Background

Robert Francis Byrnes was born on December 30, 1917 in Waterville, New York, United States. He was the son of Michael Joseph Byrnes and Pauline (Albicker) Byrnes.

Education

Robert Byrnes attained Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating from Amherst College in 1939. He continued his studies and in 1940 obtained Master of Arts degree at Harvard University. Seven years later, in 1947, Byrnes became a Doctor of Philosophy. In 1964 he got Doctor of Hebrew Literature degree at Amherst College. Three years later, Byrnes attained Doctor of Literature degree, graduating from St. Mary's College.

Career

Byrnes started his career in 1943, working as an economic analyst at Foreign Economic Administration, a post he held till 1944, when Robert went on to serve at Military Intelligence. In 1945 he was appointed an instructor at Swarthmore College, where he served until 1946. The same year, in 1946, Byrnes started to work as a visiting lecturer at the same college, a position he held until 1948. Beginning from 1946 to 1953 he was an assistant to associate professor at Rutgers University.

Robert also served as a senior fellow of Columbia University from 1948 till 1950.

Since 1951 Byrnes worked at Central Intelligence Agency. Three years later, in 1954, he was appointed a director of Mid-European Studies Center in New York, United States, a post Robert held till 1956, when he started to serve as a professor of history at Indiana University. Robert Byrnes held the post to 1967.

Robert was a chairman of history department at Indiana University from 1958 to 1965, when he became the first director of the university's International Affairs Center, a post he held till 1967.

He founded the Russian and East European Institute in 1959, directing it until 1963, and again from 1971 to 1975, as it grew into a leading American study center.

Robert Byrnes was appointed a distinguished professor of history at Indiana University in 1967. The same year he started to serve as a trustee of Alverno College, where Byrnes worked to 1976. In 1975 Robert was promoted to the president of Alverno College for just one year. From 1968 till 1974 he held the position of trustee at Boston College. The following year, Robert began to work at Radio Liberty, where he stayed for seven years.

In 1981 Robert Francis Byrnes was appointed a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a position he held during the next six years. In 1988 he became a research fellow at Australian National University, where Byrnes stayed for one year.

Byrnes was the author and editor of several writings. The most famous of them are Anti-Semitism in Modern France: The Prologue of the Dreyfus Affair, Bibliogrpahy of American Publications on East Central Europe, U.S. Policy Toward Eastern Europe And The Soviet Union: Selected Essays, 1956-1988 and others.

Achievements

• Robert Francis Byrnes was mostly known as a founder of the Russian and East European Institute.

Works

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  • Antisemitism in modern France 1950
  • Bibliography of American Publications on East Central Europe, 1945-1957 1957
  • Pobedonostsev: His life and thought 1968
  • The United States and Eastern Europe 1957
  • A History of Russian and East European Studies in the United States 1994
  • V. O. Kliuchevskii, Historian of Russia 1995
  • Between Two Fires: Kliuchevskii on Religion and the Russian Orthodox Church 1990
  • Soviet-American Academic Exchanges, 1958-75 1976

Membership

Robert was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies.

• American History Association , United States

  1963 - 1967

• American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies , United States

  1978 - 1979

• 

  Institute for Advanced Study , United States

  1950

• The Hoover Institution at Stanford University , United States

  1989 - 1995

• Guggenheim Foundation , United States

  1953

• American Council of Learned Societies , United States

  1962 - 1963

Connections

Robert Byrnes married Eleanor Frances Jewell on June 6, 1942. The couple had 7 children – Shaun, Sheila Byrnes Bowles, Sally Byrnes Neylon, Susan Byrnes Wallace, Robin Byrnes Huntington, Charles and James.

Father:

Michael Joseph Byrnes

Mother:

Pauline (Albicker) Byrnes

child:

Shaun Byrnes

child:

Sheila Byrnes Bowles

child:

Sally Byrnes Neylon

child:

Susan Byrnes Wallace

child:

Robin Byrnes Huntington

child:

Charles Byrnes

child:

James Byrnes

Wife:

Eleanor Frances Jewell