Morgenthau,HansJ. (1904–80)

Abstract

The political scientist Hans Joachim Morgenthau (1904–80) was America's foremost proponent of a realist theory of international relations. Morgenthau escaped Nazi‐occupied Europe in the 1930s and spent the majority of his career at the University of Chicago. In 1948, he publishedPolitics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, which was the most widely read foreign affairs textbook in American universities during the Cold War. The book sharply criticized America's Wilsonian approach to international relations and argued that power and self‐interest spark inevitable conflict among nations. A public intellectual, Morgenthau shared his pungent political commentaries with diverse audiences. Although he was considered a hawk on military matters, Morgenthau emerged as the leading academic opponent of the Vietnam War. In his later life, he turned to issues affecting world Jewry.