Ernest R. May
Ernest R. May | |
---|---|
Born | Ernest Richard May November 19, 1928 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
Died | June 1, 2009 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 80)
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
Known for | The Kennedy Tapes |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Modern American history |
Institutions | Harvard University |
Ernest Richard May (November 19, 1928 – June 1, 2009) was an American historian of
Scholarship
May's PhD dissertation at UCLA in 1951 was on the role of William Jennings Bryan as secretary of state in 1914–1915. It was never published. It was directed by John W. Caughey.[3]
Harvard University
He joined the Harvard University faculty following the completion of his military service in 1954, and remained there full-time until his death.
Books and essays
His first book, The World War and American Isolation 1914-17, published in 1959, was based in part on German government documents and available on microfilm. The book was honored by the American Historical Association with its George Louis Beer Prize, which recognizes the best work each year published on European international history.[4] The book was included on a list of 1,780 books chosen to be included in the White House library.[6]
Together with historian
Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France, published by
May's specialty of studying the effects of intelligence failures led to his role as a senior advisor on the 9/11 Commission, in which he played a role in the preparation of the 604-page report it issued documenting the attacks and offering recommendations for the future.[4]
His final essay addressed the China's peaceful rise as a major world power, a situation that was a major foreign policy turning point for the United States but May believed that war between the two was not inevitable as the decision by the Chinese government to focus on economic growth would allow it to remain at peace with its trading partners.[4]
Personal life
May was born on November 19, 1928, in
A resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, May died at age 80 on June 1, 2009, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, due to complications resulting from cancer surgery.[5] He was survived by Susan Wood, his second wife. Nancy Caughey, his first wife, had died in 2000, and May was survived by their son and two daughters, as well as three grandchildren.[4]
Works
- "The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Far Eastern War, 1941–1945," Pacific Historical Review 24:2 (1955): 153–174. https://doi.org/10.2307/3634575
- "The Development of Political-Military Consultation in the United States." Political Science Quarterly 78#2 1955, pp. 161–180, https://doi.org/10.2307/2145220.
- "The Far Eastern Policy of the United States in the Period of the Russo-Japanese War: A Russian View," American Historical Review 62:2 (1957): 345–351. https://doi.org/10.2307/1845187
- The World War and American Isolation: 1914–1917 (1959) online
- Imperial Democracy: The Emergence of America as a Great Power (1951) online
- American Imperialism: A Speculative Essay (1968) online
- American-East Asian Relations: A Survey (Harvard UP, 1972) online, coeditor
- Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers, (1986)
- The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1997) online
- Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France (2000) online
References
- ^ "Noteworthy People Who Died in 2009 - Newsweek". Archived from the original on 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
- ^ "1988- Richard Neustadt and Ernest May". Archived from the original on 2014-09-13.
- ^ Zelicow, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hevesi, Dennis. "Ernest May, International Relations Expert, Dies at 80", The New York Times, June 6, 2009.
- ^ Harvard University Gazette, June 2, 2009.
- ^ Staff. "The List of 1,780 Titles Compiled by Experts for Inclusion in White House Library", The New York Times, August 16, 1963. Accessed June 15, 2009.
- ^ Weiner, Tim. "Word for Word/The Cuban Missile Crisis.; When Kennedy Faced Armageddon, And His Own Scornful Generals", The New York Times, October 5, 1997. Accessed June 15, 2009.
- ^ Reeves, Richard. "Commentary; Call 'Days' What You Will, but It's Not Quite History", Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2001. Accessed June 15, 2009.
- ^ Stafford, David. "Not Their Finest Hour", The New York Times, September 17, 2000. Accessed June 15, 2009.
- ^ "Fort Worth Native Author of Book", Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas, 79th year, number 25, February 25, 1959, page 24.
Further reading
- Philip Zelikow, Niall Ferguson, Francis J. Gavin, Anne Karalekas, Daniel Sargent. "Forum 31 on the Importance of the Scholarship of Ernest May" H-DIPLO Dec. 17, 2021 online