George Cyril Herring (May 23, 1936 – November 30, 2022) was an American historian. A specialist in the history of American foreign relations, he taught at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

for 36 years. Born and raised in

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg, as well as the surrounding county, is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of V ...

, Herring earned his BA from

Roanoke College Roanoke College is a private liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It has approximately 2,000 students who represent approximately 40 states and 30 countries. The college offers 35 majors, 57 minors and concentrations, and pre-professional pr ...

. After serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for two years, Herring attended the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, where he earned an MA (1962) and a Ph.D. (1965) in history. Herring taught at

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

from 1965 until 1969, and at the University of Kentucky from 1969 until his retirement in 2005 as Alumni Professor of History. In addition to teaching and writing several books, Herring was editor of Diplomatic History Diplomatic history deals with the history of international relations between states. Diplomatic history can be different from international relations in that the former can concern itself with the foreign policy of one state while the latter deals ...
, and served a member of the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee and President of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. He also served on the boards of the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation, the Kentucky Humanities Council, and the UK Library Associates. Nominations of awards include:

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

for Humanities, US & Canada. Herring died of lung cancer in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

on November 30, 2022, at the age of 86.

Books

* ''Aid to Russia, 1941-1946: Strategy, Diplomacy, the Origins of the Cold War'' (Columbia University Press, 1973) * ''America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975'' (John Wiley and Sons, 1979) * ''The Secret Diplomacy of the Vietnam War: The Negotiating Volumes of the Pentagon Papers'', editor (University of Texas Press, 1983) * ''The Central American Crisis: Sources of Conflict and the Failure of U.S. Policy'', co-editor with Kenneth M. Coleman (Scholarly Resources, 1985) * ''Modern American Diplomacy'' co-editor with John M. Carroll (Scholarly Resources, 1986) * ''The Pentagon Papers: Abridged Edition'', editor (McGraw-Hill, 1993) * ''LBJ and Vietnam: A Different Kind of War'' (University of Texas Press, 1994) * ''From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776'' (Oxford University Press, 2008)

References

1936 births 2022 deaths University of Virginia alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers People from Blacksburg, Virginia Historians from Virginia American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub