Curriculum
Vitae
Robert Buzzanco
Department of History
University of Houston
Houston, Texas 77204-3003
713.743.3085 (office)
713.743.3216 (FAX)
buzz@uh.edu
Employment Experience
University of Houston, Chair,
Department of History, July 2007–current
University of Houston
[1995-current]
professor of history; specializing in U.S. Diplomatic History and
Strategic Studies, post-1945 U.S. History, the 1960s, Vietnam War,
globalization.
Prince George's Community
College, visiting assistant Professor of History, 1994-1995;
adjunct faculty, 1990-1994.
University of Maryland, Baltimore
County, adjunct faculty, 1994.
EDUCATION
The Ohio State University. Ph.D. in
History, 1993; M.A. in History, 1984.
Ohio Wesleyan University. B.A. in
History and Philosophy, 1982.
PUBLICATIONS–Books
Co-editor, with Marilyn Young. A
Companion to the Vietnam War. A collection of essays on Vietnam
in the
"Blackwell Companion Series." Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
Vietnam and the Transformation of
American Life. Blackwell Publishers, "Problems in American History"
Series, 1999.
Masters of War: Military Dissent and
Politics in the Vietnam Era. Cambridge University Press, 1996
[Paperback, 1997]. Recipient of Stuart L. Bernath Prize, awarded by
Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. Chapter on
Tet
Offensive excerpted in Robert McMahon, ed, Major Problems in the
History of the Vietnam War, 3d edition.
PUBLICATIONS–Articles
"Closed Consulates and Closed Minds:
Bush's Last Shot at Chávez," History News Network,
17 November 2008, http://hnn.us/articles/56993.html.
“Spreading the Wealth Around?
Why Not?” Commondreams.org, 21 October 2008,
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/21-2
“Bring
Back Glass-Steagall?”
History News Network, 13 October 2008,
http://hnn.us/articles/55548.html.
"Iraq Wars," in Global Perspectives on
the United States: Issues and Ideas Shaping International Relations,
edited by David Levinson and Karen Christensen, pp. 188-91. Berkshire
Publishing Group, 2007.
"Military Dissent and the Legacy of
the Vietnam War," in The War That Never Ends: New Perspectives on the
Vietnam War, edited by David L. Anderson and John Ernst, pp. 191-218.
The University of Kentucky Press, 2007.
"Rogue State Redux: The Bush Junta,"
Counterpunch, 12-14 January 2007,
http://counterpunch.org/buzzanco01122007.html.
"Is George Bush 'The Manchurian
Candidate'?" History News Network, 11 December 2006,
http://hnn.us/articles/32618.html.
"Deja Vu All Over Again?: 1968 and
2006," with James Carter, History News Network, 20 November 2006,
http://hnn.us/articles/31872.html.
"Fear and (Self-) Loathing in Lubbock,
or How I Learned to Quit Worrying and Love Vietnam and Iraq,"
Counterpunch, April 16-17, 2005,
http://counterpunch.org/buzzanco04162005.html; abridged version in
SHAFR Newsletter, Passport, December 2005,
http://www.shafr.org/newsletter/2005/december/buzzanco.htm.
"American Empire," in Berkshire
Encyclopedia of World History, edited by William McNeill, et al,
pp.
82-6. Berkshire Publishing Group, 2005.
"The Politics of Escalation in Vietnam
during the Johnson Years," in Young and Buzzanco, A Companion to the
Vietnam War, Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
"Anti-Imperialism." Encyclopedia
of
American Foreign Relations, 2d edition, edited by Alexander DeConde,
Richard Dean Burns, Frederick Logevall. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
"How Did Iraq and the United States
Become Enemies," History News Network,
http://hnn.us/articles/1066.html, 28 October 2002.
"The United States and Vietnam,
1950-1968: Capitalism, Communism, and Containment," in Empire and
Revolution: The United States and the Third World since 1945, edited by
Peter L. Hahn and Mary Ann Heiss, pp. 94-120. The Ohio State
University Press, 2001. Excerpted in Dennis Merrill and Thomas
Paterson, eds., Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, volume
II, 6th edition.
"Where's the Beef? Culture
Without
Power in the Study of U.S. Foreign Relations" [commentary in roundtable
on "Culture, Religion, and International Relations]. Diplomatic
History 24 (Fall 2000): 623-632.
"El Slavador is Spanish for Vietnam":
The Legacy of the Vietnam Peace Movement." The Long Term View 5
(Summer 2000): 6-11.
"David Shoup: Four-Star Troublemaker"
[with Leigh Fought], in The Human Tradition in the Vietnam Era, edited
by David L. Anderson, pp. 157-173. Scholarly Resources, 2000.
"What Happened to the New Left: Toward
a Radical Reading of U.S. Foreign Relations," Diplomatic History 23
(Fall 1999): 575-607 (Stuart L. Bernath Prize Lecture).
"Strategy, Politics, and
Civil-Military Relations in the Vietnam War," in Major Problems in
American Military History: Documents and Essays, edited by John W.
Chambers II. D.C. Heath, 1998.
"'With One Hand Tied Behind Their
Back' . . . and Other Myths of the Vietnam War." In Myth America: A
Historical Anthology, edited by Patrick Gerster and Nicholas Cords, pp.
190-97. St.James, N.Y.: Brandywine Press, 1997.
"The Myth of Tet: American Failure and
the Politics of War." In The Tet Offensive, edited by Marc Jason
Gilbert and William Head, pp. 231-57. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press,
1996.
"Prologue to Tragedy: U.S. Military
Opposition to Intervention in Vietnam, 1950-1954." Diplomatic History
17 (Spring 1993): 201-222.
"Division, Dilemma, and Dissent:
Military Recognition of the Peril of War in Vietnam" in Informed
Dissent: Three Generals and the Vietnam War, Essays by Robert Buzzanco
and Asad Ismi, edited by Dan Duffy, pp. 9-37. Chevy Chase, MD: Vietnam
Generation and Burning Cities Press, 1992.
"The American Military's Rationale
Against the Vietnam War." Political Science Quarterly 101 (Winter
1986): 559-76.
NEWSPAPERS/OP-ED ARTICLES
"On wrong side of history: Bush's
Vietnam analogy incorrect," Houston Chronicle, 23 August 2007.
"Reality Behind Lofty Rhetoric on
Reagan Legacy," Houston Chronicle, 9 June 2004.
"Remembering Vietnam," The Guardian,
27 March 2004.
"No Double Standards for Atrocities in
Iraq War," Houston Chronicle, 23 March 2003.
"Kirk's Point Has Validity," Dallas
Morning News, 22 September 2002.
"America Can Still Avoid Another
Vietnam in Iraq," Houston Chronicle, 13 August 2002.
“Remembering Hiroshima: 57 Years of
Myths,” Various Indymedia sites, 5 August 2002.
"Five Reasons Why America Should Not
Be at War," Houston Chronicle, 9 October 2001.
"We're on 'Fast Track' to Trading Away
Democracy," Houston Chronicle, 30 June 2001.
"Official Power Must Be Used
Fairly," Newsday, 24 April 2000.
"Myths Remain 20 Years After
Saigon's Fall," Baltimore Sun, 9 April 2000 [reprinted in dozens of
other papers].
FORTHCOMING/IN PROGRESS
Why Do They Hate Us? Cold Wars
Abroad and At Home, 1945-present. An overview of the Cold War.
"Tet, Gold, and the End of American
Hegemony." A Study of Vietnam and the global economy, in progress.
"Cracks in the Empire: Ruling Class
Division over the Bush Adminsistration's Policies on Iraq and Corporate
Globalization." In progress.
TEACHING
I have taught a variety of courses in
U.S. history, including, at the undergraduate level, both halves
of
the survey, the history of the Vietnam War, America in the 1960s, and
U.S. foreign policy, as well as a new course in 2004 titled "War,
Globalization and Teror." I have also taught graduate courses on
the
Vietnam War, post-1945 U.S. History, and U.S. foreign relations
("Empire, War, and Diplomacy"), as well as numerous research seminars
and the departmental course on professional development.
I have also edited four customized
readers for my classes:
Vietnam and America (for History 3322,
The Vietnam War).
Question Authority (co-edited with
James Carter for History 1377, the U.S. from the Colonial Period to the
Civil War).
Reelin' in the Years (co-edited with
James Carter for History 1378, the U.S. from the Civil War to the
Present).
War, Imperialism, and Dissent:
Documents on U.S. Foreign Policy (for History 3394, War, Globalization,
and Terror)
Ph.D. Students
Isaac Hampton, “The
Journey of African American Officers Through The Vietnam Era.”
2008 [co-advisor with Gerald Horne]
(Visiting Assistant Professor, Texas
Southern University)
Katy Lopez, "The Cougar Revolution,"
2007
(Assistant Curator for Education,
Blaffer Gallery, UH, published Cougars
of Any Color, McFarland Publishing, 2008)
Roy Vu, "Rising from the Cold War
Ashes: Construction of a Vietnamese-American Community in
Houston, 1975-2005," 2006
(Professor, North Lake College,
Dallas, Texas)
Jay Casey, "U.S. Military Cartoonists
in World Wars I and II," 2005
(Assistant Professor, Univerity of
Arkansas-Fort Smith)
James Carter, "Inventing Vietnam: The
United States and State-making in Southeast Asia," 2004
(Assistant Professor, Drew University,
published Inventing Vietnam: The
United States and State-Building, 1954-1968, Cambridge
University Press, 2008)
Christos Frentzos, "From Seoul to
Saigon: U.S.-South Korean Relations and the Vietnam War," 2004
(Assistant Professor, Austin Peay
University)
Ron Milam, "Not a Gentleman's War:
Junior Officers in the Vietnam War," 2004
(Assistant Professor, Texas Tech
University)
Pam Conn, "Losing Hearts and Minds:
U.S. Pacification Efforts in Vietnam During the Johnson Years," 2001
(Chair, Social Studies Department,
Cypress Creek High School)
In-progress: Clayton Lust, The Camp
Logan Uprising in Houston in World War I [co-advisor with Gerald Horne]
GRANTS/AWARDS
Distance Education Teacher of the Year
Award, University of Houston, 2006.
Colonel John B. McKinney Lecture in
Military History, Center for the Study of War and Society, University
of Tennessee, 21 September 2006.
Technology Innovation Grant for
Classroom Teaching, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences,
University of Houston, 2005.
Bernath Lecture Prize, 1998, Stuart L.
Bernath Prize for outstanding younger scholar in field of U.S. foreign
relations, presented by Society for Historians of American Foreign
Relations [SHAFR].
Bernath Book Prize. Received 1996
Stuart L. Bernath Prize for best book in diplomatic history, presented
by SHAFR.
University of Houston.
Curriculum Transformation Grant, 1999; Limited Grant in Aid, 1997;
Research Initiation Grant, 1996.
Marine Corps Historical Foundation.
Received Marine Corps National Dissertation Fellowship, 1991-92.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.
Received Moody Grants for research at Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential
Library, Austin, TX., 1995, 1992, and 1988.
John F. Kennedy Library. Received
Kennedy Library Foundation Grants for research at John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library, Boston, MA., 1992 and 1988.
Dulles Fellowship. Received Dulles
Fellowship for Research from History Department at The Ohio State
University
CONFERENCE PAPERS/ACADEMIC or COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS
“Venezuelan Independence Day” address
at invitation of Houston Venezuelan consulate, Houston, Tx, July 2008.
“The U.S. and the Middle East:
Prologue to 9/11,” talk before TAH symposium at McNeese State
University, Lake Charles, LA, June 2008
“American Foreign Policy in the 21st
Century,” talk at closing workshop of TAH symposium at University of
Houston, June 2008
“The United States and Vietnam,” talk
before TAH symposium at University of Houston, June 2008
“U.S. Foreign Policy: Motives, Means,
and Consequences,” talk before opening of TAH symposium at University
of Houston, May 2008
“Foreign Policy in the early 1960s,”
talk before Rice University workshop for high school history teachers,
March 2008
"John F. Kennedy and the Cold War,"
talk at Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, Rice University,
October 2007.
"Harry Truman and the Korean War,"
talk at Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, Rice University,
October 2007.
"Is Iraq Another Vietnam?" talk
at International Studies Society Friday Lecture Series, St. Thomas
University, August 2007.
"The Iraq War in Historical
Comparison," talk at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Faculty Renaissance
Center, April 2007
"Hawks as Doves: Military Dissent in
Vietnam and Iraq," Colonel John B. McKinney Lecture in Military
History, Center for the Study of War and Society, University of
Tennessee, 21 September 2006.
"Vietnam, Iraq, and War Profiteering,"
talk at St. Bonaventure, Olean, NY, April 2006.
" Is Iraq another Vietnam?" talk at
Canisius College, Buffalo, NY, April 2006.
"Pax Americana: Misadventures Abroad,"
talk at University of North Texas, Denton, TX, February 2006.
“Revolt of the Mandarins? Bush
and the War in Iraq,” talk at Austin College, Sherman, TX, November
2005.
“George Bush: Manchurian Candidate,”
talk before UH Law School Students’ Association, March 2005.
"War Profiteering in Historical
Perspective," talk before teach-in on Halliburton, May 2004.
"The Military-Industrial Complex,"
talk before community forum on globalization, February 2004.
"Cracks in the Empire," talk before
Conference on "Imperialism in the 21st Century," Columbia University,
December 2003.
"Globalization from Bretton
Woods to
FTAA," talk given before First Friday Forum, Maryknoll House, Houston,
Texas, November 2003.
"Edward Said and the Responsibility of
Intellectuals," memorial to Edward Said, Rothko Chapel, Houston, Texas,
September 2003.
"Kellogg, Brown and Root and War
Profiteering in Historical Perspective," talk given at Rice University,
September 2003.
"Rachel Corrie: Human Shield,"
talk given at First Unitarian Church, Houston, Texas, August 2003.
"George W. Bush, the World, and
Iraq," keynote talk given at Houston Peace Festival, Houston, Texas,
April 2003.
"Iraq and the Revolt of the
Elite . . . " talk given at Rice University, April 2003.
"True War Stories," delivery at Rice
University event on U.S. crisis with Iraq, March 2003.
"The U.S. in the Middle East," talk
given at University of St. Thomas, February 2003.
"Lessons Un-Learned: One Year after
9/11," talk given at Sam Houston State University, September 2002.
"September 11, 2001 and the Rethinking
of American Foreign Policy," talk given at Lee College Lyceum, Baytown,
Texas, April 2002.
"Wars as a Historical
Justification
for Domestic Repression," talk given at program on The War at Home,
University of Houston, October 2001.
“9/11, Terrorism, and Global Crisis,”
keynote talk given at program on The Crisis of 9/11, University of
Houston, September 2001.
"The U.S. and Colombia: A Historical
Framework," talk given at University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas,
April 2001.
"The U.S. and the School of the
Americas," talk given at Rice University, November 2000.
"Radical Historiography and
U.S.-Latin American Relations," talk before Duke University/University
of North Carolina Working Group in Latin American History, October 2000.
"The Vietnam War and its Economic
Impact, 1967-1968," talk before Foreign Policy Seminar at University of
Connecticut, October 2000.
"Hiroshima: Fifty-Five Years Later,"
talk given at University of Texas, August 2000.
"The Things They Carried: Class, Race,
and Morale in the Vietnam War," and "Tet, Gold, and the Origins of
Corporate Globalization," talk given at Northern Illinois University,
April 2000.
"Tet, Gold, and the Origins of
Corporate Globalization," talk given at Northern Illinois University,
April 2000.
"Henry Kissinger and Vietnam,"
talk given at University of Texas, January 2000.
"What Happened to the New Left?
Towards a Radical Reading of American Foreign Relations," Bernath
Lecture to be given at luncheon meeting of SHAFR at Organization of
American Historians Conference, April 1999, Toronto.
"Make Love, Not War: Remebering the
1960s and Vietnam." Symposium at Houston Community College
System, 27 February 1999.
"'By God, We've Kicked the Vietnam
Syndrome': U.S. Foreign and Military Policies Since the 1970s,"
Delivered at Pacific Coast Branch, AHA Conference, August 1998, San
Diego.
"Tet and the End of the American
Empire." Delivered at "Remembering 1968" Conference, Ohio University,
April 1998.
"Two, Three, Many Tets: Images of
Vietnam and the Historian's Craft," Presentation to The Ohio State
University Graduate Workshop in Diplomatic History, March 1998.
"The United States and Vietnam."
Presentation at Asian Studies Program Lecture, Seminar and Workshop
Series IX, Florida International University, March 1998.
"Thirty Years After the Tet
Offensive." Presentation at Asian Studies Program Lecture, Seminar and
Workshop Series X, Florida International University, March 1998.
"The Vietnam War and the Limits of
Military Keynesianism." Delivered at of the American Historical
Association, January 1997, New York.
"Tet, Gold, and the Challenge to U.S.
Hegemony." Delivered at SHAFR Conference, June 1996, University of
Colorado.
"At War in Saigon and Washington:
Civil-Military Relations in the Vietnam Era . . . and After." Delivered
at Society of Military History Conference, April 1994, Washington, D.C.
"The Myth of Tet: Military Failure and
the Politics of War." Delivered at Remembering Tet, 1968: An
Interdisciplinary Conference on the War in Vietnam, November 1992,
Salisbury State University, Salisbury, MD.
"Waiting for Westy: The Politics of
Escalation in Vietnam During the Johnson Years." Delivered at SHAFR
Conference, June 1992, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Initial Resistance: The U.S.
Military's Objections to Involvement in Indochina, 1950-1955."
Delivered at the Charles DeBenedetti Memorial Conference on the Vietnam
Antiwar Movement in America, May 1990, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH.
"Cautious Warlords: American Military
Criticism of Involvement in Indochina, 1950-1970s." Delivered at SHAFR
Conference, June 1987, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.
DEPARTMENTAL/UNIVERSITY/PROFESSIONAL
SERVICE
Chair, Department of History,
2007-current
History Representative FGAC, 2006-07
Board of Editors, "Legacies of War"
Series, University of Tennessee Press, 2006-current
Graduate Committee, 2004-06
Organized and Coordinated Ralph
Nader's Visit to U.H., February 2004.
Organized History Film Series, Fall,
2003.
Organized and Coordinated Noam
Chomsky's Visit to U.H., October 2002.
Organized dozens of teach-ins,
lectures, debates, etc. on issues such as Iraq, 9/11, globalization,
Columbus Day, Colombia, CAFTA, and many others.
Graduate Committee, 2003-2004.
Executive Committee, 2001-2002.
Asian History Search Committee,
2000-2001.
Graduate Committee, 2000-2002.
Stuart L.Bernath Lecture Prize
Committee [SHAFR], 2000-2002; chair of committee in 2002.
Board of Editors, Diplomatic History,
1997-2000.
Ad Hoc Merit Committee, University of
Houston History Department, 1998, 1999, 2000
Undergraduate Committee, University of
Houston History Department, 1998-1999.
Faculty Development Leave Committee,
HFAC, 1999.
Ad Hoc Research Awards Committee,
University of Houston, 1998-1999.
Executive Committee, University of
Houston History Department, 1997-1998
Graduate Committee, University of
Houston History Department, 1997-1998
Search Committee, African History
Position, University of Houston History Department, 1996-1997
Personnel Committee, University of
Houston History Department, 1996-1997.
Library Committee, University of
Houston History Department, 1995-1996.
Article Referee for various journals,
including Diplomatic History, Pacific Historical Review, Peace and
Change, and mss. referee for various presses such as Houghton-Mifflin,
University Press of Kansas, Cambridge University Press, Scholarly
Resources.
MEDIA and COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
I have been interviewed or cited by
various media over the past several years, including BBC, NPR,
Financial Times, The Independent (London), National Zeitung (Munich),
Al-Jazeera, Christian Science Monitor, ABCNEWS.com, NewsTalk 106
(Dublin, recurrent guest), "Connections" (KUHT in Houston, recurrent
guest), the Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates in Houston, Houston
Chronicle, Counterpunch, several radio stations in Houston, KPFK in Los
Angeles, WZBC in Boston, WBAI in New York, KGNU in Boulder, various
IndyMedia sites, Cox News Service, Palestine Chronicle, Pakistan Times,
Arabia.com, Islamic News Network, La Prensa (Managua), El Diario Hoy
(San Salvador).
I have spoken several times
monthly,
for the past several years, to various groups in Houston and elsewhere
in the region, including churches, unions, political clubs,
environmental organizations, peace and justice groups, at rallies, at
other universities, at high schools, etc.about a variety of topics,
including foreign affairs and war, the global economy, civil liberties
at home, labor and work, and others. Along with UH students and
young
activits, I organized the Houston Global Awareness Collective, a
political/education group engaged in anti-corporate, fair trade,
anti-globalization struggles.
I recently produced and performed a
segment on "Greenwatch" Cable TV show titled "The History They Didn't
Teach You in School," which covers some aspect of history that occurred
during the week of the show which has been ignored or
misreported. I
previously produced and performed this segment on KPFT radio from
1997-2002. I was also the co-host of "The Progressive Forum" on
KPFT
radio 2000-2002.
BOOK REVIEWS
I have reviewed books in many major
journals, including Journal of
American History, Diplomatic History,
Political Science Quarterly, Journal of Military History, The
Historian, and The Maryland Historian.