Barbara A. Perry, a well-known authority on the Kennedys, is Gerald L. Baliles Professor and director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, where she co-directs the Presidential Oral History Program. As part of her extensive research on the American presidency, she interviews prominent members of previous administrations. She has authored or edited fourteen books including Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch and Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier, among other works.