Profile

Robert Griffith

Department Chair, History
History

  • Griffith is author of The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Senate, which won the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize of the Organization of American Historians. A Guggenheim Fellow, his articles and essays have appeared in many scholarly journals, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, and Reviews in American History. A third edition of Major Problems in American History Since 1945 appeared in 2007. He has received teaching awards from the University of Georgia and from the Danforth Foundation. He has served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of American History and is currently Treasurer and member of the executive Board of the Organization of American Historians (OAH).

  • Degrees

    PhD, History, University of Wisconsin, Madison
    MA, History, University of Wisconsin, Madison
    BA, History, DePauw University

  • Languages Spoken:


    French (reading)
    Spanish (reading)

  • OFFICE

  • CAS - History
  • Battelle Tompkins - 139
  • M/Th 2-5pm

  • CONTACT INFO

  • (202) 885-2419 (Office)
  • Send email Profile UserID

  • MEDIA RELATIONS

  • To request an interview
    please call AU Media Relations
    at 202-885-5950 or
    submit an interview request form.

Teaching

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications

  • The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Senate (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1970. Second edition, with a new introduction, Amherst, Ma: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.
  • Major Problems in American History Since 1945, DC Heath, 1992; 2nd edition (with Paula Baker) published by Houghton-Mifflin, 2001; 3rd edition, 2007 (Houghton-Mifflin) [edited]
  • Ike's Letters to a Friend: 1941-1958 (University Press of Kansas, 1984). [edited]
  • The Specter: Original Essays on McCarthyism and the Cold War (New York: Franklin Watts, 1974). [co-edited]
  • “The Cultural Turn in Cold War Studies,” Reviews in American History (March, 2001), 150-157.
  • "Forging Postwar America: Politics and Political Economy in the Age of Truman," in Michael J. Lacey (ed.), The Truman Presidency (Cambridge University Press, 1989), 57-88.
  • "The Selling of America: The Advertising Council and American Politics, 1945-60," Business History Review (Autumn, 1983), 388-412.
  • "Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Corporate Commonwealth," American Historical Review (February, 1982), 87-122.
  • "Harry Truman and the Burden of Modernity," Reviews in American History (September, 1981), 295-306.
  • "Old Progressives and the Cold War," Journal of American History (September 1979), 334-347.
  • "Why They Liked Ike," Reviews in American History (December, 1979), 557-583.

Professional Presentations

(selected)
  • American Historical Association (1971,1980, 1987, 1999)
  • Organization of American Historians (1972, 1974, 1981, 1986, 1995) 
  • Northern Great Plains History Conference (1975), Keynote Speaker
  • Southern Historical Association (1978) Chair 
  • Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1984) 
  • Phi Beta Kappa Address, DePauw University (1987)
  • Phi Beta Kappa Address, University of Maryland at College Park (1991)
  • Convocation Address, University of Kentucky (1992) 
  • American Association of University Professors (1993)
  • American Studies Association (2001) Chair
  • Society for the History of American Foreign Relations (2003) Chair

Executive Experience

  • Chair, Department of History, American University, 2004-present
  • Provost, American University, 1995-1997
  • Dean, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland at College Park, 1989-1995
  • Chair, Department of History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1983-87

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Rector Scholar, DePauw University
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Woodrow Wilson Fellow
  • University Fellow, University of Wisconsin
  • Frederick Jackson Turner Award (by the Organization of American Historians)
  • Danforth Associate 
  • Joseph H. Parks Award (outstanding teacher of history, University of Georgia)
  • Grantee, American Philosophical Society
  • Grantee, Harry S. Truman Library
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1974 
  • Tom L. Evans Fellowship, Harry S. Truman Library Institute, 1978 
  • John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 1980-1981 
  • Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1982-1983

Professional Services

  • Treasurer, Organization of American Historians, 2008-
  • Member, Middle States Accreditation Review, Hofstra (2009)
  • Member, Middle States Accreditation Review, Lehigh (2008)
  • Member, Middle States Accreditation Review, SUNY-Stony Brook (2004)
  • Chair, Local Arrangements Committee, American Historical Association, Annual Meeting (2003-4)
  • Member, Search Committee for Treasurer, Organization of American Historians (2002)
  • Member, External Review Committee, Department of History, University of Delaware (2002)
  • Member, External Review Committee, Department of History, SUNY-Stony Brook (1991) 
  • Member, Board of Editors, Journal of American History (1987-1990) 
  • Chair, External Review Committee, Department of History, Rutgers University ( 1987)
  • Chair, Advisory Board, Guide to the Study of United States History outside the U.S., 1945-1980 (1983-1987)

 

CURRICULUM VITAE

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AU Expert

Area of Expertise:The United States since 1945, including the politics and culture of the Cold War, McCarthy, and McCarthyism; the political economy of the post WWII era; the emergence of "postmodern" America

Additional Information: A historian,Robert Griffith is author of(1970; 2nd edition, 1987), which won the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize of the Organization of American Historians.The Politics of Fear is available in digital format through http://www.netLibrary.com and has been selected for inclusion in the first stage of the History E-Book Project of the American Council of Learned Societies. His articles and essays have appeared in many scholarly journals, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, Reviews in American History, and Business History Review. His edited works include The Specter: Original Essays on McCarthyism and the Cold War (1974); Ike's Letters to a Friend: 1941–1958 (1984); and Major Problems in American History since 1945 (1992). A third edition of Major Problems in American History since 1945,coedited with Paula Baker, was published in 2007.

Media Relations
To request an interview please call AU Media Relations at 202-885-5950 or submit an interview request form.

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