The Richard W. Leopold Prize is awarded biennially by the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Professor Richard W. Leopold (1912–2006) was President of the OAH in 1976–1977.
A three-member committee, chosen by the President of the OAH, chooses the best history book on U.S. federal government agencies, U.S. foreign policies, U.S. military affairs, or biographies of government officials.[1] Only non-academic historians are eligible for the Prize, preferably historians employed by federal government agencies. The winning author receives $1,500. In 1990, the prize went to two books. In 2002, the prize went to two books, one of which had two authors. In these years, the authors split the prize money.[2]
In the listing below, the author links lead to the latest available biographical data. Unfortunately, few government employees have sites comparable to those sites in academia. The institutional affiliation listed is that at the time the awards was given, and the links are to those institutions. In both cases, “Wikipedia” sites, where available, were given preference.
| Year | Winner | Affiliation | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | J. Merton England[3] | A Patron for Pure Science, The National Science Foundation's Formative Years, 1945-1957 | ||
| 1986 | Steven L. Rearden | History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense: The Formative Years, 1947-1950 | ||
| 1988 | James Edward Miller | The United States and Italy 1940-1950: The Politics and Diplomacy of Stabilization | ||
| 1990 | Richard G. Hewlett co-author | U.S. Department of Energy | Atoms for Peace and War 1953-1961: Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission | |
| 1990 | Jack M. Holl[4] co-author | U.S. Department of Energy | Atoms for Peace and War 1953-1961: Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission | |
| 1992 | Donald A. Ritchie | U.S. Senate | Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents | |
| 1994 | Donald R. Baucom[5] | Air Power Research Institute[6] at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama | The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983 | |
| 1996 | Barton C. Hacker[7] | U.S. Department of Energy | Elements of Controversy: The Atomic Energy Commission and Radiation Safety in Nuclear Weapons Testing, 1947-1974 | |
| 1998 | Andrew J. Butrica[8] | Independent scholar | To See the Unseen: A History of Planetary Radar Astronomy | |
| 2000 | William M. Hammond[9] | U.S. Army Center of Military History | Reporting Vietnam: Media and Military at War | |
| 2002co-winner | Dale Andradé[10] co-author | Indonesia, Spies and Commandos: How America Lost the Secret War in North Vietnam | ||
| 2002co-winner | Kenneth Conboy,[11] co-author | Control Risks Group | Indonesia, Spies and Commandos: How America Lost the Secret War in North Vietnam | |
| 2002co-winner | Gary E. Weir[12] | An Ocean in Common: American Naval Officers, Scientists, and the Ocean | ||
| 2004 | Peter S. Kindsvatter[13] | American Soldiers: Ground Combat in the World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam | ||
| 2006 | Robert J. Schneller Jr.[15] | Breaking the Color Barrier: The U.S. Naval Academy's First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality | ||
| 2008 | Michael J. Neufeld[16] | Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War | ||
| 2010 | The Road to Yucca Mountain: The Development of Radioactive Waste Policy in the United States | |||
| 2012 | William A. Dobak | The United States Army Center of Military History (retired) | Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867 | |
| 2014 | Sarah C. Paine | US Naval War College | The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949 | |
| 2016 | Jacqueline E. Whitt | Air War College | Bringing God to Men: American Military Chaplains and the Vietnam War | |
| 2018 | Richard S. Faulkner | U.S. Army Command and General Staff College | Pershing’s Crusaders: The American Soldier in World War I | |
| 2020 | Anand Toprani | U.S. Naval War College | Oil and the Great Powers: Britain and Germany, 1914–1945 | |
| 2022 | Christian Friedrich Ostermann | Woodrow Wilson Center | Between Containment and Rollback: The United States and the Cold War in Germany |