Colegrove, Kenneth W. (Kenneth Wallace), 1886-1975
Dates
- Existence: 1886-1975
Biography
Kenneth Wallace Colegrove was born in Waukon, Iowa on October 8, 1886, the son of Chauncey Peter and Winifred Della (Mack) Colegrove. He received a diploma from Iowa State Teachers College in 1905 and took his B.A. degree in 1909 from the State University of Iowa and his Ph.D. in 1915 from Harvard University. In 1945 Columbia University awarded him a Litt.D. degree.
Colegrove began his teaching career in 1913 while a student at Harvard; he lectured in history at Mount Holyoke College from 1913 to 1916. In 1916 he accepted an appointment as assistant professor of European history at Syracuse University and in 1919 joined the faculty of Northwestern University as an associate professor of political science. He became a full professor at Northwestern in 1926 and chaired its political science department from 1940 to 1948. Colegrove retired from Northwestern in 1952 and upon retirement the University accorded him emeritus status. Colegrove departed Evanston to serve as professor of political science during the 1953-1954 academic year at Queens College in Flushing, New York. From 1954 to 1958 he was editor-in-chief for the Institute of Fiscal and Political Education in New York City. In 1959 Colegrove accepted an appointment as professor of history at C.W. Post College of Long Island University. He taught in this capacity until 1969. The following year he assumed the duties of senior research associate at the Center for the Study of the Presidency.
In addition to his teaching, Colegrove served from 1936-1943 as a member of the editorial board of Amerasia, a review of American and Asian affairs later to become controversial, and from 1937 to 1946 as secretary-treasurer of the American Political Science Association. In addition to these posts he was a delegate to the American Council of Learned Societies from 1952 to 1955, an executive council member of the American Society for International Law, and a member of the American Historical Association.
Colegrove's work on the editorial board of Amerasia reflected both his scholarly and political convictions. Beginning in late 1942 and continuing into early 1943 Colegrove strongly criticized what he considered to be a leftist bias in articles published in Amerasia and threatened to resign from its editorial board unless opposing views were published. A debate ensued between Colegrove, members of the editorial board, and managing editor Philip Jaffe concerning the scholarliness and fairness both of the board and the articles published in the journal. Colegrove finally resigned on May 27, 1943, stating that no attempt had been made to follow his suggestions pertaining to editorial and publication policies.
In 1950 Colegrove, perhaps seeking to disengage himself from previous political associations, defended his earlier membership to Amerasia's editorial board. Stating that, “At the present crisis every teacher or expert who was connected with Amerasia owes patriotic duty to the American people to explain his connection to this periodical.” Colegrove categorized the journal's editorial board members according to perceived political sympathies. Through this categorization he distanced himself from leftist or pro-Communist board members.
Colegrove also was active in government and community service. In 1933 he was a member of the U.S. Department of Labor Board of Personnel Examiners. During 1940-1941, he chaired the Evanston chapter of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies. He was a consultant to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) from 1943 to 1945 and in 1946 was a political consultant on Japanese constitutional revision attached to General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo.
Colegrove's research and writings centered on modern governments, politics, and law particularly Japanese political customs and law, geopolitics and totalitarianism, international aviation law, and treaty making and world peace. He authored a number of books including: American Citizens and Their Government (1921), International Control of Aviation (1930), Militarism in Japan (1936), The American Senate and World Peace (1944), Democracy versus Communism (1957, co-authored with Hall Bartlett), The Menace of Communism (1962). Colegrove also served as editor of the European Economic and Political Survey (1929), associate editor of Modern Age, and as a member of the editorial advisory board of American Opinion. He contributed numerous articles and commentaries to professional journals, magazines, and newspapers.
Colegrove maintained memberships in the University Club of Evanston, the Men's Faculty Club of Columbia University, and Alpha Pi Zeta.
He married Louise Burrows Funkhouser of Evanston on January 5, 1923. The Colegroves had one daughter, Marian Louise (Mrs. John Blankenship). Colegrove's second marriage was to the former Gladys Marie Chadsey St. John (Mrs. Walter St. John). He died in New York City on January 3, 1975 at the age of 68.