William Leonard Langer

Background

William Leonard Langer was born in Boston, Massachussets, the son of Karl Rudolf Langer, a florist, and Johanna Rockenbach.

Education

He attended Harvard University, from which he received the B. A. in 1915, the M. A. in 1920, and the Ph. D. in history in 1923.

Career

Langer began his teaching career at Worcester Academy (1915 - 1917) and continued it at Clark University as assistant professor of history (1923 - 1925) and associate professor (1925 - 1927). He moved to Harvard University as assistant professor (1927 - 1931), associate professor (1931 - 1936), Coolidge Professor of History (1936 - 1964), and emeritus in 1964. During his association with Harvard and as an early advocate of regional studies, he served as founder and director of the Harvard Russian Research Center (1954 - 1959) and the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies (1954 - 1956); he was also a friend of and guide for the Harvard-Yenching Institute for Chinese and Far Eastern Studies and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research. Langer was visiting professor and lecturer at the University of Chicago (1926), Columbia University (1931), Yale University (1933), and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (1933-1934, 1936 - 1941).

As a soldier in World War I, in the St. -Mihiel and Argonne engagements, Langer rose from private to sergeant. A member of the Board of Analysts, Office of Coordinator of Information (1941 - 1942), he became chief of the Research and Analysis Branch, Office of Strategic Services (1942 - 1945), special assistant for intelligence analysis to the secretary of state (1946), and assistant director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1950 - 1952). After 1952, Langer served as a consultant to the CIA. In all, he spent thirty years dealing with the problems and organization of foreign intelligence including nine years on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1961 - 1969).

In 1935 Langer published his book The Diplomacy of Imperialism. His view was that Hitler's Mein Kampf was an extraordinary medley of amateur politics and amazing insights into international problems and possibilities, and that Hitler "showed reckless courage in realizing German dreams, nightmarish as some of them were. " He also asserted that Britain and France knew that the 1919 peace settlements reflected not justice but a passion for revenge. Langer later believed Hitler to be a menace to the entire world.

Our Vichy Gamble (1947), written with S. Everett Gleason, vigorously defended American Vichy policy that veered toward Marshal Philippe Pétain and away from General Charles de Gaulle. Langer believed Pétain and Pierre Laval had acted as they thought best for France. The French government, contemplating a libel suit against Langer and Gleason, turned for advice to Allen Dulles and Henry Hyde, former intelligence comrades of Langer's. On their counsel, the libel suit was dropped. Langer also justified American Vichy policy as providing a listening post on the Continent and an opportunity to maintain contact with a traditional ally.

A dispute also arose between Langer and Charles Beard and Harry Elmer Barnes, both isolationists, with respect to World War II. The bones of the argument were in The Challenge to Isolation (1952) and The Undeclared War (1953), both written with S. Everett Gleason. Barnes labeled Langer a "court historian. "

In 1959, Langer was a member of President Eisenhower's Commission on National Goals, on which his responsibility as analyst was the role of the United States in world affairs. Turning to yet another approach to history, Langer published Political and Social Upheaval 1832-1852 (1960), in which he interpreted the extraordinary change and uncertainty of those two decades in demographic terms.

In and Out of the Ivory Tower (1977), Langer's autobiography was offered as a corrective to the student unrest of the 1960's. In it, he sought to remind ahistorical skeptics that the United States was the freest and most rewarding land in history. Langer took pride in his memberships in the American Philosophical Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (Stanford) in its early days. A lifelong enthusiastic golfer, he took delight in his memberships in the Essex and Oakley country clubs. Langer died in Boston.

Achievements

• Langer had a distinguished academic career and was a key figure in the American intelligence community. As president of the American Historical Association (1957), Langer broke new ground in his presidential address, emphasizing the need for deeper study and more extensive reference by historians to the teachings of modern psychology. He edited many books, including a series on European history, a large-scale reference book, and a university textbook. His most significant work was "The Diplomacy of Imperialism" (1935) William Langer was awarded the Bancroft Prize in 1954 for his work "The Undeclared War" (1953).

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Challenge to Isolation: The World Crisis of 1937-1940 and American Foreign Policy

    (Probes the motives and consequences of world policies and...)

  • In and Out of the Ivory Tower: The Autobiography of William L. Langer

    (WILLIAM L. LANGER is the Archibald Cary Coolidge Professo...)

  • Perspectives in Western Civilization: Essays from Horizon

    (Brand new.)

  • The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1890-1894.
  • The Undeclared War, 1940-1941: The World Crisis and American Foreign Policy
  • The Diplomacy of Imperialism
  • An encyclopedia of world history;: Ancient, medieval, and modern, chronologically arranged,

Membership

Member of the American Philosophical Society

Member of the Council on Foreign Relations

Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (Stanford)

Member of the Essex and Oakley country clubs

Connections

Langer married Susanne Katherine Knauth, a philosopher, on September 3, 1921. They had two children. They were divorced in 1942, and he married Rowena Morse Nelson on April 9, 1943.

Father:

Karl Rudolf Langer

Florist

Mother:

Johanna Rockenbach

Spouse:

Susanne Katherine Knauth

Philosopher

Spouse:

Rowena Morse Nelson