George C. Herring

Born and raised in Blacksburg, Virginia, Herring earned his bachelor's degree from Roanoke College. After serving two years in the United States Navy, he attended the University of Virginia, where he earned an MA (1962) and a PhD (1965) in history.{{cite news|title= George Herring, scholar of U.S. diplomacy and Vietnam War, dies at 86 |first= Emily |last= Langer |date= December 6, 2022 |newspaper= The Washington Post |issn= 0190-8286 |language= en |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/06/george-herring-vietnam-war-historian-dead/ |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151203/https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/06/george-herring-vietnam-war-historian-dead/ |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title= George C. Herring (1936–2022) |first= Robert K. |last= Brigham |author-link= Robert K. Brigham |date= March 30, 2023 |work= American Historical Association |language= en |url= https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/george-c-herring-1936-2022-historian-of-us-foreign-relations-april-2023/ |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151158/https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/george-c-herring-1936-2022-historian-of-us-foreign-relations-april-2023/ |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title= George Herring, 1936-2022 |date= December 4, 2022 |work= Vietnam Veterans of America |language= en |url= https://vva.org/arts-of-war/george-herring-1936-2022/ |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151202/https://vva.org/arts-of-war/george-herring-1936-2022/ |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title= George C. Herring |work= WGBH-TV |language= en |url= https://www.wgbh.org/people/george-c-herring |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151117/https://www.wgbh.org/people/george-c-herring |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}

Herring began his academic career teaching at Ohio University from 1965 before joining the University of Kentucky faculty in 1969. He taught there for 36 years until his retirement in 2005 as Alumni Professor of History Emeritus. During his tenure at Kentucky, he served three terms as chair of the history department and was acting director of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce in 2005. In addition to his long-term position at the University of Kentucky, he was also a visiting professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the University of Richmond. His area of teaching expertise was the history of U.S. foreign relations.{{cite web|title= George Herring Obituary (1936 - 2022) |author= Lexington Herald-Leader |author-link=

Lexington Herald-Leader |location= Lexington, Kentucky |date= December 4, 2022 |via= Legacy.com |language= en |url= https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/kentucky/name/george-herring-obituary?id=38288805 |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151100/https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/kentucky/name/george-herring-obituary?id=38288805 |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}} He taught a wide range of courses from introductory U.S. history surveys to graduate seminars and supervised 35 doctoral dissertations and over 50 master's theses as of 2010.{{cite web|title= Intellectual Achievement Medallion Goes to Historian |first= Whitney |last= Hale |location= Lexington, Kentucky |date= May 4, 2010 |work= UKNow |language= en |url= https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/intellectual-achievement-medallion-goes-historian |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151158/https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/intellectual-achievement-medallion-goes-historian |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}

Herring served on the CIA's Historical Review Panel from 1990 to 1996, a panel established in 1984 to advise on the declassification of CIA operational records.{{cite web|title= My Years with the CIA |first=George C. |last= Herring |date= 1997 |work= Federation of American Scientists |language= en |url= https://sgp.fas.org/eprint/herring.html |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250418073803/https://sgp.fas.org/eprint/herring.html |archive-date= April 18, 2025 |url-status=dead}} Initially optimistic about increased transparency after the Cold War, Herring attended his first meeting in 1990, noting unusual procedures such as receiving cash payments in plain envelopes and being escorted to restrooms. Despite some progress by other agencies, the CIA panel was largely inactive between 1990 and 1994 and had little influence on declassification policies.{{cite web|title= The President's Daily Brief |first= Thomas S. |last= Blanton |date= April 12, 2004 |work= National Security Archive |language= en |url= https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/index.htm |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250418073936/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/index.htm |archive-date= April 18, 2025 |url-status=dead}} Herring criticized the panel, calling CIA claims of openness a "brilliant public relations snow job".{{cite web|title= C.I.A.'s Openness Derided as a 'Snow Job' |first= Tim |last= Weiner |date= May 20, 1997 |newspaper= The New York Times |issn= 0362-4331 |language= en |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/20/us/cia-s-openness-derided-as-a-snow-job.html |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230422091207/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/20/us/cia-s-openness-derided-as-a-snow-job.html |archive-date= April 22, 2023 |url-status=dead}} Promises to release documents on covert operations remained unfulfilled, often citing concerns about damaging to U.S. national security. The panel resumed meetings in 1996, including sessions with CIA Director John M. Deutch, but substantive progress was limited. Eventually, Herring and other original members were replaced during a reorganization.{{cite magazine|title= ‘Is the CIA Necessary?’: An Exchange |first= Theodore H. |last= Draper |author-link= Theodore Draper |date= October 23, 1997 |magazine= The New York Review of Books |issn= 0028-7504 |language= en |url= https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/10/23/is-the-cia-necessary-an-exchange/ |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250418074808/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/10/23/is-the-cia-necessary-an-exchange/ |archive-date= April 18, 2025 |url-status=dead}} His experience highlighted the entrenched culture of secrecy within the CIA and the challenges historians face accessing its records.

As an author, Herring made contributions to the understanding of American foreign relations and the Vietnam War. His most influential work, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975, initially published in 1979, has seen multiple revisions, with the sixth edition appearing in 2020. The book has become a fixture of college reading lists and a resource for understanding the conflict that concluded with North Vietnam's victory.{{cite journal|title= News Notes |date= 2023 |journal= Army History: The Professional Bulletin of Army History |publisher= United States Army Center of Military History |issue= 128 |page= 5 |language= en |issn= 1546-5330 |jstor= 48749088 |jstor-access= free}} "Generations of college students have received their introduction to the war through the book... Indeed, it’s a fair guess that it has taught more Americans about the war than any other book," said Fredrik Logevall, professor of history and international relations at Harvard University. He also authored From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction,{{cite magazine|title= 2008 National Book Critics Circle Finalists Announced |first= C. Max |last= Magee |date= January 25, 2009 |magazine= The Millions |language= en |url= https://themillions.com/2009/01/2008-national-book-critics-circle_3024.html |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417150524/https://themillions.com/2009/01/2008-national-book-critics-circle_3024.html |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title= National Book Critics Circle announces awards |first= Carolyn |last= Kellogg |date= March 12, 2009 |newspaper= Los Angeles Times |issn= 2165-1736 |language= en |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/jacket-copy/story/2009-03-12/national-book-critics-circle-announces-awards |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250418035823/https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/jacket-copy/story/2009-03-12/national-book-critics-circle-announces-awards |archive-date= April 18, 2025 |url-status=dead}} and won the 2009 Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.{{cite web|title= Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize |work= Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations |language= en |url= https://www.shafr.org/ferrell-book-prize |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250418040226/https://www.shafr.org/ferrell-book-prize |archive-date= April 18, 2025 |url-status=dead}} Other notable works include The Secret Diplomacy of the Vietnam War: The Negotiating Volumes of the Pentagon Papers and LBJ and Vietnam: A Different Kind of War.{{cite web|title= Vietnam scholar to discuss ‘The War That Won’t Go Away’ |author= MTSU News |date= October 22, 2012 |work= Middle Tennessee State University |language= en |url= https://mtsunews.com/vietnam-scholar-to-discuss-the-war-that-wont-go-away-oct-25/ |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417150112/https://mtsunews.com/vietnam-scholar-to-discuss-the-war-that-wont-go-away-oct-25/ |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}

Beyond his writing and teaching, Herring served as editor of the journal Diplomatic History and was a member and former president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. He also contributed to historical advisory committees, including the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee, and was involved with cultural and humanities organizations such as the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation and the Kentucky Humanities Council.{{cite web|title= From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 |first1= George C. |last1= Herring |first2= David M. |last2= Kennedy |author-link2= David M. Kennedy (historian) |date= November 17, 2008 |work= Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies |language= en |url= https://fsi.stanford.edu/zh-hans/multimedia/colony-superpower-us-foreign-relations-1776 |access-date= April 18, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250418042908/https://fsi.stanford.edu/zh-hans/multimedia/colony-superpower-us-foreign-relations-1776 |archive-date= April 18, 2025 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title= In Memoriam: George C. Herring |date= 2023 |work= Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations |language= en |url= https://www.shafr.org/assets/docs/Passport/2023/passport-04-2023-herring.pdf |access-date= January 9, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250109100158/https://www.shafr.org/assets/docs/Passport/2023/passport-04-2023-herring.pdf |archive-date= January 9, 2025 |url-status=dead}} Throughout his career, Herring received numerous honors, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright, Rockefeller Foundation, and Guggenheim foundations.{{cite web|title= Meet our Fellows - Guggenheim Fellowship — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists |work= Guggenheim Fellowship |language= en |url= https://www.gf.org/fellows?page=139 |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417150753/https://www.gf.org/fellows?page=139 |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}} He was recognized for his excellence in teaching with awards like the University of Kentucky Alumni Association Great Teacher Award and the Sturgill Award for Excellence in Graduate Education.{{cite web|title= A&S Celebrates New Hall of Fame Members |first= Gail |last= Hairston |date= October 10, 2014 |work= University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences |language= en |url= https://history.as.uky.edu/celebrates-new-hall-fame-members |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417145458/https://history.as.uky.edu/celebrates-new-hall-fame-members |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}

George C. Herring died of lung cancer on November 30, 2022, in Lexington, Kentucky, at the age of 86.

• {{cite book |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= 1973 |title= Aid to Russia, 1941-1946: Strategy, Diplomacy, the Origins of the Cold War |language= en |location= New York City |publisher= Columbia University Press |isbn= 978-0-231-03336-7 |lccn= 72010545 |oclc= 1031755213 |s2cid= 146141899 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/iORmAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= 1979 |title= America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 |language= en |location= New York City |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |jstor= 23379516 |isbn= 978-0-471-01546-8 |lccn= 79016408 |oclc= 5126110 |s2cid= 222336942 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Km3dAAAAIAAJ}}
• {{cite book |editor-first= George C. |editor-last= Herring |date= 1983 |title= The Secret Diplomacy of the Vietnam War: The Negotiating Volumes of the Pentagon Papers |language= en |location= Austin, Texas |publisher= University of Texas Press |isbn= 978-0-292-77573-2 |lccn= 82021960 |oclc= 1303936536 |s2cid= 154148229 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/A0_lAAAAIAAJ}}
• {{cite book |editor-first1= George C. |editor-last1= Herring |editor-first2= Kenneth M. |editor-last2= Coleman |date= 1985 |title= The Central American Crisis: Sources of Conflict and the Failure of U.S. Policy |language= en |location= Wilmington, Delaware |publisher= Scholarly Resources |isbn= 978-0-8420-2238-5 |lccn= 84027624 |oclc= 11548365 |s2cid= 153276587 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/TJYsAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book |editor-first1= George C. |editor-last1= Herring |editor-first2= John M. |editor-last2= Carroll |date= 1986 |title= Modern American Diplomacy |language= en |location= Wilmington, Delaware |publisher= Scholarly Resources |isbn= 978-0-8420-2264-4 |lccn= 86011918 |oclc= 1087624009 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/uAt3AAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book |editor-first= George C. |editor-last= Herring |date= 1993 |title= The Pentagon Papers: Abridged Edition |language= en |location= New York City |publisher= McGraw Hill Education |isbn= 978-0-07-028380-0 |lccn= 92032172 |oclc= 1079408766 |s2cid= 149858410 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/9uEUAQAAIAAJ}}
• {{cite book |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= 1994 |title= LBJ and Vietnam: A Different Kind of War |language= en |location= Austin, Texas |publisher= University of Texas Press |isbn= 978-0-292-73085-4 |lccn= 93036793 |oclc= 1154817806 |s2cid= 159030967 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/QpTtAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= 2008 |title= From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 |language= en |location= New York City |publisher= Oxford University Press |doi= 10.1093/oso/9780195078220.001.0001 |isbn= 978-0-19-507822-0 |jstor= |lccn= 2008007996 |oclc= 212018624 |s2cid= 161094023 |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/uTvRCwAAQBAJ}}

• {{cite web|title= LBJ's tragic "addiction" to Vietnam: The mistake that still haunts America 50 years later |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= July 28, 2015 |work= Salon.com |language= en |url= https://www.salon.com/2015/07/28/lbjs_tragic_addiction_to_vietnam_the_mistake_that_still_haunts_america_50_years_later/ |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417171351/https://www.salon.com/2015/07/28/lbjs_tragic_addiction_to_vietnam_the_mistake_that_still_haunts_america_50_years_later/ |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite news|title= Opinion {{!}} The Road to Tet |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= January 27, 2017 |newspaper= The New York Times |issn= 0362-4331 |language= en |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/opinion/the-road-to-tet.html |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151433/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/opinion/the-road-to-tet.html |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite news|title= Opinion {{!}} How Not to 'Win Hearts and Minds' |first= George C. |last= Herring |date= September 19, 2017 |newspaper= The New York Times |issn= 0362-4331 |language= en |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/opinion/vietnam-war-americans-culture.html |access-date= April 17, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250417151333/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/opinion/vietnam-war-americans-culture.html |archive-date= April 17, 2025 |url-status=dead}}

{{reflist}}

• {{C-SPAN|1018909}}
• {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20240817135901/https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/vietnam_war_oral_history/107/|Vietnam War Oral History Interview of George C. Herring (Audio)}} and {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20240817170354/https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/vietnam_war_oral_history/160/|Transcript}} at Morehead State University

{{Oxford History of the United States}}

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Category:1936 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:University of Virginia alumni

Category:21st-century American historians

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:People from Blacksburg, Virginia

Category:Historians from Virginia

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Presidents of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations