Dr. Mark DePue
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Dr. Mark DePue served as the Director of Oral History at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library from September of 2006 to the end of 2021, a position he inaugurated. To date, the program has collected over 1,100 interviews, with well over one thousand interviews posted onto the Oral History website at www.oralhistory.illinois.gov.
Mark was born in Decorah, Iowa in 1954, and grew up in Waverly, Iowa. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1976 and spent the next twenty-five years in the military. While on active duty, he served as a Field Artillery officer at Fort Carson, Colorado and in South Korea. He joined the Illinois Army National Guard in 1981 while a graduate student at the University of Iowa. Mark served as an Assistant Professor of Military Science at Western Illinois University from 1986-1989, then moved to Springfield, Illinois, working full-time for the Illinois Army National Guard in a variety of command and staff positions until his retirement in early 2001. He commanded the 2nd Battalion, 202nd Air Defense Artillery based in the Chicago area from 1992 to 1995.
Mark earned a Ph.D. in contemporary U.S. history and military history from the University of Iowa in 2004. He is the author of two books, including Patrolling Baghdad: A Military Police Company and the War in Iraq, and since 2008 has given numerous presentations on military history and Illinois politics, many of which are available on the internet.