American Sphinx

Joseph J. Ellis, the author of the Thomas Jefferson biography “American Sphinx,” a professor at Mount Holyoke College and a Pulitzer Prize winner, is earning fresh public attention, but not for his scholarship. Historians relish talking about how nations invent myths about themselves, but Ellis seems to have taken it a step further by applying the principle to his own life. After the Boston Globe’s Walter V. Robinson reported this week that Ellis had concocted a Vietnam War record as well as participation in the antiwar movement at Yale, Ellis admitted to “distortions” about his past. Far from being mere “distortions,” however, Ellis’ fabrications are outright lies that violate every academic code.

Ellis could have indulged in private, Walter Mitty-like fantasies. Instead he trumpeted his supposed exploits, deftly weaving them into lectures and published interviews to earn further adulation and fame. The greater his renown, the more extravagant his claims became. Ellis told his students that he had fought as a platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division. He claimed to have served in Saigon on Gen. William C. Westmoreland’s staff and to have talked about his service with David Halberstam, author of “The Best and the Brightest.” None of this was true.

To discover that a historian of the American founders is disseminating falsehoods about himself is unnerving. Historical truth matters. More than ever at a time when history is under siege from popular culture, whether it’s the movie “JFK” or “Pearl Harbor.” When one of the nation’s preeminent historians invents his own past, he is betraying not only his students but also the idea that history is based on authentic, verifiable facts.

Unfortunately, instead of demanding Ellis’ resignation, Mount Holyoke College President Joanne V. Creighton appears to be circling the wagons, calling him a man of “honesty and honor.” But the real American sphinx has turned out to be Ellis himself. A scholar’s right to privacy does not include the right to deceive his students and the public. Ellis should go.