Robert Hugh Ferrell
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Robert Hugh Ferrell (May 8, 1921 – August 8, 2018) was an American historian. He authored more than 60 books on topics including the U.S. presidency,
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy. One of the country's leading historians, Ferrell was widely considered the preeminent authority on the administration of
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
, and also wrote books about half a dozen other 20th-century presidents. He was thought by many in the field to be the "dean of American diplomatic historians", a title he disavowed.


Early life and education

Ferrell was born in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, in 1921 to Ernest and Edna Ferrell. His mother was a schoolteacher; his father was a World War I veteran whose career as a banker kept the family moving throughout Ohio during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. The family settled in Waterville, Ohio, where Ferrell's father managed the First National Bank and Ferrell and his brother Ernest Jr. went to high school. The Ferrell home was located at 29 N. 4th Street. A pianist, Ferrell studied music and education at
Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...
in Ohio before serving in the
U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
during the
Second World War 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 ...
as a chaplain's assistant and staff sergeant. His wartime experience in Europe compelled him to change his vocation to the study of history, inspired also by reading the works of historian and fellow Ohioan Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr.,
Ida Tarbell Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857January 6, 1944) was an American writer, Investigative journalism, investigative journalist, List of biographers, biographer, and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers and reformers of the Progre ...
, and
Allan Nevins Joseph Allan Nevins (May 20, 1890 – March 5, 1971) was an American historian and journalist, known for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and ...
. After the war, he received a B.S. in education from Bowling Green in 1946 and a second bachelor's degree in history in 1947. At
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, Ferrell earned a master's degree in 1948 and a Ph.D. in 1951, working under the direction of
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning historian
Samuel Flagg Bemis Samuel Flagg Bemis (October 20, 1891 – September 26, 1973) was an American historian and biographer. For many years he taught at Yale University. He was also president of the American Historical Association and a specialist in American dip ...
. A student of the
Kellogg–Briand Pact The Kellogg–Briand Pact or Pact of Paris – officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy – is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war t ...
, a 1928 international agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve their disputes, his dissertation ''The United States and the Origins of the Kellogg–Briand Pact'', won Yale's
John Addison Porter Prize The John Addison Porter Prize is a literary award given annually by Yale University to the best work of scholarship in any field "where it is possible, through original effort, to gather and relate facts or principles, or both, and to present the ...
for original scholarship.


Academic career

A longer version of the dissertation became his first book, '' Peace in Their Time: The Origins of the Kellogg-Briand Pact'', which went on to win the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
's 1952
George Louis Beer Prize The AHA Prize in European International History, formerly named the George Louis Beer Prize, is an award given by the American Historical Association for the best book in European international history from 1895 to the present written by a United S ...
. "This may not be the last book on the subject, but it should be," wrote historian Richard W. Leopold of Northwestern University. Ferrell was an intelligence analyst in the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...
in Washington, D.C., during the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. After leaving the Air Force, he taught at
Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...
in 1952–53. He then moved to
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
in Bloomington, where he taught for many years, starting as an
assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
in 1953 and rising to distinguished professor of history in 1974. He held several notable visiting professorships, including Yale in 1955–56 and the
University of Cairo Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...
in 1958–59, the universities of
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
and
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
in the late 1950s, and the
Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...
in 1974. In 1971, he was elected the fourth president of the
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) was founded in 1967 in order to "promote excellence in research and teaching of American foreign relations history and to facilitate professional collaboration among scholars and s ...
(SHAFR). He made nine appearances on
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
to discuss his books and historical events, and was a featured expert in the
History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...
's 2005 documentary series '' The Presidents''. In a 2000 ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' article, Ferrell ranked
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
, Truman and
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
as the three best presidents in history.


Teaching and academic legacy

Ferrell considered teaching a core part of his career, and worked to improve the quality of history teaching in general. In 1964, working with Maurice Glen Baxter and John E. Wiltz, he conducted a thorough survey of every high-school history teacher and school librarian in Indiana, writing up their findings along with detailed suggestions to help unprepared teachers in the 1964 book ''The Teaching of American History in High Schools''. He supervised 35 Ph.D. students from 1961 to 1988. Many of his students became history professors themselves. His students, both Ph.D. and otherwise, included Eugene P. Trani, former president of
Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...
; ''
American Spectator ''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell (the current editor-in ...
'' founder
Emmett Tyrrell Robert Emmett Tyrrell Jr. (born December 14, 1943) is an American conservative magazine editor, book author and columnist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of '' The American Spectator'' and writes with the byline "R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr." Ba ...
; William B. Pickett, a professor emeritus of history at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana and author of '' Eisenhower Decides To Run''; historian and author Arnold A. Offner, past president of SHAFR; Reginald Horsman, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor and author of ''Race and Manifest Destiny''; Terry H. Anderson, history professor at
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
and author of ''The Pursuit of Fairness: A History of Affirmative Action'';Preview.
/ref> Ross Gregory, history professor at
Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...
and author of ''Walter Hines Page: Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s''; national security and intelligence expert Melvin Goodman, author of ''Whistleblower at the CIA''; Theodore A. Wilson, history professor at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
and author of ''The First Summit: Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941''; and John Garry Clifford, professor of
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
at the
University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...
. After his 1988 retirement, SHAFR named the annual Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize in his honor for distinguished scholarship in the field. More than a dozen of his former students, all historians in their own right, compiled the book ''Presidents, Diplomats, and Other Mortals: Essays Honoring Robert H. Ferrell'' to recognize his achievements in the field.


Published works

Ferrell wrote prolifically, sharing with Bemis a disapproval of what they called "one-book men" who stopped writing after finishing a Ph.D. dissertation. He published 25 books before his 1988 retirement from teaching, and before his death had produced more than 60. His prose was "expressed with grace and economy, nda light wit," wrote historian Lawrence Kaplan. After the publication of ''Peace in Their Time'', his early works included influential history textbooks ''American Diplomacy in the Great Depression'' and ''American Diplomacy: A History'', the latter of which was republished in expanded and revised editions three times in the ensuing decades. He continued to work closely with his mentor Bemis, co-editing the later volumes of the series ''American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy'' which Bemis had begun in the 1920s, and also writing the entries on Frank B. Kellogg,
Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and Demo ...
, and
George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under pres ...
. He helped edit Bemis' Pulitzer-winning 1949 biography, ''John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy'', and catalyzed the publication of a 1957 paperback edition of Bemis' ''The Diplomacy of the American Revolution''. Ferrell was also notable for the thoroughness and depth of his research, with a knack for finding obscure or unpublished diaries, memoirs, and letters which would then become central elements of his books, such as the papers of Coolidge-era assistant secretary of state
William Castle William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for the horror film, horror and thriller film, thriller B movie, B-movies he directed durin ...
, which greatly informed ''Peace in Their Time''. Editing and publishing the diaries and private letters of persons of historical interest, from presidents to ordinary soldiers, became a specialty of his, with nearly two dozen such books to his name, including presidents Truman,
Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...
,
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
(and his wife
Grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uni ...
) and
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
, White House staffers James Hagerty,
Frank Comerford Walker Frank Comerford Walker (May 30, 1886 – September 13, 1959) was an American lawyer and politician. He was the United States Postmaster General from 1940 until 1945, and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1943 until 1944. Biog ...
,
Arthur F. Burns Arthur Frank Burns (April 27, 1904 – June 26, 1987) was an American economist and diplomat who served as the 10th chair of the Federal Reserve, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978. He previously chaired the Council of Economic Ad ...
and Eben Ayers, and soldiers in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, World Wars I and II, the
Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
, and the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
. Not content to be a passive chronicler of history, Ferrell would often, when he felt a topic merited it, engage in spirited critique of other historians' interpretations of past events. In the influential 1955 article "Pearl Harbor and the Revisionists," he argued against the conspiracy theory that Franklin Roosevelt had deliberately allowed Japan to commit the surprise attack that drew the U.S. into World War II. His book ''Harry S. Truman and the Cold War Revisionists'' argued against post-1960s
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...
historians' critiques of the Truman era. Reactions to the book were divided: Writing for
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...
's
H-Net __NOTOC__ H-Net ("Humanities & Social Sciences Online") is an interdisciplinary forum for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. It is best known for hosting electronic mailing lists organized by academic disciplines; according to the or ...
, Curt Cardwell felt that Ferrell misunderstood the arguments of the younger generation he criticized and was "condescending," while Alonzo L. Hamby's review in ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' called the book "restrained and gentlemanly" and noted that Ferrell viewed prominent revisionist
William Appleman Williams William Appleman Williams (June 12, 1921 – March 5, 1990) was one of the 20th century's most prominent revisionist historians of American diplomacy. He achieved the height of his influence while on the faculty of the department of history at t ...
as a friend. In a 1995 article in '' American Heritage'', he accused Merle Miller, author of the bestselling book ''Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry. S. Truman'', of fabricating many of the quotes attributed to Truman. In 1998's '' The Dying President'', Ferrell examined
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's medical records and concluded that Roosevelt had deliberately chosen to keep the cardiovascular disease which would soon kill him secret from the public. The book was praised by historian
John Lukacs John Adalbert Lukacs (; Hungarian: ''Lukács János Albert''; January 31, 1924 – May 6, 2019) was a Hungarian-born American historian and author of more than thirty books. Lukacs described himself as a reactionary In politics, a reactionar ...
as “painstaking and exceptionally researched … sparklingly well-written, bearing the marks of a master historian” and one of the most important books on Roosevelt by any historian.


Harry S. Truman

Ferrell wrote voluminously on Truman, devoting more than a dozen books to his life and presidency. Ferrell's work rehabilitated the reputation of the Truman presidency, which had been previously considered a failure by scholars, by providing evidence of how decisions such as Truman's choice to champion the
Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...
led to the successful establishment of an American-led post-war world order. Although it was overshadowed by the popular success of
David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United S ...
's Pulitzer-winning Truman biography, Ferrell's 1994 '' Harry S. Truman: A Life'' was considered a masterwork by scholars in his field. Historian Lawrence Kaplan called it "the height of his achievement," with far more detailed analysis than McCullough's book. Ferrell's discovery of a cache of hundreds of letters from Truman to his wife, previously thought to have been burned, led to his 1983 book '' Dear Bess: The Letters From Harry to Bess Truman, 1910–1959'', a New York Times bestseller. Coincidentally, Ferrell and Truman were born on the same day, May 8.


World War I

World War I was a special interest of Ferrell's—in particular the 1918 Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest and bloodiest U.S. operation of the war, in which Ferrell's father and then-Capt. Harry Truman both served. His books on the conflict include ''America's Deadliest Battle'', ''Collapse at Meuse-Argonne'', and a profile of the
American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...
' only African-American division, ''Unjustly Dishonored'', as well as several edited memoirs of soldiers who served in it. One of his final books, 2008's ''The Question of MacArthur's Reputation'', painstakingly reconstructed the events of the Meuse-Argonne, a victory which helped launch the career of Gen.
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
, to prove that MacArthur had lied about his role in the battle to embellish his prestige and take undeserved credit, which has since been proved as mostly baseless.


Awards

In addition to the
John Addison Porter Prize The John Addison Porter Prize is a literary award given annually by Yale University to the best work of scholarship in any field "where it is possible, through original effort, to gather and relate facts or principles, or both, and to present the ...
and
George Louis Beer Prize The AHA Prize in European International History, formerly named the George Louis Beer Prize, is an award given by the American Historical Association for the best book in European international history from 1895 to the present written by a United S ...
for his early work on the Kellogg-Briand Pact, Ferrell received the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations' Norman and Laura Graebner Award in 1998, which recognizes distinguished lifetime achievement by a senior historian of United States foreign relations. In 2002, Ferrell was given the
Society for Military History The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
's Distinguished Book Award for editing a trio of memoirs by soldier William S. Triplet, ''A Youth in the Meuse-Argonne'', ''A Colonel in the Armored Divisions'', and ''In the Philippines and Okinawa''.


Personal life and death

His wife, Lila, died in 2002. They had a daughter, Carolyn. He was an inveterate collector of books, owning more than 10,000 volumes. He died of heart disease in
Chelsea, Michigan Chelsea is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,467 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The area was first settled as early as 1820 within the Michigan Terri ...
at age 97. Ferrell's papers, writings and correspondence, comprising 200,000 items, are archived at Indiana University's
Lilly Library The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library contained a collection of 20,000 bo ...
.


Bibliography


As primary author


As editor


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrell, Robert H. 1921 births 2018 deaths Writers from Cleveland Historians of the United States Academics from Indiana Historians from Indiana American historians American biographers 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians Presidents of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Historians of World War I American historians of World War II Cold War historians Political historians American military historians International relations historians Bowling Green State University alumni Yale University alumni Indiana University Bloomington faculty United States Army Air Forces soldiers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Harry S. Truman 20th-century American male writers Military personnel from Cleveland