William Appleman Williams Dies; Gadfly of Foreign Policy Was 68
By PETER B. FLINT
Published: March 8, 1990
William Appleman Williams, a historian known for his sharp critiques of American foreign policy, died of cancer Monday at Newport (Ore.) Community Hospital. He was 68 years old and lived on the Oregon coast at Waldport.
Dr. Williams was a prolific and influential writer of a dozen revisionist books that challenged prevailing views of American history, deploring the United States as an imperialist power pressing its economic and ideological will around the globe. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin from 1960 to 1968 and at Oregon State University from 1968 to 1986, when he retired with the title emeritus.
The genially combative professor, who termed himself a radical and was often called the founder of the New Left school of American history, was particulary critical of America's role in the cold war and in Vietnam.
With passionate argument and complex analysis, he championed self-determination for all people and argued that a refusal by Americans to acknowledge a national desire for expansion and global hegemony has led to major errors and confusion over the nation's future.
Focus on Self-Determination
''The act of imposing one people's morality upon another people is an imperial denial of self-determination,'' he wrote in his 1976 book ''America Confronts a Revolutionary World: 1776-1976.'' ''Once begun, there is no end of empire except war and more war.''
Detractors accused him and other revisionists of employing a double-standard: of justifying or explaining Soviet actions by citing national security while measuring western actions against a utopian ideal. Reviewers termed his works provocative, honestly stated and admirable, but they challenged some arguments as flawed, simplistic and naive in relying on good intentions and communal feeling.
His other books include ''American-Russian Relations, 1781-1947'' (1952), ''The Shaping of American Diplomacy, 1750-1955'' (1956, 1962, 1970), ''The Tragedy of American Diplomacy'' (1959, 1962, 1972), ''The Contours of American History'' (1962, 1966) and ''The Roots of the Modern American Empire'' (1969).
The historian was a native of Atlantic, Iowa, and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering. In World War II, he was a Navy line officer in the Pacific and was later treated for battle wounds for more than a year.
He earned master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Wisconsin and taught history at six colleges. He also taught at the University of Melbourne as a Fulbright scholar in 1977, was president of the Organization of American Historians in 1980 and taught a course in maritime history at the Oregon Coast Community College last fall.
Survivors include his wife, Wendy; a son, Ward, of San Francisco; two daughters, Kyenne, of Madison, Wis., and Savoy Jade, of Hull, Mass.; two stepchildren, Justin, of Eugene, Ore., and Kathy, of Beavercreek, Ore., and three stepgrandchildren.
Photo: William Appleman Williams