Samuel P. Huntington
Samuel P. Huntington was a prominent American political scientist known for his influential theories on cultural conflicts and political dynamics. Born on April 18, 1927, in New York City, he pursued an impressive academic journey that included degrees from Yale University and the University of Chicago, culminating in a PhD from Harvard University, where he taught for fifty-eight years. Huntington authored seventeen books and nearly one hundred scholarly articles, with his most notable work being "The Clash of Civilizations," where he argued that future conflicts would arise from cultural differences rather than territorial disputes.
His early work, "The Soldier and the State," addressed civil-military relations and garnered mixed reactions from various political factions. Throughout his career, Huntington was a figure of controversy, often inviting criticism from both liberals and conservatives. His views on immigration and national identity, particularly in "Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity," sparked significant debate, especially regarding Hispanic immigration in the United States. Despite facing opposition, his theories have gained recognition in light of subsequent global events. Huntington passed away on December 24, 2008, leaving behind a complex legacy that continues to influence political discourse today.
Samuel P. Huntington
Political scientist, author, educator
- Born: April 18, 1927
- Place of Birth: Place of birth: New York City
- Died: December 24, 2008
- Place of Death: Place of death: Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
Education: Harvard University; University of Chicago; Yale University
Significance:Samuel P. Huntington was an influential political scientist who taught at Harvard University for fifty-eight years. Huntington published seventeen books and nearly one hundred scholarly articles. He is best-known for his theory that while past wars were fought because of conflicts about territory and resources, future wars would be fought over cultural differences and ideologies.
Background
Samuel Phillips Huntington was born on April 18, 1927, in New York City. He came from a family of writers and publishers. His maternal grandfather, John Sanborn Phillips (1861 – 1949), published McClure's Magazine and The American Magazine. His mother, Dorothy Sanborn Phillips, wrote short stories, and his father, Richard Thomas Huntington, published hotel trade journals.
Huntington attended Stuyvesant High School, graduating at age sixteen before going on to attend Yale University, where he completed an undergraduate degree when he was just eighteen years old. After a short term of military service during World War II, he attended the University of Chicago and earned a master’s degree before moving on to Harvard University, where he earned a PhD at the age of twenty-three.
Huntington then became a government studies instructor at Harvard University. He continued to teach there for fifty-eight years before retiring a year before his death. Huntington took occasional leaves from teaching, once when he was denied tenure in the late 1950s and often to serve as a guest lecturer at other institutions. He also worked as a consultant to political campaigns and government agencies.
His ardent support of U.S. military actions during the Vietnam War resulted in student protests against him. Some students went so far as to suggest that Huntington should be sent to Vietnam to participate in the conflict he was supporting. Despite times of disagreement with his students, however, Huntingdon taught and influenced generations of future leaders in government and politics.
Life’s Work
In addition to being an educator, Huntington wrote or edited seventeen books and nearly one hundred articles for scholarly journals, newspapers, and magazines. Many of his publications stirred up controversy. Huntington, a life-long Democrat, frequently put forth ideas that annoyed people of all political parties, liberals and conservatives alike.
He was inspired to write his first book, The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations (1957), by the 1951 firing of General Douglas MacArthur (1880 – 1964) after he disagreed with President Harry S. Truman’s (1884 – 1972) Korean War policy. Despite raising criticism from both conservatives, who saw it as endorsing too many civilian restrictions on military action, and liberals, who thought it was too supportive of military action, the book went on to become a classic on how politics and the military influence each other.
Huntington’s Political Order in Changing Societies (1969) also had a lasting influence. The book is widely used as a text for those studying how the economies and political structures of Third World Countries develop and evolve. Scholars disagreed with the methodology Huntington used in the book to determine the level of satisfaction of people living in these areas.
Huntington’s career was marked with such disagreement—his nomination to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1989 even ignited controversy. Although he was relatively unknown to those voting on his membership, the few who knew him were opposed to his nomination because they did not feel that his methods were scientific, including his method of categorizing satisfaction in his book Political Order in Changing Societies (1968). Despite two nominations, Huntington never achieved membership in the academy.
His most famous book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, was written in 1996 and was an expansion of an essay he wrote in 1993, "The Clash of Civilizations." In both, Huntington offers the theory that while most past wars were fought over national identity and issues such as territory and resources, future conflicts would be based on cultural and ideological issues. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, proved his theory to be true.
In his final book, Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity (2004). Huntington shares his viewpoints on the impact of Hispanic immigration. He predicts that the pattern of immigration would lead to America being two nations in one space, separated by language and culture. Huntington started another book with the working title Chosen Peoples that explored the connection between religion and nationalism, but his health prevented him from finishing it.
Huntington retired to his Boston home in 2007. He died on December 24, 2008, in the home on Martha’s Vineyard where his family had often spent the summer. He was 81 years old.
Impact
As an often controversial political scientist willing to bear the backlash of unconventional thought, Huntington challenged the academic world, politicians, and society as a whole to look at the world in new ways. While his theories often met with stiff opposition and furious debate and challenge, unfolding world events have shown that his theories were not without merit.
Personal
Huntington met his wife, Nancy Arkelyan, in the 1950s when they worked together on a speech for the 1956 presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson. They wed in 1957 and were married for fifty-one years at the time of his death. The couple had two sons, Nicholas and Timothy, as well as four grandchildren.
Bibliography
Gershman, Carl. "The Clash Within Civilizations: Huntington Biography." Project Muse,n.d. Web. 25 June 2016.
Hodgson, Godfrey. "Samuel Huntington." The Guardian, Dec. 2008. Web. 25 June 2016.
Huntington, Samuel P. "The Clash of Civilizations." Harvard University,n.d. Web. 25 June 2016.
Innes, David C. "Samuel P. Huntington 1927 – 2008." Intercollegiate Studies Institute,Mar. 2009. Web. 25 June 2016.
Ireland, Corydon. "Samuel Huntington, 81, Political Scientist, Scholar." Harvard Gazette, Feb. 2009. Web. 25 June 2016.
Jones, Lee. "In Memoriam: Samuel P. Huntington." The Oxonian Review,Jan. 2009. Web. 25 June 2016.
Lewin, Tamar. "Samuel P. Huntington, 81, Political Scientist, Is Dead." The New York Times, Dec. 2008. Web. 25 June 2016.
Mayerson, Jeff and Allan Mui, S. "A Return to Protest." Harvard Crimson, Sept. 1978. Web. 25 June 2016. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1978/9/26/a-return-to-protest-pthe-us/
Montejano, David. "Who Is Samuel P. Huntington?" Texas Observer, Aug. 2004. Web. 25 June 2016.
Smith, Jordan Michael. "Samuel Huntington’s Great Idea Was Totally Wrong." New Republic, 19 Oct. 2023, newrepublic.com/article/176019/samuel-huntington-clash-civilizations-wrong. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.