Photo by Jay Godwin

About The Director

Since October 2009, Mark K. Updegrove has served as the fourth director of the LBJ Presidential Library.

During his tenure at the library, he hosted the Civil Rights Summit in 2014, which featured Barack and Michelle Obama, George W. and Laura Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, and the Vietnam War Summit in 2016, which included John Kerry and Henry Kissinger. He also oversaw the renovation of the library's core exhibits on President Johnson and his administration.

He has authored four books: Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House (2006); Baptism by Fire: Eight Presidents Who Took Office During Times of Crisis (2009); Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency (2012); and Destiny of Democracy: the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Presidential Library (2015). His next book, The Last Republicans: George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush--the Boundaries of Love and the Limits of Power, will be published by HarperCollins in November 2017. He has conducted exclusive interviews with five U.S. presidents.

Updegrove has also written for American Heritage, The Nation, National Geographic, Parade, Politico, Texas Monthly, The Daily Beast, and Time, and is a contributor to ABC News on matters relating to the presidency, and a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning.

Earlier in his career, Updegrove served as manager of Time in Los Angeles; president of TimeCanada, Time's separate Canadian edition and operation; and publisher of Newsweek in New York.