As Deputy Special Assistant to the President for national security affairs, Walt W. Rostow worked directly under McGeorge Bundy. Appointed to the position by President-elect Kennedy in 1961, Mr. Rostow later served as Counselor and Chairman of the Policy Planning Council in the Department of State until 1966. Following Mr. Bundy’s resignation in 1966, President Johnson appointed Mr. Rostow Special Assistant to the President for national security affairs. Expanding on a role initiated under President Kennedy in 1961, Mr. Rostow became a chief foreign policy advisor on the Vietnam War. In addition to his political career, Mr. Rostow was also a prolific writer and scholar specializing in economic and American History. His 1958 book The Stages of Economic Growth, influenced U.S. foreign policy toward the underdeveloped nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America in the 1960s.
1916 Born, New York, New York
1936 B.A., Yale University
1936-38 Rhodes Scholar, Balliol College, Oxford University
1940 PhD., Yale University
1940-41 Instructor of economics, Columbia University
1942-45 Major, OSS, U.S. Army
1945-46 Assistant chief, German-Austrian Economic Division, Department of State
1946-47 Professor of American history, Oxford University
1947-49 Assistant to Executive Secretary, Economic Community for Europe
1949-50 Professor of American history, Cambridge University
1950-60 Professor of economic history, MIT
1951-1960 Staff member, Center for International Studies
1961 Deputy Special Assistant to the President for national security affairs
1961-66 Counselor and Chairman, Policy Planning Council, Department of State
1964-66 U.S. Representative, Inter-American Committee for the Alliance for Progress
1966-69 Special Assistant to the President for national security affairs
1969- Professor of economic history, University of Texas, Austin
2003 Died
Author
East-West Relations: Is Détente Possible? (with William E. Griffith) 1969
Politics and the Stages of Growth, 1971
The Diffusion of Power, 1972
How it all Began: Origins of the Modern Economy, 1975
The World Economy: History and Prospect, 1978
Getting from Here to There, 1978
Why the Poor Get Richer and the Rich Slow Down, 1980
Pre-Invasion Bombing Strategy: General Eisenhower’s Decision of March 25, 1944, 1981
The Division of Europe after World War II: 1946, 1981
Europe after Stalin: Eisenhower’s Three Decisions of March 11, 1953, 1982
Open Skies: Eisenhower’s Proposal of July 21, 1955, 1982
The Barbaric Counter-Revolution: Cause and Cure, 1983
The United States and the Regional Organization of Asia and the Pacific, 1965-1985, 1986
Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto,1991
The Great Population Spike and After: Reflections on the 21st Century, 1998
Source:
Contemporary Authors PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000085158