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Mission on the Rhine: American Educational Policy in Postwar Germany, 1945–1949

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

James F. Tent
James F. Tent*
Affiliation:
University of Alabama in Birmingham
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Extract

Americans have had a long history of wanting to remake others in their own image. The Puritans' modest efforts to convert native Americans were merely the first of many efforts to mold people of another culture. Later generations used the educational system to “Americanize” successive waves of immigrants, Blacks, Southwest Indians, and Hispanics. Some would add post-Civil War reconstruction in the South to the list. For a few short years we even heeded Kipling's call to pick up the White Man's Burden, although the Philippine experience quickly soured most Americans on imperialism. At all times in our past Americans have felt the urge to reeducate other groups of people.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , Fall 1982 , pp. 255 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 by History of Education Society 

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References

Footnotes

1. Historical Files, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, hereafter cited as CU/H. Minutes of meeting, June 19, 1942 at the Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.; also February 23, 1943 and June 9–10, 1943.Google Scholar

2. Knappen, Marshall, And Call It Peace (Chicago, 1947), pp. 56–57.Google Scholar

3. Ibid., pp. 39–40.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 43.Google Scholar

5. Interview with Dr.Taylor, John W., September 23. 1979; Military Government Handbooks for Germany Prior to Defeat or Surrender for July, 1944 as compared to December, 1944.Google Scholar

6. National Archives of the United States, Record Group 59, U.S. Department of State, Decimal File 862.42 (Reeducation of Germany), file no. 862.42/1-1545, secret draft: “Germany: Pre- and Post-Surrender Policy with Respect to Schools,” hereafter cited as 862.42.Google Scholar

7. Gaddis, John, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941 to 1947 (New York, 1972), pp. 106–107.Google Scholar

8. 862.42/2-745, letter, MacLeish, to Hovde, Bryn, February 7, 1945.Google Scholar

9. Backer, John, Priming the German Economy: American Occupational Policies 1945–1948 (Durham, N.C., 1971), p. 1313.Google Scholar

10. 862.42/5-1445, minutes, meeting, May 14. 1945 on “Reeducation of Germany.” Google Scholar

11. CU/H, memorandum, Henry Leverich, Area Division of Occupied Territories (ADO), State Department, to William T. Stone of same concerning “Long-Range Policy Statement for German Re-education,” January 9. 1945.Google Scholar

12. 862.42/5-2045, memo from MacLeish on recruitment of education head, May 30, 1980; 862.42/7-945, Hovde, Bryn to Dickey, John Sloan on famous educators, June 2, 1945; 862.42/7-945, memo, Thomson to MacLeish about a “Director of German Re-education Program,” July 9, 1945.Google Scholar

13. National Archives of the United States, Record Group 260, Office of Military Government, U.S. for Germany (OMGUS), Adjutant General Files, 1944–45, Box 16, minutes of meeting, May 14. 1945 (hereafter (“Omgus.”)Google Scholar

14. National Archives of the United States, Record Group 84, Office of the Political Advisor (POLAD), 1945, Box 737, Knappen Report with memo. Murphy, Robert to Clay, , May 30. 1945 (hereafter cited as Polad).Google Scholar

15. Knappen, , pp. 63–67.Google Scholar

16. Omgus, , 307-2/5, E&RA Minutes, August 2. 1945; cf. report in POLAD, Box 737, John Muccio to Murphy concerning premature reopening of Heidelberg University, July 10, 1945.Google Scholar

17. Omgus, , 307-2/5, E&RA Minutes, December 10. 1945; Omgus, , 306-2/5, teleconference, Geyer, George to Taylor, , June 10, 1945.Google Scholar

18. National Archives of the United States, Record Group 165, War Department, Civil Affairs Division, Decimal File WDSCA 350, letter, Hilldring, to Clay, , February 21. 1946 and Clay's reply, March 6, 1946.Google Scholar

19. New York Times, April 22, 23 and 26, 1946 for articles by Long, Tania and Daniell, Raymond.Google Scholar

20. 862.42/11-2847, memo, Kellerman, Henry to Goldstein, Thomas, November 28. 1947 and Goldstein's reply, December 1, 1947.Google Scholar

21. cf. Dotterweich, Volker, “Die Entnazifizierung,” in Becker, Josef, Vorgeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Zwischen Kapitulation und Grundgesetz (Munich, 1979).Google Scholar

22. Omgus, , 307-2/5, E&RA Minutes, December 10. 1945.Google Scholar

23. Omgus, , 16-1/8, report, “Secondary Schools in Germany, American Zone,” August 7. 1946.Google Scholar

24. Polad, , 1946, Box 758, memo, Buhrman, Parker to Murphy, , March 26, 1946.Google Scholar

25. cf. Mission Report and Clay's reply of September 21, 1946; interview with Kellermann, Henry, September 6. 1980.Google Scholar

26. OMGUS, 208/1/5, report by McRae, Robert to Clay, , January, 1947; cf. Clay's communication to Daniel Noce in Smith, Jean Edward, ed. The Papers of General Lucius D. Clay: Germany, 1945–1949, I, 309, letter of January 31, 1947.Google Scholar

27. 862.42/11-1246. Spaulding, to Benton, , November 11. 1946; cf. memo, Benton to Leverich, Henry, October 17, 1946, and Leverich's reply of October 21; Spalding epitomized the climate of opinion described in Tyack, David, The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education (Cambridge, Mass., 1974).Google Scholar

28. Interview with. Taylor, John, September 10. 1977; cf. Omgus, , 303-3/5, letter Alexander, R. T. to Snyder, Agnes, April 9, 1948.Google Scholar

29. Omgus, , 301-1/5, copy of speech by Taylor, John, delivered to Education Ministers in Munich, February 19. 1947.Google Scholar

30. Omgus, , 303-3/5, letter, Alexander, R. T. to Dean William Russell at Columbia Teachers College, June 10. 1948.Google Scholar

31. Omgus, , 308-1/5, report by Mildred English, December 23. 1947, report by Leo Bruckner, January, 1948; interview with Mayes, Martin, September 2, 1977; interview with Swarm, William, August 24, 1977.Google Scholar

32. Polad, , 1948, Box 460, File W-1948, memo, Clay, to Murphy, , August 29, 1948 concerning school reform and confessional schools; Staff Study compiled by Martin Mayes and Martin Ackerman, letter, Clay, to Ehard, Hans, August 31, 1948, copy in possession of author.Google Scholar

33. Interview with DeLong, Vaughn R., September 4. 1980.Google Scholar

34. Polad, , 1948, Box 805, letter Bertke, Stanley to Murphy, with commentary February 5, 1948; cf. internal memos by Laukhuff, Polad's Perry to Alexander, , February 20; Alexander's reply, March 25, and Murphy's abstract of his discussion on the Fulda project with Bertke, April 2, 1948.Google Scholar

35. For an overview of Hesse's educational system today and its more progressive features see Bodenman, Paul, The Educational System of the Federal Republic of Germany, bulletin of the Office of Education U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C., 1979.Google Scholar

36. Polad, , 1948, Box 817, memo, minutes of a meeting between Alexander, McKeon, Richard, and Clay, , compiled by Thomas Stauffer for Murphy, July 16, 1947; cf. Omgus 15-2/8, report, Russell, to Trustees, , Teachers College, June 1, 1948, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

37. Letter, Wells, to Tent, , December 12. 1977, in author's possession.Google Scholar

38. Ibid.Google Scholar

39. Interview with Kellermann, Henry, September 6. 1980; 862.42/5-2449, letter, Herman Wells and George Zook to Secretary of State Acheson, April 29, 1949.Google Scholar

40. Interview with Kellermann, Henry, September 6. 1980; see also his study on HICOG operations: The Educational Exchange Program between the United States and Germany, 1945–1954, Washington, D. C., 1978, pp. 80–82 for the results of the State Department mission in 1949.Google Scholar

41. Interview with Kellermann, Henry, September 6. 1980.Google Scholar

42. 862-42/1-1545, draft, “Germany: Pre- and Post-Surrender Policy with Respect to the Schools,” July 18. 1944.Google Scholar