Religion Unitarianism Name William Langer | Siblings Walter Charles Langer Awards Bancroft Prize | |
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Born March 16, 1896 ( 1896-03-16 ) South Boston, Massachusetts Monuments William Langer Award (Central Intelligence Agency#Directorate of Intelligence) Occupation academic historian, intelligence analyst, policy advisor Employer Worcester Academy (1915-1917)
Clark University assistant professor of history (1923-1925)
Clark University associate professor (1925-1927)
Harvard University assistant professor (1927-1931)
Harvard University associate professor (1931-1936)
Harvard University Coolidge Professor of History (1936-1964)
Harvard University professor emeritus 1964
University of Chicago visiting professor or lecturer (1926)
Columbia University (1931)
Yale University (1933)
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (1933-1934, 1936-1941) Home town South Boston, Massachusetts Spouse(s) Susanne Katherina Knauth, philosopher (Sept. 3, 1921 - div. 1942)
Rowena Morse Nelson (Apr. 9, 1943-) Died December 26, 1977, Boston, Massachusetts, United States Education Harvard University, Clark University, Yale University Books Encyclopedia of World History, The diplomacy of imperia, The Undeclared War - 194, Explorations in crisis, The Franco‑Russian Alliance Similar People Susanne Katherina Langer, Peter Stearns, Patrick O'Brian, Henry Kissinger, George II of Great Britain | ||
William Leonard Langer (March 16, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was the chairman of the history department at Harvard University. He was on leave during World War II as head of the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services. He was a specialist on the diplomacy of the 1870-1900, and the 1937-1941 periods. He edited numerous books including a series on European history, a large-scale reference book, and a university textbook.
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Early life
Born in South Boston, Massachusetts, he was the second of three sons of recent German immigrants, Charles Rudolph and Johanna Rockenbach. His elder brother, Rudolf Ernest Langer, became a mathematician and his younger brother, Walter Charles Langer, a psychoanalyst.
When William was only three, 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.
Education and career
After studying at the Boston Latin School, Langer attended Harvard University.
Langer was fluent in German, and taught German at Worcester Academy while furthering his own education with courses on international relations at Clark University.
His job and education were interrupted by military service World War I. After the war, he returned to his studies and obtained his Ph.D. in 1923. In 1921 he married Susanne Katherina Langer (née Knauth) who became a noted philosopher. They had two sons together before divorcing in 1942.
He taught modern European history at Clark University for four years before accepting an assistant professorship at Harvard. In 1936 Langer became the first to hold the Archibald Coolidge chair.
Langer was remembered at Harvard especially for his History 132 course on modern European history, History 157 on the Ottoman Empire, and the graduate seminars held at his home.
With the help of other scholars during the 1930s, Langer completely revised the Epitome of History by German Scholar Karl Ploetz. Langer's massive work was published in 1940 under the title An Encyclopedia of World History. 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.
Later career
In 1957, Langer urged historians to expand their insights with techniques from modern psychology.
War service
Langer was an enlisted man in the United States Army Chemical Service in World War I, and saw combat in a chemical weapons unit on the Western Front in France. He described the experience in a book he wrote with another man in his company.
During World War II, Langer served in the new Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as deputy chief and later chief of the Research and Analysis Branch until the end of the war. In correspondence he was identified as OSS 117, a codename which entered French popular culture in 1949 for an unrelated iconic fictional character of books and film. He was special assistant for intelligence analysis to U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes. In 1950 Langer organized the office of National Estimates in the newly established Central Intelligence Agency
After the war, Langer returned to academia, but from 1961 to 1977 he served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Honors
William Langer was awarded the Bancroft Prize in 1954. Postwar, both Harvard and Yale University awarded Langer LL.D. degrees as did the University of Hamburg in 1955. Among his many involvements, Langer served as president of the American Historical Association for 1957.