Dr.Robert Dallek...Class of..1952

Doctor Robert Dallek, Ph.D.
It is a sure thing that each one of us has had to sit through a test in which

we had to struggle with a bunch of historical events and write down the year in which they

occurred. You remember having to name the event that took place in 1492 or explain why December seventh, 1941 was important.

Well, who would ever have thought that one of us would take all that stuff seriously and not only

enjoy it but would also carve out a very distinguished career as one of this nation's

formost historians. Thats exactly what former Madisonian Robert Dallek, class of 1952 did.

But, not right away.

You see, back in those days, the fifties they had the same problems as entering freshmen have today.....they would have trouble getting into the college of their choice even with good grades and the students would have to sign up for majors in subjects where there was room. Robert Dallek became a Pre-Dental major. Okay, open wide and say..."He did what?" The idea being to get your foot in the door and then change your major to the field you were really interested in. It worked. Besides, Doctor Dallek confessed to me that math and science were not his strong points but he got on quite well in history and english classes.

But now, allow me to digress for a moment. Like most of us, Rob't Dallek was an habitue of Kings Highway like the rest of us and often could be seen with members of his "social athletic club", the Spades, patrolling that marvelous street as we all did, checking out the lovely ladies. Of course the base of operations was Cohens Ice Cream Parlor.

After attending James Madison for four years,it was off to the University of Illinois where he quickly abandoned the wide open field of dentistry and graduated in 1955 with a B.A. degree in history. From there, it was off to Columbia University where in two years he was awarded a Masters Degree in the same subject.

Now in the world of academia, the number of degrees you hold can often determine how rapidly you advance in your field and so, Bob began work on his Ph.D in, what else, history. To do this he had to get an honest job and as you might expect, he became an instructor in History at Columbia Univ. until 1964.

Not bad for a kid from Brooklyn. The story however, does not end there. His classroom career blossomed. From 1964 until 1994, Bob moved from Assistant to full Professor of History at UCLA. He was also the Graduate School adviser to folks seeking advanced degrees in history. But his astronomic rise was not over yet. From 1972 to 1974, Bob became Vice Chairman of the History Department at UCLA. Then it was off to the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute where he was a research associate from 1981 through 1985. In 1993, he traveled across town to Pasadena where he was a visiting professor at Cal Tech and from 1994 until 1995, he was a Visiting Professor at Oxford University. Now lets wind it up with 1996 at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and professor of History at Boston University and Dartmouth Univ.

After reading of all the schools where Robert Dallek taught history, one might think that he would sit back and take it easy. But that was not the case. It appears that between classes, Bob was writing...a lot. His prime subject was and is Presidents of the United States. Bob considers his finest work to include his three volume study of Lyndon Johnson, his work on Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. His books also look at American Foreign Policy, The Cold War and former President Ronald Reagan. Add to that a seemingly never ending list of printed articles, interviews and work that total some 200 works.

Needless to say, Bob has won countless awards. He has served on more committees than I could count and his expertise is known around the world. If I were to name every honor, every article, every book and every school that bear the imprint of Robert Dallek, you would be reading for a week.

Bob Lives in Washington DC with his lovely wife Geraldine. They have two grown children Matthew and Rebecca.

If you want to know more about Bob Dallek, Google his name, Robert Dallek and you will find several websites devoted to him and his work.

An amazing career, another Madisonian to be proud of.