Robert F. Goheen

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Robert F. Goheen
United States Ambassador to India
In office
May 26, 1977 – December 10, 1980
PresidentJimmy Carter
Preceded byBill Saxbe
Succeeded byHarry G. Barnes Jr.
Personal details
BornAugust 15, 1919
PhD)
ProfessionAcademic
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
RankLieutenant Colonel
Battles/warsWorld War II

Robert Francis Goheen (August 15, 1919 – March 31, 2008) was an American academic, president of

United States Ambassador to India.[1]

Biography

Robert Francis Goheen was born on August 15, 1919, to Anne (Ewing) and Dr Robert H. H. Goheen in

summa cum laude with an A.B. in classics in 1940 after completing a senior thesis titled "A Study of the Nature and Object of Tragedy."[4]
He was also an avid soccer player.

During World War II, Goheen trained at

Camp Ritchie and became one of many Ritchie Boys. His training as an intelligence officer at Ritchie during the war, in part, helped Goheen reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. He returned to Princeton after the war to pursue graduate studies, earning a Ph.D. in classics in 1948 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "The imagery of Sophocles' Antigone (a study of poetic language and structure)."[5] Goheen was one of the first four students to receive a fellowship from The Institute for Citizens & Scholars
, established at Princeton to encourage war veterans to pursue a career in teaching.

In 1942, Goheen married Margaret Skelly. They had four daughters (Anne, Trudi, Megan, and Elizabeth) and two sons (Stephen and Charley), who gave them 18 grandchildren, including the American novelist Megan Crane.

Goheen was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and the American Philosophical Society in 1986.[6][7]

Princeton University career

Goheen taught classics at Princeton as an assistant professor from 1950 until 1957, when he was appointed the university’s 16th president. He served as president of the university from 1957 to 1972.[8] At 37, he was the youngest man to assume that position since the 18th century. Faced with the social and political challenges of the 1960s, Goheen encouraged student involvement in decision-making processes and initiated active recruitment of minorities, as well as overseeing the admission of women in 1969. The New York Times reported after his death: "Dr. Goheen would eventually build or acquire 38 buildings, increasing the university’s indoor square footage by 80 percent. He quadrupled the budget, doubled alumni giving and increased the number of faculty members by 40 percent. ... The university changed fundamentally under Dr. Goheen’s leadership, going from an establishment cradle to a diversified and complex research university. He attacked the exclusivity of the eating clubs, even opening one to be run by the university. He hired Princeton’s first black administrator and first black full professor and aggressively recruited promising minority students."[1]

Later life

After his retirement from Princeton in 1972, he was named president of the

United States Ambassador to India. He served in the country of his birth from 1977 to 1980.[3]

He returned to Princeton University in 1981, serving on the faculty of the

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He was involved with many activities related to Asia, including a Study Mission to the Philippines in January 1986 sponsored by the Asia Society.[9]

He died in Princeton, New Jersey on March 31, 2008.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Martin, Douglas (April 1, 2008). "Robert F. Goheen, Innovative Princeton President, Is Dead at 88". New York Times. Retrieved January 4, 2010. Robert F. Goheen, who as president of Princeton revolutionized the university by admitting its first women, pursuing minority faculty members, buttressing finances and doubling the space in campus buildings, died on Monday in Princeton, N.J. He was 88. The cause was heart failure, Cass Cliatt, a Princeton spokeswoman said.
  2. . Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Aandahl, Frederick (January 2, 2006). "Interview with Robert F. Goheen". Historical Collections (American Memory), The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. pp. interview date: December 15, 1988. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  4. ^ Goheen, Robert Francis (1940). "A Study of the Nature and Object of Tragedy". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Goheen, Robert F. (1948). The imagery of Sophocles' Antigone (a study of poetic language and structure). Princeton.
  6. ^ "Robert F. Goheen". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  7. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  8. ^ "Robert F. Goheen, 16th president of Princeton, dies at age 88; service set for April 27". Princeton University. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  9. ^ The Philippines: Facing the Future. The Asia Society. 1986. p. 38.

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by
President of Princeton University

1957–1972
Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to India

1977–1980
Succeeded by
Harry G. Barnes, Jr.