A bachelor of arts degree in hand, J. Lee Thompson was firmly ensconced in corporate America. Years later, he would find his real life’s work, with the other side of the Atlantic Ocean his ultimate destination.
Thompson had graduated from the University of Houston at 21 with a history degree, but, he says, “I was really tired of school. Getting a Ph.D. in history didn’t even occur to me. I wanted to make some money.”
He worked at a mortgage bank, as an IBM salesman and in the publishing industry. Becoming a scholar, historian and author seemed light years away. Then, Thompson says, “After about 15 years, that quit being fun. Confucius said, ‘Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.’”
Well into his 30s, Thompson embarked on a new chapter in his life. He loved history, so he returned to U of H at night for graduate courses in history, completing his master’s degree. He went on to Texas A&M University and earned a Ph.D., then spent 18 months there as a lecturer. In August 1998, he arrived at Lamar University, and the rest is history. Quite literally. Thompson, associate professor of history, was honored this month as Lamar’s 2007 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer. He became the 21st recipient of the award, which is considered one of the highest accolades accorded a Lamar faculty member.
His lecture attracted an enthusiastic audience to the University Theatre Nov. 12. Partners in the Age of Global Terrorism: The United States-British ‘Special Relationship’ in Historical Perspective was the topic of the lecture, sponsored by ExxonMobil.
“I’m a British historian. I was drawn to that because the country has had a thousand years of history,” says Thompson, teacher, scholar, researcher and the author of four books, with two others in progress. Recently, he was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
“Part of it is travel, and part of it is interest. From Robin Hood forward, I’ve been a fan of British history. It’s always fascinated me.”
Thompson travels to London every year for historical research. He’s been to South Africa and has India and Egypt, both former parts of the British Empire, on his agenda for the next book. His family is originally from England, so that also has something to do with his interest.
“Dr. J. Lee Thompson is a classic example of a scholar-teacher,” says John Storey, chair of the Department of History. “His research and writing in British history have not only enriched the classroom for thousands of Lamar students, but also brought favorable notice to the university from scholars across the nation.”
Thompson also received glowing reviews from his students.
“I think they like my classes because I know my subject and am enthusiastic about it,” he says. “I have fun with it. I tell them the first day, ‘I’m going to enjoy myself. I hope you guys will come along,’ I bring a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the subject, and I think that comes across in my lectures.”
Thompson was born in Dallas, spent most of his youth in Austin and graduated from high school in Houston. If he hadn’t become a British historian, he might have been a film historian. Upon entering college, he took a personality test to determine the best course for a career. “My No. 1 match was film director,” he recalls, while historian and lawyer were in the Top 5 or 10.
“Writing a book is a lot like directing a film. You’re in control, and you have to control the whole thing. I haven’t been able to make films, but I have been able to write books.”
But, Thompson admits, “I am a film nut. Not just historical films. I like film noir, and I like foreign films. I like all sorts of genres.”
During the mini-session last summer, he taught a course on the British Empire in film. “We showed nine movies, starting with Captain Blood, the pirate movie with Errol Flynn.
“The last was Dr. Strangelove with Peter Sellers, showing the British playing second fiddle to the Americans.”
In Thompson’s opinion, Slim Pickens steals the show. Sellers was supposed to do that role, too, but he hurt his ankle and couldn’t get in and out of the B-52. “So they brought in Slim Pickens,” Thompson said. “It was a British production, and the British all thought he was a method actor when he was just being Slim Pickens.”
Among favorite directors, he lists Strangelove’s Stanley Kubrick. Others are John Ford, for Westerns, and directors like Frank Capra and Howard Hawks, for the screwball comedies of the 1930s. Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby is one of his favorites.
The evolution from academician to published author was a natural after graduate school.
“You’re crazy if you don’t write a dissertation that can be a book,” he says. “I had a good graduate advisor who not only is a world-class scholar but is also a great teacher. I have stolen shamelessly from his teaching style—and have told him that.”
Thompson’s dissertation, “Lord Northcliffe and the Great War,” led to two books, Politics, the Press and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War 1914-1919, published by Kent State University Press in 1999 and Northcliffe: Press Baron in Politics, 1865-1922, published by John Murray Publishers of London in 2000.
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press published Forgotten Patriot: A Life of Alfred, Viscount Milner of St. James’s and Capetown, in 2006, and Pickering and Chatto Publishers in London published Wider Patriotism: Alfred Milner and the British Empire Commonwealth in 2007. Another manuscript is in progress: The Proconsuls: Curzon, Cromer, Milner and Kitchener in the Age of High Imperialism.
Biographer-historian John Grigg hailed Thompson’s first book as “really a splendid work” in which Thompson “shows with great lucidity and a wealth of evidence that Northcliffe could be either brilliantly right or crashingly wrong.” The volume opened an important new era of historical research, according to other reviewers, closing a significant gap in the history of World War I propaganda.
While preparing his Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Thompson came up with the topic for his next book, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president. It will be titled Teddyssey—as in Odyssey—and will focus on Roosevelt’s travels to Africa after he left the presidency. “He went on safari and then he went to England and was there when King Edward VII died. So I’m going to write a book on him, which I would not have done if I had not done the research to write this lecture.”
Thompson is also sought after as a speaker-scholar. In 2006, he was a visiting Fellow at Wolfson College of Cambridge University and delivered the presidential address at the Western Conference on British Studies’ 32nd annual meeting. He has made presentations at The Chamberlains of Birmingham, an International Conference, in 2003 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Another audience was the International Journalism Historians Interest Group at the American Journalism Historians’ Association 14th annual convention in 1995.
Thompson recently returned to A&M to speak to history Ph.D. students—as a successful graduate—about what it’s like in the real world. “So You Want to Be a Historian?” was his topic.
“I talked about my experience getting a Ph.D., the job search and how you survive on the job. I told them about Lamar and how, since I’ve been here, every year things seem to get better and better. It’s turned out to be a great place.”
In his rare time away from teaching and writing, Thompson plays tennis and cheers for the Dallas Cowboys. He and his wife, Diane, are wine enthusiasts—and they enjoy traveling to destinations like Italy and France, off the beaten path of his historical research.
Thompson gives Diane, a human resources director in Groves, credit for his success. “She allowed me to go back to school while she was working,” he says. “If we hadn’t been able to do that, this never would have happened. In every one of my books, I thank her.
“I feel blessed and lucky to be able to have done this—and also to just find a job because Ph.D.s are sort of thick on the ground. It’s good fortune—or kismet or whatever you want to call it—that I’m here and doing what I want to do.”
