Background
The son of William Henry Dudley and his wife Dorothy Lawson Dudley, he attended Williams College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958.
The son of William Henry Dudley and his wife Dorothy Lawson Dudley, he attended Williams College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958.
Williams College; Columbia University.
From 1995 to 2004. After graduation, he joined the United States Naval Reserve serving from 1959 to 1963 in the grades of ensign to lieutenant. On leaving active service, Dudley became a history teacher at Poly Preparatory Country Day School in Brooklyn, New York, while also earning his Master of Arts degree in history at Columbia University, between 1963 and 1966. In 1970, Southern Methodist University appointed him assistant professor of history.
He remained there until 1977, when the Naval Historical Center appointed him a supervisory historian.
Dudley began work on the series "Naval Documents of the American Revolution," beginning with volume 8, under its editor Doctor William J. Morgan. In 1982, Dudley succeeded Morgan as Head, Early History Branch from 1982–1990, during which period he initiated a similar series for the War of 1812, and then succeeded Morgan again as Senior Historian, 1990-1995.
In 1995, the Navy Department selected Dudley for an Senior Executive Service appointment to succeed Doctor Dean C. Allard as Director of Naval History. Dudley held this post until his retirement in December 2004.
Dudley served as president of the American Revolution Roundtable in 1987, president of the Society for History in the Federal Government in 1989-1990, and president of the North American Society for Oceanic History, 1999-2003.
United States Ship Constitution Museum, Samuel Eliot Morison Award, 1993.
Completing his master"s degree in 1966 with a thesis on "Pedro de Angelis, 1784-1859: journalist, historian and propagandist", he went on to work on his doctorate, which he completed in 1972 with a dissertation on "Reform and radicalism in the Brazilian Army, 1870-1889".
He has been elected a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, a director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum, and a member of the Maryland Advisory Committee on Archaeology.