William Appleman Williams
| William Appleman Williams New Left historian |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
June 12, 1921 near Atlantic, Iowa, USA |
| Died | March 5, 1990 (aged 68) near Corvallis, Oregon |
| Doctoral advisor | Fred Harvey Harrington |
| Other academic advisors | William Best Hesseltine |
| Doctoral students |
Walter LaFeber Thomas J. McCormick Lloyd Gardner Ed Crapol Jim Ranchino |
William Appleman "Bill" Williams (June 12, 1921 near Atlantic, Iowa – March 5, 1990 near Corvallis, Oregon) was one of the 20th century's most prominent revisionist historians of American diplomacy, and has been called "the favorite historian of the Middle American New Left". He achieved the height of his influence while on the faculty of the department of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Williams was born and raised in the small town of Atlantic, Iowa. He attended Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, then earned a degree in engineering at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He graduated and was commissioned an ensign in 1945. After serving in the South Pacific as an executive officer aboard a landing ship, medium, he was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he made plans to become an aviator like his father, who had been in the Army Air Corps until he died in a plane crash in 1929.
A wartime back injury caused enormous pain and stopped his chances at becoming a naval aviator after the war. He requested a medical discharge from the navy in 1946 and moved to University of Wisconsin–Madison to begin graduate studies in 1947. He earned a master's degree and a PhD there and came under the influence of the Beardian historians especially Fred Harvey Harrington, Merle Curti, and Howard K. Beale. After teaching at various other colleges, he returned to Madison in 1957 to teach in the history department.
...
Wikipedia