- William L. Langer
William Leonard Langer (
March 16 1896 –December 26 1977 ) was the chair of thehistory department atHarvard University and theWorld War II volunteer head of the Research and Analysis branch of theOffice of Strategic Services .Born in
South Boston, Massachusetts , he was the second of three sons of recent German immigrants, Charles Rudolph and Johanna (Rockenbach) Langer. His elder brother Rudolph Langer became a distinguishedmathematician and younger brother Walter Charles Langer, a renownedpsychoanalyst .In 1921 he married the philosopher Susanne Knauth Langer.When William was only three years old, his father died unexpectedly, leaving the family in difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, his mother, who supported the family by working as a dressmaker, made education a priority for her children. After studying at the Boston Latin School, William Langer attended Harvard University. Being fluent in German, he then taught German at Worcester Academy while furthering his own education with courses on
international relations atClark University .His job and education were interrupted by service in the
United States Army on the frontlines inFrance duringWorld War I . After the war, he returned to his studies and obtained hisPh.D. in 1923.He then taught Modern European history at Clark University for four years before accepting an assistant professorship at Harvard. In 1936, Langer was appointed the first incumbent of the
Archibald Coolidge chair.With the help of other scholars during the 1930s, Langer completely revised the "
Epitome of History " by German Scholar Dr. Karl Ploetz. Langer’s massive work was published in 1940 under the title "An Encyclopedia of World History " ( [http://www.bartleby.com/67/preface2.html] ). Its fifth edition (1972) is the last to be edited by Langer.Peter N. Stearns and thirty other prominent historians edited the sixth edition, published in 2001. Stearns paid tribute to Langer's great achievement in the introduction to the new edition.Following America's involvement in
World War II , William Langer was asked by the U.S. government to volunteer his skills with the newOffice of Strategic Services (OSS). Langer served as chief of Research and Analysis Branch with the OSS until the end of the war after which he was appointed special assistant for intelligence analysis to the U.S. Secretary of State,James F. Byrnes . In 1950, Langer organized the office of National Estimates in the newly establishedCentral Intelligence Agency . Langer then returned to academia, but from 1961 to 1977 he served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.Post-war, both Harvard and
Yale University awarded William LangerLL.D. degrees as did theUniversity of Hamburg in 1955. Among his many involvements, Dr. Langer served as president of theAmerican Historical Association for 1957.Writings
* "An
Encyclopedia of World History : Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged". © 1972, 1968, 1952, 1948, & 1940.
* "The Franco-Russian Alliance 1890-1894" (1929)
* "European Alliances and Alignments 1870-1890" (1931)
* "The Diplomacy of Imperialism" (1935) (two volumes)
* "Our Vichy Gamble" (1947)
* "The Challenge to Isolation, 1937-1940" (1952) withS. Everett Gleason
* "The Undeclared War, 1940-1941" (1953) withS. Everett Gleason
* "Political and Social Upheaval, 1832-1852" (1969)
*"A psychological analysis of Adolph Hitler: His life and legend." M.O. Branch, Office of Strategic Services. (1943) ASIN B0007F56QQExternal links
* [http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/langer.html Harvard Square Library biography of William L. Langer]
References
*"In and Out of the Ivory Tower: The Autobiography of William L. Langer" (Neele Watson Academic Publications, 1977) ISBN 0-88202-177-X
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