Arthur Eugene Bestor, Junior. was a historian of the United States, and during the 1950s a noted critic of American public education.
Background
Bestor was born on September 20, 1908 in Chautauqua, New New York He was the eldest son of Arthur E. Bestor, Senior and Jeannette Lemon. In 1904-1944 his father was the president of the Chautauqua Institution, an educational and religious community in western New York State.
Education
Bestor was raised and educated in Chautauqua and New York City, where he attended the Horace Mann School.
Career
Taught at Teachers College, Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin, Stanford University, and the University of Illinois. In 1963 he joined the faculty of the University of Washington, Seattle, where he taught until his retirement. He was the visiting Harmsworth Professor of American History at Queen"s College, Oxford in 1956-1957, and taught at the University of Tokyo, Rikkyo University (Tokyo), and Doshisha University (Kyoto) as a visiting professor sponsored by the Fulbright Program in 1967.
"s study of New Harmony was published as Backwoods Utopias.
In the mid-1950s, became well known in educational circles as a critic of then-common educational doctrines. Educational Wastelands (1953) was his manifesto about declining educational standards.
From the late 1950s, his scholarly research shifted to issues of the constitutional basis of sovereignty, the war powers clauses of the United States constitution, and the power of impeachment. "The American Civil War as a Constitutional Crisis " () is a much noted and quoted essay of.
Until his death in 1994, he published widely in historical and law journals on constitutional history and was several times invited to testify before Congress on constitutional matters.
At the time of his death he was working on an intellectual history of European philosophical influences on the framers of the United States constitution, with particular focus on the writings of Montaigne. was one of the first specialists on American constitutional law to publicly call for the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, in a piece published in The Nation. Personal life Death He died on December 29, 1994 in Seattle, Washington.
Achievements
Membership
American Historical Assembly.
Connections
Married 1st Dorothea Nolte in 1931 (divorced), 2nd Anne Carr in 1939 (deceased), 3rd Dorothy Alden Koch in 1949.
The Albert J. Beveridge Award was established in 1939 in memory of United States Senator Beveridge of Indiana, former secretary and longtime member of the American Historical Association (AHA), through a gift from his wife, Catherine Beveridge and donations from AHA members from his home state.
The Albert J. Beveridge Award was established in 1939 in memory of United States Senator Beveridge of Indiana, former secretary and longtime member of the American Historical Association (AHA), through a gift from his wife, Catherine Beveridge and donations from AHA members from his home state.