Walter Allan McDougall (born December 3, 1946, in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
) is an American historian, currently a professor of history and the Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
.
McDougall graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree from
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
and fought in
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
before completing his Ph.D. degree from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1974.
He was a visiting scholar at the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...
, and a fellow at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topi ...
and the
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...
of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
. He also received an
Earhart Foundation
The Earhart Foundation was an American conservative private charitable foundation that funded research and scholarship since its founding in 1929 by oil executive Harry Boyd Earhart. Richard Ware served as the Foundation's longtime president.
Hi ...
Fellowship. He was a professor at 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 ...
for 13 years before moving to Pennsylvania.
He is a senior fellow at the
Foreign Policy Research Institute
The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) is an American think tank based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that conducts research on geopolitics, international relations, and international security in the various regions of the world and on eth ...
and also an editor of ''Orbis'', the quarterly journal of world affairs published by the institute.
Works
McDougall is the author of many books on history. In 1986 he received the
Pulitzer Prize for History
The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the histor ...
for his 1985 book ''
...the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age'',
in which he examined the space programs and the politics of the US, Europe and the USSR, arguing that the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
made its way into space first because it was the world's first technocracy, which he defines as "the institutionalization of technological change for state purpose". He also examined the growth of a
political economy
Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
of technology in the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In 2016, he published ''The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy.''
McDougall's first book was ''France's Rhineland Diplomacy, 1914–1924: The Last Bid for a Balance of Power in Europe'' (1978). In 1984 he co-edited ''The Grenada Papers''. He also published ''Let the Sea Make a Noise: A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur'' in 1993 and ''Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter With the World Since 1776'' in 1997.
In 2004 he published ''Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585–1828'', in which he described the United States as "the central event of the past four hundred years", showing that with their historically unequaled freedom Americans found various ways to satisfy both their good and bad desires. In 2008 he published ''Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829–1877'', in which he covered all the major events and social forces of the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
era.
Walter A. McDougall was a brother of the
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest Fraternities and sororities, fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active Colony (fraternity or sorority), colonies across No ...
fraternity (Sigma chapter) and a
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
veteran.
McDougall and his wife, the former Jonna Van Zanten have two children, Angela and Christopher, and reside in
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr (, from Welsh language, Welsh for 'big hill') is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania, U.S. ...
. His interests include books, music from
J.S. Bach to
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
, chess, baseball, bridge, golf and
C.S. Lewis
CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to:
Job titles
* Chief Secretary (Hong Kong)
* Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces
* Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...
.
References
External links
Walter A. McDougall, Department of History. Profile on Penn Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDougall, Walter A.
1946 births
Living people
Amherst College alumni
Historians of the United States
Historians of technology
Pulitzer Prize for History winners
University of Chicago alumni
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
University of Pennsylvania faculty
University of Pennsylvania historians
People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Fellows of the Earhart Foundation
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians from Pennsylvania
Historians from California
20th-century American male writers