Dozer, Donald Marquand

Donald Marquand Dozer was born in Zanesville, Ohio, June 7, 1905, and grew up in that state. He received his B.A. degree from the College of Wooster, Ohio, then earned an M.A. and Ph.D. (1936) at Harvard University. Professor Dozer achieved national and international distinction as an authority on Latin American history and United States-Latin American relations. Professor Dozer's active academic career was interrupted during World War II and for some years thereafter by government service.

In the early war years, he was an officer in the division of the Coordinator of Information (later OSS) in Washington, until 1943. During 1943-44, he was liason officer, Caribbean office, for the Lend Lease administrator in Washington. He then tranferred to the Department of State, where he served as research analyst, assistant chief and coordinator of the National Intelligence Survey, and as assistant to the chief of the division of research for the American republics in the historical section until 1956.

During his career, Professor Dozer published nearly 100 articles and reviews in major scholarly jounals. In 1968, Dozer was appointed member and later chairman of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of California, leading the state's observance of the nation's 200th birthday. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in 1971. That same year, he received the Alberdi-Sarmiento Award given by the distinguished Buenos Aiares newspaper, La Prensa, an annual honor accorded to the person who has made the greatest contribution to Inter-American relations. He was the first U.S. citizen to receive this distinction since 1954.

From the description of Donald M. Dozer, Papers [ca. 1939-1975], (Bulk 1940s) (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 51859182

Biography

The following is drawn from an article appearing in the UCSB publication In Memoriam, September, 1980, authored by Alexander DeConde, C. Warren Hollister, and Philip W. Powell.

Donald Marquand Dozer was born in Zanesville, Ohio, June 7, 1905, and grew up in that state. He received his B.A. degree from the College of Wooster, Ohio, then earned an M.A. and Ph.D. (1936) at Harvard University. Professor Dozer achieved national and international distinction as an authority on Latin American history and United States-Latin American relations.

While engaged in graduate studies, Dozer served as a part-time instructor at Harvard, Radcliff College, and Boston University; then he spent a year as archivist for the Department of State in the National Archives. From this position, he moved to the faculty of the University of Maryland, where he taught from 1937 to 1942, and again from 1956 to 1959. He came to the University faculty at Santa Barbara in 1959 and became emeritus in 1972.

Professor Dozer's active academic career was interrupted during World War II and for some years thereafter by government service. In the early war years, he was an officer in the division of the Coordinator of Information (later OSS) in Washington, until 1943. During 1943-44, he was liaison officer, Caribbean office, for the Lend Lease administrator in Washington. He then transferred to the Department of State, where he served as research analyst, assistant chief and coordinator of the National Intelligence Survey, and as assistant to the chief of the division of research for the American republics in the historical section until 1956. In the course of his governmental activities, he participated as a representative of the Department of State in a special conference in the Panama Canal Zone and in 1948 as assistant technical secretary for the United States in the delegation to the Ninth International Conference of American States (Bogotá).

During his career, Professor Dozer published nearly 100 articles and reviews, in major scholarly journals such as the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, the Pacific Historical Review, the American Historical Review, Foreign Affairs, and the Journal of International Relations . Among these writings were important studies on Secretary of State Elihu Root, anti-expansionism in the administration of President Andrew Johnson, American opposition to Hawaiian reciprocity in the late nineteenth century, Benjamin Harrison and the presidential campaign of 1892, revolution in Latin America, and on history of the politics and diplomacy of the Panama Canal. Dozer's scholarly reputation rests mainly on his books on Latin American history and inter-American relations. Several of these have become standard works in their field and are being reprinted. He wrote: Are We Good Neighbors? Three Decades of Inter-American Relations, 1930-1960 (1959); Latin America: An Interpretive History (1962), translated into Portuguese in 1966 and also recently reprinted in English; The Monroe Doctrine: Its Modern Significance (1965), revised edition in 1976; Panama Canal Issues and Treaty Talks (1967); and Portrait of the Free State: A History of Maryland (1976).

In 1968, Dozer was appointed member and later chairman of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of California, leading the state's observance of the nation's 200th birthday. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in 1971. That same year, he received the Alberdi-Sarmiento Award given by the distinguished Buenos Aires newspaper, La Prensa, an annual honor accorded to "the person who has made the greatest contribution to Inter-American relations." Dozer was the first U.S. citizen to receive this distinction since 1954.

After receiving emeritus status as UCSB in 1972, Dozer continued teaching for the American Graduate School on International Management, at Glendale, Arizona. He also taught courses for this school's branches at the Universidad Auto´noma de Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1973, and at the Institute for international Studies and Training, in Boeki Kenshu, Japan, in 1975. In 1976, he was visiting lecturer at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín, in Guatemala.

On August 2, 1941, Dozer married Alice Louise Scott (now deceased), in Washington, D.C. They had three children. Donald M. Dozer died on August 4, 1980 in Santa Barbara, California.

From the guide to the Donald M. Dozer Papers, ca. 1939-1975, (bulk 1940s), (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections)

Biographical Note

• 1905 June 7: Born, Zanesville, Ohio
• 1941 - 1943 : Research analyst, Latin American Branch, Office of Strategic Services
• 1943 - 1944 : Liaison officer, Office of Lend-Lease Administration
• 1944: Foreign trade analyst, Foreign Economic Administration
• 1944 - 1947 : Research analyst and Assistant Chief, Analysis Section, Division of American Republics, Department of State
• 1947 - 1949 : Acting Chief, Division of Research for American Republics, Office of Intelligence Research, Department of State
• 1948 Jan.: State Department representative to the Second Latin American Intelligence Conference, Panama Canal Zone
• 1948 March - 1948 April : Assistant Technical Secretary, United States delegation, Ninth International Conference of American States, Bogota, Colombia
• 1949 - 1951 : Coordinator, special intelligence project involving Latin America area for Joint Chiefs of Staff, Office of Intelligence Research, Department of State
• 1949 - 1951 : Lecturer, Strategic Intelligence School, National Military Establishment, Washington, D.C.
• 1950 - 1951 : Consultant on Latin America, Brookings Institute
• 1951 - 1956 : Assistant to Chief, Division of Historical Policy Research, Office of Public Affairs, State Department
• 1956 - 1959 : Lecturer, Department of History, University of Maryland and Montgomery Jr. College
• 1959 - 1964 : Associate Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara
• 1964 - 1972 : Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara
• 1971: Fulbright Lecturer to Argentina
• 1972: Received Alberdi-Sarmiento Prize, Argentina
• 1968 - 1977 : Vice Chairman, American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of California
• 1980, Aug. 4: Died, Santa Barbara, California

From the guide to the Donald Marquand Dozer Papers, 1893-1981, (Hoover Institution Archives)