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P U B L I C
P O L I C Y & I N T E R N A T I O
N A L
A F F A I R S
Seeing Red
Author's Note
While working on the retrospective piece on Owen Lattimore, I
came across a great deal of material that had to be left out--
despite the 8,000-word length of my article. Though Lattimore was
a victim of circumstances, some of which he himself influenced,
others who were only tangential to his case were also punished by
the era. Graduate students who studied under Lattimore were
branded and had difficulty getting jobs. In 1953, a young
academic, Hopkins Assistant Professor Harvey Wheeler, who stood
up for Lattimore by co-editing the pamphlet Lattimore, The
Scholar, found himself on the wrong side of opinion in the
Political Science Department that he had joined only recently. He
would later recall in writings about the time how he was taken to
lunch by his chairman and told to abandon his project or he would
be turned down for tenure when his turn came up. He refused, and
later said he was fired. In an attempt to verify the details of
that event so long ago, we asked Hopkins archivist Jim Stimpert
to search the archives. The only document found was a cryptic
letter from then-president Detlev W. Bronk dated April 15, 1953.
It was addressed to political science chair Karl Brent Swisher:
"Dear Karl, Thank you for your letter of April 13 concerning Dr.
Harvey Wheeler. I will see that your recommendation is put into
effect. With cordial regards." There was no "recommendation"
letter attached.
Time has gone on and, as usual, legend picks up where life
leaves off. Wheeler went on to teach political science at
Washington and Lee University in Virginia, to publish numerous
academic articles (and a best-seller, Fail Safe), as well
as co-found and edit the Journal of Social and Biological
Structures, among other endeavors. He lives in California
today, and is talking to a biographer about his life story.
RETURN TO
SEPTEMBER 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
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