Laves, Walter H. C.

Epithet: Director League of Nations Association Chicago

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001296.0x00007e

Walter Herman Carl Laves, 1902-1983, was an Indiana University professor. A native of Chicago, he received his degrees from the University of Chicago and held positions first at Hamilton College and then at the University of Chicago before coming to Indiana University. He served as chairman of the Department of Political Science from 1954 to 1966, was honored as the first holder of the Wendell L. Willkie Professorship in Political Science, and retired from the University in 1972.

In the interval between his positions at Chicago and Indiana, during World War II and later, Laves had a career in public service. He served successively in the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the Office of Civilian Defense, and from 1943 to 1947, in the Bureau of the Budget as consultant in international affairs. He was present at the founding conferences of the United Nations and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and served in advisory capacity to the American delegation at the initial session of the United Nations in London. From 1947 to 1950 Laves was the Deputy Director General of UNESCO in Paris. Subsequently, he was twice a member of the United States delegation to the UNESCO general conference and chairman of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

He was the co-author with Charles Alexander Thomson of UNESCO: Purpose, Progress and Prospects which in 1958 won an Indiana Author's Day citation. He also authored Cultural Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy, published in 1963, in addition to many articles for journals.

From the guide to the Laves mss., 1924-1980, (Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington) http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly)