Cyril Edwin Black
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Cyril Edwin Black (September 10, 1915,
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– July 18, 1989,
Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...
) was a professor of history and international affairs, specializing in the modern history of Eastern Europe and, in particular, Russian history since 1700.


Biography

The son of Floyd Henson Black, president of Istanbul's Robert College, and Zarafinka Kirova Black, a native of Bulgaria, Cyril E. Black grew up in Turkey and Bulgaria. The family moved from Istanbul to
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, Bulgaria in 1926. Cyril E. Black received secondary education at the
American College of Sofia The American College of Sofia (ACS) (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: ) is a school in Bulgaria, located in the capital city of Sofia.The college was founded in 1860 and is regarded as the oldest American educational institution outside the United S ...
and then returned to the United States to attend
Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
. After study from 1934 to 1935 at
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's University of Franche-Comté and in the summer of 1935 at the
University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
, he graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree from Duke University. At
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
he graduated with a master's degree in 1937 and a Ph.D. in 1941. Black began teaching history at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in 1939 and went on leave of absence during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. From 1943 to 1946 he served with the
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in Washington and
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
. During the Second World War, the
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created a Foreign Service Auxiliary, in which Black became an officer and from 1944 to 1945 served as an aide to the U.S. Political Adviser on the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria. Journalist Mark Foster Ethridge (1896–1981) was sent on several fact-finding missions from 1945 to 1947 by the U.S. State Department to several Balkan countries and also the Soviet Union. In autumn 1945 Black was in Bulgaria, Romania, and the Soviet Union as adviser to the Etheridge Mission that was sent to report on the implementation of the Yalta Declaration. Black, along with other officials, was later charged with
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
by the Bulgarian government, but he dismissed the charge as "a complete fabrication." In 1946, Black returned to Princeton University to inaugurate Princeton's course on Russian history for undergraduates and continued to teach the course until the 1970s. His course was an inspiration to James A. Baker III. Black was promoted to full professor in 1954. In 1958, he was a member of the U.S. delegation of observers in the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, where he met
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
. From 1968 to 1986 he was the director of the Center of International Studies. In addition to modern Russian history he taught courses on comparative modernization and comparative modernization. At Princeton University he held from 1961 to 1970 the Duke Professorship of Modern History, from 1973 to 1983 the Shelby Cullom Davis Professorship of European History, and from 1983 to 1986 the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professorship. He retired as professor emeritus in 1986. According to the economist John Cavanagh, Black was one of (at least) five Princeton University professors who were paid consultants for the CIA. Black was the co-author or co-editor of a number of monographs and collections concerning Russia and the Soviet Union, world politics, and the international legal order. His papers are at the Princeton University Library. A resident of
Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...
, he died there on July 18, 1989. He was married to Corinne Manning Black. Upon his death he was survived by his widow, a son, a daughter, and a granddaughter.


Books authored by C. E. Black

* * ''Understanding Soviet Politics: The Perspective of Russian History'' (1986)


Books edited or coauthored by C. E. Black

* ''Challenge in Eastern Europe'' (1954); * ''Rewriting Russian History'' (1956); * ''Soviet Interpretation of Russia’s Past'' (1956); * ''American Teaching About Russia'' (1959); * ''The Transformation of Russian Society: Aspects of Social Change Since 1861'' (1960); * ''Communism and Revolution: The Strategic Uses of Political Violence'' (1964); * ''The Modernization of Japan and Russia'' (1975).


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Cyril Edwin 1915 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians American people of Bulgarian descent Duke University alumni Harvard University alumni People from Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University faculty