Thomas M. Hatfield The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research will present a keynote address by Dr. Thomas M. Hatfield, author of the biography of James Earl Rudder, Rudder: From Leader to Legend, on Wednesday, September 26, at 7 p.m. in the Robert M. Gates Ballroom, room 2400 of the Memorial Student Center at Texas A&M University. The lecture is free and open to the public and refreshment will be served. Hatfield’s biography of Rudder will be available for purchase during the event.
Thomas M. Hatfield is Dean Emeritus of Continuing Education and Director of the Military History Institute in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin where he lectures on World War II. As an internationally recognized scholar of the war, in 1989 Dr. Hatfield co-founded UT Austin’s esteemed Normandy Scholar Program, an undergraduate program focused on the war.
Hatfield’s biography of James Earl Rudder –– Rudder: From Leader to Legend –– published by the Texas A&M University Press in 2011, is a study in the development and manifestation of human character. The book traces Rudder from childhood through his extraordinary career as a renowned citizen-soldier, ending with his death in 1970 while president of Texas A&M University.
Hatfield lays bare the deprivation of Rudder’s early life, the strengths of family and community ties, the academic and financial challenges of college, job struggles during the Great Depression, his storied exploits in the 1941-45 war, and his remarkable postwar achievements in the public service. While applauding Rudder’s accomplishments, Hatfield reveals his foibles and confirms the depth of his humane spirit. Rudder was, Hatfield concludes, “a humanistic leader in war and peace.”
This lecture serves as keynote address for the initiative on “World War II and its Global Legacies,” a two-year program sponsored by the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research focusing on World War II, its history and consequences, as well as its global impact on international law, national memory and identity, and the humanities. The Glasscock Center will host lectures, conferences, workshops and film screenings to help students, faculty, and the general public better understand the events and implications of the conflict.
For more information about the World War II Initiative and other lectures and events, please visit http://glasscock.tamu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=542%3Aworld-war-ii-and-its-global-legacies-initiative&catid=43&Itemid=72.
