Fawn M. Brodie

Fawn M. Brodie – Life, Career, and Famous Ideas

Explore the life of Fawn McKay Brodie (1915–1981), a pioneering American biographer and historian. Learn about her major works, unique approach to psychobiography, controversies, and enduring legacy.

Introduction

Fawn McKay Brodie (September 15, 1915 – January 10, 1981) was a trailblazing American author, historian, and biographer. Known especially for her unconventional and psychologically infused biographies, she became one of the first women to receive tenure in the UCLA history department. Her works, especially No Man Knows My History (on Joseph Smith) and Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, sparked debate and re-examination of historical figures through a psychological lens.

This article examines her early life, intellectual development, major works, controversies, style, and legacy.

Early Life and Family

Fawn McKay was born in Ogden, Utah, on September 15, 1915, into a family prominent in the Latter-day Saint (LDS) community.

She was the second of five children of Thomas E. McKay and Fawn Brimhall. Her father served as a bishop, mission president, and was involved in church leadership, and her uncle was David O. McKay, who later became an LDS Church president.

Although her family had religious stature, they were not wealthy; their home lacked indoor plumbing and carried deep debt, contributing to her sense of tension between public faith and private hardship.

From a young age, Fawn exhibited intellectual precocity. She memorized long poems as a child, advanced in school early, and had her poetry published as a teenager.

Though raised in a deeply religious environment with ritual, prayer, and Sabbath observance, her mother privately wrestled with skepticism—an influence that would shape Fawn’s evolving relationship with faith.

Education, Doubts, and Marriage

Fawn attended Weber College (1930–1932), then earned a BA in English literature from the University of Utah in 1934.

She then pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago, earning a master’s in English in 1936. During her time there, she underwent a profound shift: she gradually lost her religious faith, later describing that intellectual liberation as “like taking a hot coat off in the summertime.”

While at Chicago, she met Bernard Brodie, a scholar in international relations who would become her husband. Despite strong objections from her family, she married him on August 28, 1936.

Over time, Fawn Brodie formally left the LDS Church; for writing No Man Knows My History, she was eventually excommunicated.

They had three children together.

Intellectual Approach & Psychobiography

Brodie is often considered a pioneer in applying psychoanalytic theory to biography (psychobiography). She believed that to understand historical figures fully, one must probe motives, character, and inner conflicts, not just external facts.

Her guiding principle was that biography should strive for psychological insight, even when evidence was incomplete, while acknowledging interpretive risk.

This approach drew both admiration and criticism: admirers praised her literary style and innovative interpretation, while critics cautioned that she at times presented conjecture as fact.

Major Works & Contributions

Brodie published five major biographies (four with psychobiographical elements) and one collaborative historical work.

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (1945)

This was Brodie’s debut and remains her most controversial work. She traced Joseph Smith’s life as founder of the Mormon movement, portraying him as initially a deliberate impostor who later came to believe in his own prophetic claims while haunted by “the memory of the conscious artifice.”

Her work broke from hagiography and became foundational in modern Mormon historiography.

The book has never gone out of print; a revised edition with more psychobiographical commentary appeared in 1971.

After publication, she faced strong backlash from LDS circles; the church criticized her sources and methodology, and she was excommunicated.

Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South (1959)

In this biography, Brodie turned her attention to the Reconstruction era. She examined Stevens’ personal and political struggles, including psychological implications of his club foot. Her application of psychological insight to Stevens earned praise, though the book sold relatively modestly.

The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton (1967)

A biography of the famed explorer and scholar, Brodie explored Burton’s fascination with religion, sexuality, and travel. She used psychoanalytic perspectives to interpret Burton’s motives and internal conflicts.

From Crossbow to H-Bomb: The Evolution of Weapons & Tactics (1973, co-written)

This is a historical survey coauthored with her husband, examining the development of warfare technology and strategy.

Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (1974)

Perhaps her most famous work, this biography delves into Jefferson’s private life, notably arguing that Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings had a long-term relationship and fathered children. Brodie grounded the claim in correlation of Jefferson’s presence and conception timing, personal letters, and psychological inference.

At publication, it became a bestseller and major cultural event. It appeared on The New York Times list for 13 weeks.

Her methods sparked intense debate: rival scholars criticized her for speculative leaps, while over the following decades, DNA evidence (in 1998) brought support to her assertion about Jefferson and Hemings, and many historians now accept that Jefferson was the father of Hemings’ children.

Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character (1981)

Brodie’s final project was a psychological study of Richard Nixon, focusing on his early life and character formation. She worked intensively despite illness and did not live to see the book’s publication.

Because of her hostility to Nixon, critics argued that her psychobiographical approach risked character assassination. The book received mixed reviews.

Academic Career & Teaching

Despite lacking a PhD, Brodie was appointed a lecturer at UCLA based on the success of her biographies.

She taught seminars in political biography and upper-division American history. Some faculty initially resisted her promotion to full professor because of her nontraditional credentials and popular style.

Her appointment was significant: she became one of the first female tenured professors in the UCLA history department.

Her papers and research materials are archived in the Fawn McKay Brodie Papers collection (1932–1983).

Controversies & Criticism

Brodie’s work never escaped controversy:

• Speculation vs. Evidence: Critics argued she sometimes advanced speculative psychological interpretations as factual.

• Religious backlash: Her deconstruction of Mormon foundational figures led to sharp criticism from church scholars and formal excommunication.

• Historical methodology debates: Scholars debated whether psychoanalysis belongs in biography, particularly when archival evidence is sparse.

• Polarizing assessments: Her Jefferson biography drew both praise and harsh critique—Garry Wills famously lambasted it for modernizing language too liberally.

Nonetheless, many now credit her with reshaping debates about race, sex, and presidential history in America.

Personality, Style & Values

Brodie was intellectually bold, unafraid to challenge orthodoxy in religion and history. She combined rigorous archival research with imaginative psychological insight.

She was a writer of elegant prose, striving to make biography compelling as literature. Even critics acknowledged her narrative gifts.

Despite her sharp critiques of religion, she expressed that her greatest sorrow was causing pain to her family.

In her final years, Brodie battled illness—metastatic lung cancer (despite being a non-smoker)—and worked to complete her Nixon manuscript amid suffering.

She died January 10, 1981, at Santa Monica, California.

Notable Ideas & “Quotes”

While Brodie is not widely quoted for pithy statements, some ideas emerge from her writing:

• She regarded truth-seeking as a moral imperative, even when it conflicted with familial or religious loyalty.

• She viewed psychological complexity and inner conflict as essential lenses to understand great lives.

• Her work embodies the idea that biography can be both scholarly and imaginative—and that the gaps in evidence can be responsibly filled with careful, self-aware interpretation.

One often-cited line (in reference to her Mormon family) is her assertion that she valued “revering the truth, which is the noblest ideal a parent can instill”.

Lessons from Fawn M. Brodie

• Courage to challenge convention: Brodie shows that intellectual honesty sometimes requires rethinking sacred narratives.

• Interdisciplinary creativity: By combining history and psychology, she expanded the possibilities of biography.

• Respect for complexity: She embraced that human lives may not yield neat conclusions, yet are worth rigorous exploration.

• Legacy through controversy: Sometimes, the most lasting contributions arise from tension and debate.

• Dedication in adversity: Even in illness, Brodie persisted in her work—to her last days.

Conclusion

Fawn M. Brodie remains a singular figure in American letters and historiography. Her willingness to test the boundaries of biography, confront deeply held beliefs, and weave psychological insight into historical narrative reshaped how we think about biography itself. Her work continues to be studied, debated, and built upon.

If you’d like a deeper dive into any of her books (e.g. Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History), or a comparison with other biographers, I’d be happy to continue.