Ernest L. Boyer’s Career in the Context of Post- World War II American Education

Abstract

Paul S. Boyer was the youngest of the three Boyer brothers, with Bill the oldest and Ernie in the middle. Paul served on the faculty in the history department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was referred to by the New York Times upon his death on March 17, 2012, as “an intellectual historian who wrote groundbreaking studies of the Salem Witch Trials, the history of apocalyptic movements and the response of the American public to the nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.” In this article, originally given as a speech and reprinted with the permission of The Boyer Center at Messiah College, Paul explores how Ernie's life as a child and as a young professional influenced the leadership Ernie exhibited in larger educational arenas later in his life. For individuals unfamiliar with the life and work of Ernie Boyer, we hope this contribution provides some key insights into his ideas. For those individuals familiar with his work, Paul's observations of Ernie's life and work reveal in new ways just how much the two were woven together.