Julian Pleasants received his BA from Davidson College and his MA and PhD from UNC Chapel Hill. He is the author of 10 books, including Hanging Chads: The Inside Story of the 2000 Presidential Recount in Florida, (2004) (Palgrave/MacMillan), which won the 2005 Proctor Oral History Prize, and The Political Career of W. Kerr Scott: The Squire from Haw River, 2015 (University of Kentucky Press). He was a Professor of History at the University of Florida for 39 years and winner of 13 teaching awards.