ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR. was born in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in an academic family which migrated from the Ohio State University to the University of Iowa and finally to Harvard. He graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in 1938. His honors thesis was published under the title Orestes A. Brownson, A Pilgrim's Progress. Subsequently, while a Junior Fellow at Harvard, he wrote his book on Jacksonian democracy, which was published by Little, Brown. During the war he served in the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, London and Paris. Author, editor, Harvard University professor, and historian of the New Deal, Mr. Schlesinger has been appointed by President Kennedy as a full-time special assistant.