Declaration: The Story of America’s Independence

Robert Watson has published nearly 50 books and 200 scholarly articles and essays on topics in political, military, and social history, as well as two multi-edition, multi-volume encyclopedia sets on the presidents and first ladies. Some of his recent books include Affairs of State (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), America’s First Crisis (SUNY Press, 2014), The Nazi Titanic (Hachette, 2016), The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn (Hachette, 2017), George Washington’s Final Battle (Georgetown University Press, 2021), Escape! (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), When Washington Burned (Georgetown University Press, 2023), American’s First Plague (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), Rebels at the Gates (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), and two forthcoming books: Declaration: The Story of American Independence (Bloomsbury, 2026) and The Trump Presidency (SUNY Press, 2026). A few of Watson’s books have won national awards, are in foreign translation, and have been featured at literary festivals, on PBS and C-SPAN, and in television documentaries.  

A frequent media commentator, Watson has been interviewed thousands of times by news outlets around the world, including CNN, MSNBC, USA Today, The New York Times, NPR, and the BBC, and has appeared on Hardball, The Daily Show, C-SPAN, The Washington Journal, etc. He was a longtime Sunday columnist for the Sun-Sentinel newspaper and, for many years, an analyst for WPTV 5 (NBC), WPBT 2 (PBS), WIOD 610 AM, WFTL 850 AM, RTE 1 Ireland, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He has served as researcher, writer, and an on-screen expert for 30 historical documentaries for such networks as Science, National Geographic, History Channel, Fuse, Super Channel, and others, including two seasons of an international award-winning series on Nazi secrets and two shows hosted by Morgan Freeman.

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Dr. Watson co-convened a half-dozen national conferences, co-founded the annual Truman Legacy Symposium for the Truman Presidential Library, and served on the boards of academic associations, community organizations, the Harry S. Truman Foundation, Calvin Coolidge Foundation, and George McGovern Center for Leadership. He also served as founder/editor of the scholarly journal White House Studies, assistant editor/book review editor of The Social Science Journal, and “Presidency Series” editor for the State University of New York Press.

 

As a visiting scholar, he has worked with or lectured for the nation’s preeminent historic sites, including the Truman Presidential Library, Ford Presidential Museum, Illinois Holocaust Museum, US Military Academy at West Point, National Archives, Smithsonian Institution and Smithsonian Associates, Pentagon, Museum of the American Revolution, American Revolution Institute, Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, National Museum of the US Navy, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Society of the Cincinnati, James Madison’s Montpelier, Fraunces Tavern Museum, Gettysburg National Battlefield, National Civil War Museum, American Civil War Museum, Mount Rushmore, US Capitol Historical Society, White House Historical Association, Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC, Andersonville National Historic Site, National POW Museum, and others.

 

Watson co-chaired initiatives to build the Calvin Coolidge historic site’s Presidential Museum, renovate the Harry Truman Little White House, and secure both the 2012 presidential debate at Lynn University and the 2008 Democratic and Republican primary debates at Florida Atlantic University. He developed curriculum for the “Holocaust Learning Experience” for high schools in Florida, lesson plans and workshops on the Broadway shows Hamilton, Six, Les Miserables, Ragtime, Parade, and To Kill a Mockingbird on behalf of performing arts centers, and curriculum guides on Apple iTunes U for schools studying the 2012 presidential debates. Watson also offers “chat backs” from the stage after theatrical performances, is one of a select group of historians invited every few years by C-SPAN and other organizations to rank the presidents, and is the onboard “enrichment lecturer” for Oceania and Scenic cruise lines.

 

As a community leader, Watson has hosted voter registration drives, civic education programs for schools, workshops for teachers, and initiatives to support women- and minority-owned businesses and socially responsible business practices. He served as a judge for History Day contests, pronouncer for spelling bees, and moderator for political debates and community town halls throughout south Florida, co-founded three non-profits dedicated to civic engagement, political reform, and fact-checking political ads, has hosted for three decades a distinguished lecture series focusing on social justice and civility, whereby he has interviewed over 100 national leaders in politics, law, diplomacy, the military, and the arts, and, with his then-teenage son, organized an annual writing contest for five years for students in Florida. Watson has delivered over 2,500 lectures to libraries, museums, historic sites, community groups, and corporate conventions around the world, is a popular lecturer with One Day University, Curiosity Stream, the 92Y, and has led “study tours” to historic sites around the world.

 

The recipient of many awards for his contributions to the study of the presidency, election commentary, community service, civics programs for schools, and efforts to combat anti-Semitism and incivility, Watson has won “Professor of the Year” several times and has won all three campus-wide faculty awards—service, research, and teaching—at Florida Atlantic University and Lynn University.

 

Robert was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, attended public schools in  Hershey, and was educated at Virginia Tech, where he lettered on the football and track teams and has been inducted into two sports halls of fame. Watson taught previously at Troy, Northern Arizona, the University of Hawaii, Florida State’s London campus, Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University, and with the Junior Statesman Foundation at Yale, Stanford, and Georgetown, and now holds the titles Distinguished Professor of History, Avron Fogelman Research Professor, and Assistant Director of the Center for Citizenship and Civility at Lynn University. He is the proud father of Alexander and Isabella.