Robert Warren Tucker (August 25, 1924 – February 7, 2025) was an American realist writer and teacher who served as professor of American Foreign Policy at the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He was a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Life and career

Tucker was born on August 25, 1924. He received his B.S. from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

in 1945 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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 ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in 1949. He was co-editor of ''

The National Interest ''The National Interest'' (''TNI'') is an American bimonthly international relations magazine edited by American journalist Jacob Heilbrunn and published by the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank based in Washington, ...

'' from 1985 to 1990, and president of the Lehrman Institute from 1982 to 1987. During his lifetime, he published essays in ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

'', ''

World Policy Journal ''World Policy Journal'' was the flagship publication of the World Policy Institute, published by Duke University Press. Focusing on international relations, the publication provided left-wing, non-United States-centric perspectives to world issu ...

'', ''The National Interest'', ''

Harpers Harpers may refer to: * Harpers, popular misnomer for ''Harper's Magazine'', American monthly magazine * ''Harper's Bazaar'', monthly American fashion magazine * ''Harpers Wine & Spirit'', formerly ''Harpers Magazine'' (since 1878), British trade ...

'', and ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

''. His 1977 book ''The Inequality of Nations'' is a highly skeptical analysis of the Third World's efforts to redistribute power and wealth in the international system. Tucker died on February 7, 2025, at the age of 100.

Works

Books

*''The law of War and Neutrality at Sea'' (1955) *''The Just War'' (Johns Hopkins, 1960) *''Nation or Empire? The Debate over American Foreign Policy'' (Johns Hopkins, 1968) *
The Radical Left and American Foreign Policy
' (Johns Hopkins, 1971) *''A New Isolationism: Threat or Promise?'' (Universe Books, 1972) *''The Inequality of Nations'' (Basic Books, 1977) *''The Nuclear Debate: Deterrence and the Lapse of Faith'' (Holmes and Meier, 1985) *''Woodrow Wilson and the Great War: Reconsidering America's Neutrality 1914-1917'' (2007)

Co-authored books

With

Hans Kelsen Hans Kelsen (; ; October 11, 1881 – April 19, 1973) was an Austrian and later American jurist, legal philosopher and political philosopher. He is known principally for his theory of law, which he named the " pure theory of law (''Reine Rechts ...

*''Principles of International Law'', 2nd edition (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966) With Robert E. Osgood *''Force, Order and Justice'' (Johns Hopkins, 1967) With David C. Hendrickson *''The Fall of the First British Empire: Origins of the War of American Independence'' (Johns Hopkins, 1982). *''Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson'' (Oxford University Press, 1990) *''The Imperial Temptation: The New World Order and America's Purpose'' (Council on Foreign Relations, 1992)

Papers

"A Test of Power" by Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson ''The National Interest,'' 09.01.2006 "The Sources of American Legitimacy" by Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson ''Foreign Affairs'', November/December 2004

References

External links

Articles at National Interest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Robert W. 1924 births 2025 deaths American men centenarians American foreign policy writers American male non-fiction writers American political scientists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences United States Naval Academy alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty