Lewis Lehrman

Lewis E. "Lew" Lehrman (born 15 August 1938) is an American investment banker, businessman, politician, economist, and historian who advocates for studying American history using source documents. He received the National Humanities Medal in 2005 for his work in American history, Abraham Lincoln, and monetary policy. In 1982, Lehrman ran for Governor of New York against Democratic candidate Mario Cuomo, losing the election by only two percentage points.

Lehrman was a member of the advisory committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Lincoln Forum and authored Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point (2008), Lincoln "by littles" (2013), Churchill, Roosevelt & Company (2017), and Lincoln & Churchill: Statesmen at War (2018). His works on monetary policy include True Gold Standard, Newly Revised and Enlarged, Second Edition (2012), Money, Gold, and History (2013), and (as co-author) Money and the Coming World Order (1976) and The Case for Gold (1982).

Lehrman writes for the Lincoln Institute which has created websites on Abraham Lincoln. He is currently a senior partner at L. E. Lehrman & Co., an investment firm he established in 1981. He is also the chairman of the Lehrman Institute, a public policy research and grant-making foundation founded in 1972.

On 10 November 2005, Lehrman and Richard Gilder were awarded the National Humanities Medal in an Oval Office ceremony by U.S. President George W. Bush. Lehrman converted to Catholicism.