Lawrence H. Gipson (1880-1971)

Lawrence Henry Gipson was appointed professor of history at Lehigh in 1924, a position he held until his death in 1971. Selected in 1904, which was the very first year that the Rhodes Scholarship was open to candidates from the United States, Gipson was the first Rhode Scholar from Idaho. This made him part of the inaugural "batch" of American scholars to study at Oxford University. During his time at Lehigh, he wrote many books. His most notable one is the fifteen volumes on The British Empire Before the American Revolution. For his tenth volume, titled Thunder-Clouds Gather in the West, Gipson won a Pulitzer Prize for his work. His books explore the cause of the American revolution, which he believed to be due to changes in Britain following their dominance in the French and Indian War, post 1763. He is considered as a leader of the Imperial school, which studies the British Empire.