Name John Stoessinger Role Author | Education Harvard University Awards Bancroft Prize | |
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Born 14 October 1927 (age 96)
Vienna, Austria ( 1927-10-14 ) Institutions City University of New York Alma mater Harvard University (Ph.D) Residence New York City, New York, United States Books Why nations go to war, Might of Nations, Crusaders and Pragmati, Henry Kissinger: The Angu, The refugee and the w | ||
John Stoessinger on Politics
John George Stoessinger (born October 14, 1927), a prize-winning author of ten leading books on world politics, has been the recipient of the distinguished Bancroft Prize for History for The Might of Nations, and has served as Acting Director for the Political Affairs Division at the United Nations. On the eve of World War II, Dr. Stoessinger fled from Nazi-occupied Austria to Czechoslovakia. His family was saved by a Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who issued three visas to transit Russia, allowing them to escape to Shanghai via Siberia and Kobe. Dr. Stoessinger is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, lecturing extensively throughout the world, and serves as Distinguished Professor of Global Diplomacy at the University of San Diego and is a visiting lecturer at the University of California, San Diego.
Stoessinger is notable for his individual analyses of war, contrasted with the systemic views more commonly studied by political scientists after the Second World War. An example of this is his work in Why Nations Go to War. In the first section of his novel, The Iron Dice, Stoessinger offers an alternative explanation of the causes of World War I, one that includes human reactions and feelings.
In 1976, Stoessinger pleaded guilty to concealing fraud totaling at least $260,000 committed by Anne Lament, who used letters of recommendation from him which she addressed to overseas banks and governments. He subsequently received a full Presidential Pardon from Ronald Reagan, thereby nullifying the original offense.