Dayton Duncan

Dayton Duncan is an award winning writer, documentary filmmaker, and the author of eight books, including: Out West: A Journey Through Lewis & Clark's America, Grass Roots: One Year in the Life of the New Hampshire Presidential Primary, Miles From Nowhere: In Search of the American Frontier, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Mark Twain, and Horatio's Drive.

For young readers, Dayton Duncan has written People of the West, named a Notable Children's Trade Book for 1996 by the National Council of Social Studies and the Children's Book Council, and The West: An Illustrated History for Children, which was selected by The New Yorker magazine for its "short list" of the 16 best children's books of 1996 and won a Western Heritage award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Additionally, Duncan's articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, American Heritage magazine, The Old Farmer's Almanac, and many other publications.

Dayton Duncan has also been involved for many years with the work of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. He was a consultant on Burns' award winning series for public television, The Civil War, Baseball and Jazz. For a 12 hour series about the history of the American West, broadcast in 1996, Duncan was the co writer and consulting producer. It won the Erik Barnouw Award from the Organization of American Historians. Most recently, he is co-producer, writer, and commentator in the new Ken Burns documentary about the National Parks.

Dayton Duncan is the writer and producer of Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, a four hour documentary broadcast in November 1997. The film attained the second highest ratings (following The Civil War) in the history of PBS and won a Western Heritage award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, and a CINE Golden Eagle, among others. He is also the co writer and producer of Mark Twain, and his most recent film with Burns is Horatio's Drive, about the first transcontinental automobile trip.

In politics, Dayton Duncan served as chief of staff to New Hampshire Gov. Hugh Gallen deputy national press secretary for Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign and national press secretary for Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential campaign. Born and raised in Iowa, Dayton Duncan graduated from UPENN in 1971 and was a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy. President Clinton appointed him chair of the American Heritage Rivers Advisory Committee and Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt appointed him director of the National Park Foundation.