Lewis E. "Lew" Lehrman (born August 15, 1938, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is an American investment banker, businessman, Republican politician, economist, and historian who supports the ongoing study of American history based on original source documents. He was presented the National Humanities Medal at the White House in 2005 for his contributions to American History, the study of President Abraham Lincoln and monetary policy. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Lincoln Forum. Lehrman 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) and Money, Gold, and History (2013) as well as co-authoring Money and the Coming World Order (1976) and The Case for Gold (1982). Lehrman writes for the Lincoln Institute which has created websites on the 16th President. In 1982 Lehrman ran for Governor of New York, in which he opposed Democratic candidate Mario Cuomo, losing the election by two percentage points. He is 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. He and Richard Gilder were awarded the National Humanities Medal in an Oval Office ceremony on Thursday, November 10, 2005. The Medal was presented by President George W. Bush. He converted to Catholicism. Early life and education Lehrman was born on August 15, 1938, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Rose (Herman) and Benjamin Sachs Lehrman, who was chairman of the Rite-Aid Corporation. His family was Jewish. Lehrman attended The Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Lehrman's involvement with the teaching of history began as a Carnegie Teaching Fellow at Yale University in 1960 and subsequently at Harvard University, where he completed a master's degree as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. Career Lehrman is a former President of Rite Aid, a writer, businessman and an economic historian. Washington political columnists Evans and Novak reported that Ronald Reagan considered naming him Secretary of the Treasury before selecting Donald T. Regan. In his memoirs, Regan wrote that he was urged to "placate my critics by appointing Lewis Lehrman, a prominent New York conservative, as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury."