Wunderlich, Herbert J. (Herbert John), 1906-

Born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on May 9, 1906, Herbert John Wunderlich graduated from the University of Idaho in 1928 with a B.A. in U. S. History. He received an M.A. from Harvard University in 1934. From 1936 through 1938 Wunderlich was the Assistant Dean of Men at the University of Washington. Later he was Executive Assistant to the President and the Dean of Men at The University of Idaho from 1938-1942. Beginning in 1942 Wunderlich joined the United States Navy, eventually attaining the rank of Commander. His last assignment, through 1946, was in Tokyo under General Douglas MacArthur, where he became the Civil Information and Education Section officer in charge of textbook revision for the national schools of Japan.

The Potsdam Declaration, July 26, 1945, established that the Japanese government would remove all obstacles to the strengthening of democratic tendencies among the Japanese. Freedom of speech, religion, and thought were to be established. The United States Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan, August 29, 1945, further directed that militarism and ultra-nationalism should be eliminated from the educational system. On October 2, 1945, MacArthur ordered the General Education Section to make recommendations to insure the elimination of militarism and ultra-nationalism and to disseminate democratic principles. Wunderlich and his staff were to develop criteria for textbook and curriculum revision, a procedure for reviewing and approving national textbooks, staff study on Japanese morale (Shushin), Japanese history and geography texts and curriculum, interim textbooks and teaching materials, vocational and university textbooks, and the education mission to Japan.

Following his return stateside, Wunderlich was employed by Stanford University where he was in charge of Stanford Village, the University's veteran housing project. While at Stanford he completed his Doctoral work in December 1948. At the end of that year he took the position of Dean of Students and Professor of Education at Montana State University in Missoula (now known as The University of Montana--Missoula). Wunderlich left Montana in 1955 to pursue other interests, including positions as the Dean of Students at Kansas State University and as the Vice President of the University of South Florida at Tampa.

Wunderlich later returned to Idaho and lived there until his death in 2002.

From the guide to the Herbert J. Wunderlich papers, 1890-1990, (Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library K. Ross Toole Archives)