Background
John Tyler Caldwell was born on December 9, 1911 in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
John Tyler Caldwell was born on December 9, 1911 in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
From Duke University in 1936, and a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University in 1939 as a Julius Rosenwald Fellow.
He received a B.S. from Mississippi State College in 1932, an M.A. He was a professor of political science at Holmes Junior College from 1932–1936 and was a professor at Vanderbilt University from 1939-1947. Meanwhile, Caldwell also entered the US Navy as an Ensign in 1942 to serve in World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the Battle of Okinawa. He left the Navy in 1946 as a Lt.
Commander. Caldwell was named president of the University of Montevallo in Alabama in 1947. After leaving Montevallo in 1951, he served as president of the University of Arkansas. Here, he supervised the development and expansion of the University's Graduate school and saw the beginning of the process of racial integration.
In 1959, Caldwell was named the eighth chancellor of North Carolina State University. During his tenure, the university established the School of Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics and the School of Liberal Arts. After his retirement from the office in 1975 Caldwell continued to teach in the Department of Political Science.
Caldwell died in Raleigh, North Carolina at the age of 83. The NC State Alumni Association established the John T. Caldwell Alumni Scholarship Program (later called the Caldwell Fellows) in 1977 to recruit outstanding high school seniors to NC State. NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center serves as the repository for John Tyler Caldwell's manuscript papers and University Archives.
Additionally, the North Carolina Humanities Council named its highest honor after Caldwell.
He wrote two volumes of autobiography which recount his early life growing up in Belfast, his early career as a mariner and his political development, as well as his close involvement with Aldred and the United Socialist Movement. Caldwell joined Aldred's United Socialist Movement (USM) shortly after its inception in 1934, eventually becoming secretary. He was closely involved in the group's agitational work in support of anarchism in Spain before becoming – along with Jenny Patrick and Ethel MacDonald – a full-time "family" member of Aldred's Strickland Press when it was set up in 1939.
Part One of a discussion with J. T. Caldwell on the history of anarchism in Glasgow (Audio available as Ogg, MP3, Streaming MP3 or WMA >22MB)
Part Two of a discussion with J. T. Caldwell on the history of anarchism in Glasgow (Audio available as Ogg, MP3, Streaming MP3 or WMA >22MB).
Photograph (ref 56077305) from the Burrell Collection Photo Library shows members of the USM in 1938(?) with John Taylor Caldwell (extreme right) and Guy Aldred (6th from right).