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Bio and Introduction

Dick Cheatham is a founder and director of Living History Associates, Ltd. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Dick is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor's Degree in History and Liberal Arts. A newspaper columnist, a Member of the National Speakers Association and a "living history" character presenter, Dick was formerly a school teacher, museum educator and television reporter, having covered the Virginia State Capitol for six years. In addition to thousands of presentations to all sorts of groups over the past fourteen years, he has appeared on the BBC and The Learning Channel, has been interviewed on Entertainment Tonight and the Voice of America and is appearing in several PBS series this year. His interest in history flows directly from his strong and broad interest in ideas - why people do what they do. Many of the fundamental concepts which guided the formation of our nation took root and matured in Virginia. These are concepts which fascinate Dick and have motivated him to study Virginia History and to demonstrate its relevance to us today. Most recently, Dick has been busy presenting himself as John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas and savior of the English Colony which became the USA, whom he is directly descended from fourteen generations ago. Dick also portrays President John Tyler, one of America's most principled leaders who today is unfortunately poorly known, Richard Henry Lee, the patriot for liberty who made the declaration for independence from which Jefferson's written document followed and, now for the bicentennial, Captain Meriwether Lewis the hero who opened the American West.