Anthony J. Badger

Anthony John "Tony" Badger is a British academic and historian. Until 2014 he was Paul Mellon Professor of American History at the University of Cambridge and Master of Clare College, Cambridge. He is a specialist in post-World War II Southern American political history. Badger was born on 6 March 1947 and attended Cotham Grammar School in Bristol. He studied History at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and received his B.A. degree with Honours in 1968 and his M.A. from the University of Cambridge in 1971. 

He graduated with a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hull in 1974. In 1999, Hull awarded him an honorary D. Litt. Badger was a lecturer in the History Department of Newcastle University from 1971 to 1991. He held the Andrew Mellon Visiting Professorship at Tulane University, New Orleans, from January to May 2000. In 1992, he moved to the University of Cambridge, having been appointed Paul Mellon Professor of American History. 

He retired from Cambridge at the end of the 2013/2014 academic year and took up a post as a Professor of American History at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne. He served on the Cambridge University Council from 1988 to 2002 and from 2005 to 2008. He chaired its Audit Committee between 2001 and 2002 and chaired the search committee in 2002 that secured the appointment of Alison Richard as Vice-Chancellor. Since 2004, he has been the chairman of Cambridge Assessment, the major examination and assessment body.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown selected Professor Badger’s book FDR: The First Hundred Days, about the 32nd President of the United States, as his 2008 book of the year. This work influenced Gordon Brown in shaping the economic response to the recession. On 24 March 2009, Gordon Brown appointed Badger as the chairman of the Kennedy Memorial Trust, effective from July 7, 2009. He replaced Emma Rothschild, who had served since 2000. 

Upon accepting this chairmanship, he said, “It is an honor6 to be asked to chair the Kennedy Memorial Trust. The Kennedy scholarships are a most fitting legacy to the late President and recognize the long-standing ties of the Kennedy family with Britain. They have enabled some of the very best students in Britain to experience world-class graduate education in the US." Badger was succeeded as the trust's chair in July 2016 by Professor Sir Mark Walport.