The US Senate on July 7 confirmed James Leach as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The NEH is one of the major public humanities funding bodies in the US.

Mr. Leach is a 15-term Republican congressman from Iowa. He served as Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services (1995-2001), as a senior member of the House Committee on International Relations, and as Chairman of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs (2001-2006). Since 2007, he has taught at Princeton University and served as the interim director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In 2004 Leach co-founded, along with Rep. David Price (D-NC), the bipartisan Congressional Humanities Caucus to increase awareness of the importance of the humanities in public life. He received the 2005 Sidney R. Yates Award for Distinguished Public Service to the Humanities from the National Humanities Alliance in recognition of his work as a champion for the humanities.

The Washington Post has published a detailed article on the appointment. President Obama also recently appointed David S. Ferriero as Archivist of the United States. The other major humanities-related leadership post in the US Federal Government, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is Anne-Imelda M. Radice, who was appointed in 2005.