Knoles, George Harmon

Biography

George Knoles was a distinguished professor of History at Stanford University. Dr. Knoles received two degrees from (then) College of the Pacific, an A.B. in 1928 and an M.A. in 1930. He joined Stanford as an instructor in history in 1937 and received his Ph.D. in history from Stanford in 1939. During World War II he was a Lieutenant in the Navy serving with the Pacific Fleet and in preparing Naval history after the War. In 1946 he rejoined Stanford rising to become Chairman of the History Department and the Margaret Bryrne Professor of American History before his retirement in 1972. Professor Knoles' field was American history. He has written extensively on American political, intellectual and cultural history, His major publications include The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1892, The Jazz Age Revisited, and The New United States: A History Since 1896. With fellow Professor Rixford Snyder he co-wrote Readings in Western Civilization, which was widely used in American universities in the study of western civilization. During 1950-52 and 1956, Professor Knoles went to Japan with a small group of Stanford professors to teach American history. In the years following he maintained many personal and professional relationships with Japanese scholars. He was a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Japan in 1971. He was a popular teacher and established strong relationships with his students. These relationships with students continued after they left Stanford. Two of the many ways he served the University was as a speaker at alumni functions and as a field judge for Stanford Track Meets.