Walter LaFeber papers

Walter LaFeber (1933, 30 August- 2021, March 9), the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor emeritus at Cornell University was born in Walkerton, Indiana. In 1955, he earned his B.S. from Hanover College and, a year later, his MA from Stanford University. In 1959 he completed his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin, focusing on the revision of US diplomatic history. His dissertation was titled "The Latin American Policy of the Second Cleveland Administration." LaFeber joined Cornell University in 1959, remaining until his retirement. He specialized in American foreign policy.

He was a leading member of the Wisconsin School of American diplomatic history, inspired by William Appleman Williams, suggesting that United States foreign policy was also motivated by imperialism. He is also known for providing widely read revisionist histories of the Cold War.

He is the author and co-author of 20 books. His book, “The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898” (Cornell Univ. Press, 1963), a Beveridge Prize of the American Historical Association Winner, traces the phenomenon of American empire building from 1860 to 1898. Other books include “America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–1966” (Wiley, 1967); “The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective” (Oxford Univ. Press, 1978), “The Creation of American Empire” (as co-author; Rand McNally College Pub), which is an analysis of American diplomacy from 1970 to present; “Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America” (‎W. W. Norton & Company, 1984, revised 1992; Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award); “The Clash: US–Japanese Relations throughout History” (W. W. Norton, 1997; Bancroft Prize, Ellis W. Hawley Prize of the Organization of American Historians); “Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism” (W. W. Norton, 1999), in which basketball is viewed as a metaphor for globalization, and more.

LaFeber participated in historical documentaries, among others, in episodes of The American Experience series from PBS, and broadcasts for television and radio, including the ABC-TV special on the 1984 Winter Olympics, NBC-TV’s “White Paper” on the Middle East, CBS-TV’s Community College Series on U.S. Foreign Policy and National Public Radio’s “Book Corner”.

LaFeber was the first recipient of the Clark Distinguished Teaching Award for junior faculty members teaching undergraduates at Cornell in 1966, and a year later, he gained the Marie Underhill Noll Professorship. In 1976, Professor LaFeber was the first faculty member invited to deliver Cornell’s commencement address, and in 2002 he was named the first Andrew H. and James S. Tisch distinguished professor. He taught long-lasting, reputable courses, such as American Foreign Relations, History of American Foreign Relations, and more. In 2006, almost 3000 Cornellians filled the Beacon Theater in Manhattan in his farewell lecture, titled “A Half-Century of Friends, Foreign Policy and Great Losers”. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (President 1999), and a Guggenheim Fellow (1989). He received the American Historical Association Award for Scholarly Distinction and, in 1971, was named to the American Historical Association's seat on the Department of State Historical Advisory Committee. He also served as editor of several journals, such as the Political Science Quarterly and more. He got married to Sandra Gould in 1955. He had two children, Scott and Suzanne.