/21/1991, 3/12/1991, 3/15/1991, 3/29/1991
Soloway, Dr. Mark: Dr. Mark Soloway developed one of the first prostate cancer support groups in Memphis. Dr. Soloway was in the Department of Urology University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He was one of Shelby Foote’s physicians and his personal friend. 2/23/1990, 4/26/1990, 4/29/1990, 8/10/1990, 9/21/1990, 9/24/1990, 2/25/1991, 3/2/1991, 8/12/1991
Spielberg, Steven: Steven Spielberg (b. 1946) is an American producer, director, screenwriter, and editor. Shelby Foote acted as a consultant on Spielberg’s 1993 television film, Class of ’61, a drama about the American Civil War. 7/12/1991, 8/5/1991, 8/6/1991, 9/7/1991, 9/19/1991, 9/23/1991, 10/4/1991, 11/1/1991
Stein, Abner: Abner Stein (1938-2011) was Shelby Foote’s British literary agent. 9/7/1991, 10/16/1991, 10/21/1991, 10/31/1991, 11/5/1991, 11/19/1991, 11/27/1991, 12/22/1991
Stein, Jean: Jean Stein (b. 1934) is an American author and editor, best known for her pioneering work in oral history. Among other books, she wrote the best-selling biography Edie: An American Girl. Stein continues to write, and recently published a book about her native Los Angeles. In January 1991, Foote and Stein reconnected in New York City. 1/17/1991, 2/2/1991
Stinson, Marguerite “Peggy” Dessomes de Maurigny: Peggy Stinson was Shelby Foote’s second wife and the mother of his first child, Margaret Dade Foote. Stinson came from a prominent Memphis family, and was married to Foote from 1947-1952. 6/30/1990
Strode, Hudson: Hudson Strode (1892-1976) was an author and professor at the University of Alabama, best known for his three-volume biography of Jefferson Davis (1955-1964). Shelby Foote mentions Strode’s biography of Jefferson Davis in the bibliographical note of the first volume of The Civil War. 2/1/1991
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Thomas, Clarence: Clarence Thomas (b. 1948) is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and the second African American to serve in that position. President George H. Bush nominated Thomas to the Supreme Court in 1990, but allegations of sexual harassment complicated his confirmation process. Foote followed his confirmation hearings in September 1991. 9/9/1991, 10/13/1991, 10/15/1991, 10/22/1991
Tolson, Jay: Jay Tolson is a writer and scholar who has worked in a variety of positions. He is the author of Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy (1992) and editor of The Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy (1996). For his work, he won the Southern Book Award, and the Hugh Holman prize for Outstanding Scholarship in Southern Literary Studies. 8/25/1990, 11/12/1990, 12/1/1990, 2/1/1991, 8/26/1991, 8/27/1991, 8/28/1991, 8/29/1991, 8/31/1991, 9/1/1991
Tomasino, Christine "Chris": Chris Tomasino was one of Foote's agents at R.L.R. Associates; she developed the agency's literary division. As of 2000, Tomasino runs her own agency and specializes in promoting poplar non-fiction books. 1/18/1991, 2/8/1991, 2/26/1991, 9/23/1991, 9/24/1991, 10/4/1991, 10/21/1991, 11/8/1991
Tovey, Sir Donald Frances: Sir Donald Frances Tovey (1875-1940) was a British musical analyst, composer, conductor and pianist, best known for his three-volume Essays in Musical Analysis, which Foote began consulting in February 1990. 1/17/1990, 2/21/1990, 2/23/1990, 2/27/1990
Tree, Marietta: New England socialite and political activist Marietta Peabody Tree (1917-1991) served on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1961 to 1964. Throughout her career, she also researched for Life magazine, advised Adlai Stevenson in his 1952 and 1956 bids for the presidency, and participated in the New York State Democratic Committee from 1954 to 1960. The Footes spent the 1991 New Year holiday with Tree and her thirty-odd other guests at her house Heron Bay in Barbados. 1/1/1991
Tripp, Linda: Linda Tripp is a financial advisor now based at Wealth Strategies Group Inc. in Memphis, Tennessee. She advised Foote.
Turner, Meg: Meg Turner was a friend of Shelby Foote who lived in Memphis, Tennessee. Stuart Chapman interviewed Turner for his 2003 biography of Foote. 4/22/1991, 5/1/1991
Turner, Ted: Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III (b. 1938) is a famous television producer and philanthropist, best known for his creation of the Cable News Network (CNN). He produced Memphis, the 1992 television movie adaptation of Foote’s final novel, September, September(1977). 3/1/1990, 3/17/1990, 3/22/1990, 5/1/1990
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Vidal, Gore: Gore Vidal (1925-2012) was an American writer and left-leaning public intellectual. He and Foote were asked to do an interview together in 1990. 6/14/1990, 9/6/1990
Virgintino, Mike: Mike Virgintino served as the President of the New York Civil War Round Table from 1992 to 1994. Foote spoke at New York Round Table meetings. 7/17/1990, 1/16/1991
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Walters, Barbara: Barbara Walters (b. 1929) is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and former host of the television shows Today, The View, 20/20, and ABC Evening News. 11/7/1991
Walther, LuAnn: LuAnn Walther is an editor who worked at Vintage Books, a division of Random House. In 2008, she became editor-in-chief of Vintage Books. She managed the sale of Foote’s Civil War trilogy. 4/13/1990, 10/8/1990, 10/17/1990, 10/25/1990, 12/25/1990, 1/14/1991, 6/17/1991, 10/4/1991, 12/27/1991
Ward, Chris: Chris Ward was Shelby Foote's tax accountant in Memphis, Tennessee. 2/12/1990, 2/13/1990, 3/24/1990, 11/14/1990, 11/21/1990, 3/22/1991, 4/2/1991, 5/2/1991, 6/10/1991, 8/7/1991
Welty, Eudora: Eudora Welty (1909-2001) wrote about the American South from her native Jackson, Mississippi. Her most notable works include her 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Optimist’s Daughter and her collections of short stories. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. Welty and Foote traveled in the same literary and social circles toward the ends of their lives. 3/6/1990, 9/7/1990, 9/30/1990, 10/23/1990, 10/24/1990, 10/27/1991, 11/29/1991, 12/18/1991
Williams, John: John Williams (b. 1932) is arguably one of the most famous and successful American orchestral composers of the modern age. Williams has won five Academy Awards, 17 Grammys, three Golden Globes, and two Emmys. Williams has been the music director in films such as Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Jaws, and Superman. Williams encouraged Foote to narrate a 1991 Detroit Symphony Orchestra performance of Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” 2/19/1991, 3/5/1991
Winter, William: Born in Grenada County, Mississippi, in 1923 William ‘Forrest’ Winter served as the governor of Mississippi from 1980-1984. He was active in the military in both the Philippines and the Korean conflict. Before becoming governor, he was a state tax collector from 1956-1964. He was responsible for the state-wide education reform and was the chair of the Southern Regional Educational Board and the Southern Growth Policies Board and was co-chair of Appalachian Regional Commission. Winter introduced Foote at a 1991 talk in the old Mississippi capitol building. 5/26/1991
Wyatt-Brown, Bertram: Bertram Wyatt-Brown (1932-2012) was a Pennsylvania-born historian of the American South. He studied and wrote about the Percy family, publishing The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family and The Literary Percys: Family History, Gender, and the Southern Imagination in 1994. 10/12/1990