Robert G. L. Waite
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Robert George Leeson Waite (February 18, 1919 – October 4, 1999) was a Canadian historian, psychohistorian, and the Brown Professor of History (1949–1988) at
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
who specialized in the
Nazi movement Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
, particularly
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.


Early life and undergraduate education

Waite was born in
Cartwright, Manitoba Cartwright is an unincorporated urban community in the Cartwright – Roblin Municipality within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held village status prior to January 1, 2015. It was originally incorporated as a village on December 31, 1947. ...
, on February 18, 1919. His father was a minister of the
United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...
. He grew up as a "preacher's kid," in the prairie towns of
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
and
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
.Thomas Kohut and John M. Hyde, "In Memoriam: Robert G. L. Waite," '' Clio's Psyche'' vol. 6, no. 3 (December 1999): 129-131. When describing his life, he captured the flavor of these small towns, adopting the cadence, regional expressions, and accents of the Scandinavian farmers and the families with whom he grew up. In the fall of 1937, Waite entered
Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...
in
St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...
, in the midst of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. To supplement his scholarship and to earn whatever spending money he could, Waite held a variety of jobs, from working in the open pit mines of the
Mesabi Range The Mesabi Iron Range is a mining district in northeastern Minnesota following an elongate trend containing large deposits of iron ore. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. ...
in northern Minnesota to guarding the supposed corpse of
John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...
in a traveling carnival.


Military service

Upon graduating from Macalester in 1941, he entered military service from which he was discharged three years later as a corporal—a distinction he insisted be included in his curriculum vitae.


Graduate education and academic interests

Following
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Waite completed graduate studies in history at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, where he received his master's degree. He then entered Harvard University and began researching German history with particular emphasis on the Nazi period. His dissertation on the
Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
movement in post-World War I Germany, written under the supervision of
H. Stuart Hughes Henry Stuart Hughes (1916–1999) was an American historian, professor, and activist. He advocated the application of psychoanalysis to history. Early life Hughes was born on May 16, 1916, in New York City, the son of Marjory Bruce Stuart and C ...
, was published under the title, ''Vanguard of Nazism'' (1952). Upon receiving his PhD in 1949, Waite was appointed to the faculty at Williams College in Massachusetts where he began his psychohistorical work on
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.


Depression and academic impact

Waite's interest in psychohistory was influenced in part by his own experience during his first year of teaching at Williams College, where he suffered from depression—what he called "black despair." The young professor convinced himself he was a total failure and even submitted his resignation. Then the college president,
James Phinney Baxter James Phinney Baxter (March 23, 1831 – May 8, 1921) was an American politician, businessperson, historian, civic leader, and benefactor of Portland, Maine. He was elected as mayor of Portland for six single-year terms between 1893 and 1905. Hi ...
, refused to accept his resignation and personally arranged an appointment with a well-known psychiatrist. Waite took medical leave with the assurance that his job would be waiting for him. His struggle with depression influenced his studies greatly, particularly when he began researching the psychohistorical profile of Adolf Hitler. He frequently told colleagues: "the career of Adolf Hitler raises questions that can be answered neither by psychology nor by history working alone."


Waite's primary source solution

Waite's psychohistorical solution for balancing judgment and understanding was to rely extensively on quotations from those he studied. In ''Vanguard of Nazism'', he quoted the
Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
fighters at length "to convey their spirit as accurately as possible by letting them speak for themselves." Relying on their own words not only gave his readers access to the Freikorpsmen's psychological and political universe, it also allowed Waite to scrutinize them more accurately and in context. He quoted the members of the Freikorps so extensively, Waite told the readers of the ''Vanguard of Nazism'', "had I relied on paraphrase, it seems probable that I would not have been believed."


Retirement

Waite published his comparative study of Hitler and
Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
and completed a light-hearted memoir entitled, ''Hitler, the Kaiser, and Me: An Academic's Procession'', which appeared only weeks before his death and now serves as his valedictory.


Death

Robert G.L. Waite suffered a massive stroke and died on October 4, 1999, at the age of 80.Martin, "Robert G. L. Waite, 80, Dies," NY Times, (Oct. 10, 1999), Sec. 1 pp. 52.


Publications

*''Vanguard of Nazism, 1918-1923'', (Harvard U.P; Oxford U.P, 1952) *''Hitler and Nazi Germany'', (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965) *''Vanguard of Nazism: the Free Corps Movement in Post-war Germany, 1918-1923'', (Harvard University Press, 1969) *''Juvenile Delinquency in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945'', (State University of New York at Binghamton, 1980) *'' The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler'', (Da Capo Press, 1993) *''Kaiser and Führer: A Comparative Study of Personality and Politics'' (University of Toronto Press 1998) *''Hitler, The Kaiser, and Me: An Academic's Procession'', (R.G.L. Waite, 1999)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waite, Robert G. L. 1919 births 1999 deaths Macalester College alumni University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni Harvard University alumni Williams College faculty Canadian male non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian historians Historians of Nazism People from Pembina Valley Region, Manitoba Canadian expatriates in the United States