Stuart I. Rochester (November 24, 1945 – July 29, 2009) was the chief historian for the United States

Office of the Secretary of Defense The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is a headquarters-level staff of the United States Department of Defense. It is the principal civilian staff element of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out aut ...

and author and co-author of several books, including a notable account on American prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. Rochester was also an authority on the comparative national defense policies of post-

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

presidential administrations.

Career

Born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

on November 24, 1945, Stuart Rochester received an undergraduate degree from

Loyola College in Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the U ...

and master's and doctorate degrees in history from the

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

. He was named to the

Phi Beta Kappa Society The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

. Dr. Rochester taught at Loyola College in the 1970s before going to work at the Pentagon's office of history within the Department of Defense. Dr. Rochester became deputy historian of the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1987 and chief historian in 2008. Dr. Rochester's book, ''Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973'', which he co-wrote with Frederick T. Kiley, was considered the definitive account of

U.S. Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War Members of the United States armed forces were held as prisoners of war (POWs) in significant numbers during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973. Unlike U.S. service members captured in World War II and the Korean War, who were mostly enlisted troops ...

. James Stockdale called the book, "A monumental achievement, not only in its depth and breadth of treatment but in its honesty and accuracy." Eugene V. Rostow called the book, "a masterpiece." Rochester died of

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

at his home in Burtonsville, Maryland on July 29, 2009, aged 63.

Bibliography

* (with Frederick T. Kiley) ''Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973'',

Naval Institute Press The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds se ...

, 1998. * ''American Liberal Disillusionment: In the Wake of World War I'',

Pennsylvania State University Press The Penn State University Press, also known as The Pennsylvania State University Press, was established in 1956 and is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. It is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State Un ...

, 1977. * free public-domain eBook via

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locall ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochester, Stuart I. Writers from Baltimore 1945 births 2009 deaths American military writers Historians of the Vietnam War People from Burtonsville, Maryland University of Virginia alumni Loyola University Maryland alumni