renehan

NORTH KINGSTOWN — A brain disorder drove historian Edward Renehan Jr. to record an album with folk legend Pete Seeger, work with New York publishers and write six books, including one on the Kennedys, the author says.

But that same illness –– diagnosed last year as bipolar disorder –– may have pushed Renehan to steal and sell rare letters written by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, a federal crime that could send him to jail or force him to pay up to $250,000 in fines.

In federal court in Manhattan last week, Renehan admitted to stealing the letters from a New York vault. He sold the letters through Swann Galleries for $97,000. Prosecutors said he stole them from the Theodore Roosevelt Association in Oyster Bay on Long Island between January 2006 and October 2007.

“When I look back at what a madman I was … I’m stunned at what I did,” said the 51-year-old author, who works in a book-crowded basement in his ranch house in North Kingstown. “The manic behavior is your enemy, but it’s also who you are.”

Renehan was the acting director of the association when he stole one letter handwritten by President Lincoln on March 1, 1840, and two letters by President Washington, one written on Aug. 9, 1791, and another on Dec. 29, 1778, said New York U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia.

The critically acclaimed biographer faces a fine and up to 30 months under federal sentencing guidelines, said his lawyer, Peter Brill. He will also have to pay restitution. Sentencing is set for Aug. 21.

Brill yesterday said he will seek leniency.

Renehan’s condition, combined with family issues and other stresses , clouded his judgment, he said. The author has no prior record.

“We don’t really think jail is appropriate under the circumstances,” said Brill. “This was a single aberrant act in an otherwise honorable life.” Renehan apologized during his plea and told his family, friends and colleagues he was sorry.

The writer and former Scout leader also faces charges in Nassau County for stealing a fourth letter by Roosevelt. He is due back in Nassau County court on June 13.

Renehan this week said he didn’t need the money, but instead was riding a manic high that made him feel invincible and reckless.

Although he won’t talk about specific charges, he says his manic episodes leave him feeling “invulnerable and answerable to no one.” There is a temptation to “skate near the edge and break the rules."

Dr. Mark Zimmerman, a psychiatrist at Rhode Island Hospital, said yesterday he could not diagnose Renehan’s actions. But they are consistent with someone with bipolar disorder, he said.

Such individuals “do things that are reckless. They don’t show good judgment,” Zimmerman said. “That doesn’t mean,” he added, “that everyone who does something reckless is bipolar.”

Renehan says his 2007 diagnosis explains much about his troubled childhood on the South Shore of Long Island. His father, who drank, probably suffered from the same disorder, he said.

Eager to escape, buoyed by manic energy, Renehan at 13 took guitar lessons.

By 20 he was good enough to play with Seeger and Don McLean, who wrote “American Pie.”

“It’s symbolic of how I approached everything,” said Renehan.

As a young man he worked for several New York publishing firms, where he launched books on computers and the Internet.

His first book, a biography of John Burroughs, the American naturalist, was published in 1992.

He wrote five more books, including Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt and Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons.

Phil Roosevelt, assistant managing editor at Barron’s, became a fan. “He’s a very thorough researcher. He’s a better storyteller than most historians,” said Roosevelt, a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

At one point Renehan even suggested that Roosevelt write about Gould, the Gilded Age speculator. “He’s a very decent guy,” Roosevelt said.

But James Bruns, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, said yesterday that bipolar disorder doesn’t excuse the former director’s actions. “My concern is that he did not steal one time,” but several times, he said. He consigned the stolen letters to a seller and cashed the checks “multiple times,” he said.

The Association, which believes more items are missing, will try to recover them in civil court, Bruns said.

Renehan, a freelance book reviewer, has written pieces for The Providence Journal, including a recent review of Manic: A Memoir, a look at bipolar disorder by Terri Cheney, a Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer.

“For someone who was wrestled with the same demons, Cheney’s book reeks with scary deja vu,” Renehan wrote in February. “It’s all here: The sudden, unexpected, rapid-cycling flights into sadness, fits of rage, or mad schemes.”

As a result of his new medication, Renehan said he no longer writes with the same confidence and bravado he once did.

“I’m more reflective now,” he said, “which may be a good thing.”

pdavis@projo.com