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Moses Finley

Sir
Moses I. Finley
Born Moses Isaac Finkelstein
(1912-05-20)20 May 1912
New York City, US
Died 23 June 1986(1986-06-23) (aged 74)
Cambridge, England
Fields
  • ancient history
  • classical history
Alma mater
  • Syracuse University
  • Columbia University
Spouse Mary (née Moscowitz) Thiers

Sir Moses I. Finley FBA, born Moses Isaac Finkelstein (20 May 1912 – 23 June 1986), was an American-born British academic and classical scholar. His prosecution by the McCarran Security Committee led to his move to England, where he became an English classical scholar and eventually master of Darwin College, Cambridge. His most notable work is The Ancient Economy (1973), where he argued that status and civic ideology governed the economy in antiquity rather than rational economic motivations.

Finley was born in 1912 in New York City to Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen. About 1936, he took the surname Finley. He had no second forename, but used the initial 'I'.

He was educated at Syracuse University, where, aged fifteen, he graduated magna cum laude in psychology and Columbia University. Although his M.A. was in public law, most of his published work was in the field of ancient history, especially the social and economic aspects of the classical world.

Finley taught at Columbia University and City College of New York, where he was influenced by members of the Frankfurt School who were working in exile in America. He then taught at Rutgers University.

On 5 September 1951, Dr Karl Wittfogel stated that Finley was a communist while testifying before HUAC. On 28 March 1952, Professor Finley appeared before HUAC and invoked the Fifth Amendment regarding connections to communism. On 26–7 September 1952, Lewis Webster Jones, president of Rutgers University, announced his intention to appoint Trustee and Faculty committees to review the cases of professors involved in government inquiries. On 15 November 1952, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover met with Jones to discuss the cases. On 12 December 1952, Rutger's Board of Trustees resolution declared that, "It shall be cause for immediate dismissal of any member of faculty or staff" to fail to co-operate with government inquiries. On 31 December 1952, Rutgers fired Finley. Rutgers University records show that:


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