Lee Takes War College's Offer; History Prof to Teach Officers

A popular associate professor of history who was denied tenure last fall said yesterday he has accepted a two-year position with the Naval War college in Newport, Rhode Island.

Associate Professor of History Bradford A. Lee will join eight to 10 other War College professors in teaching a course which covers "military strategy from Thucydides and the Peloponnesian war to Grenada, " he said. Lee said he chose the War College, despite offers from several other schools.

The 102-year-old War College is an arm of the United States Navy and teaches senior officers in the Navy and Marine Corps as well as members of such branches of the government as the State Department "how to be strategically smart," according to Department Chairman for Strategy Alvin H. Bernstein.

Lee, a past recipient of the Levenson Award for outstanding teaching, was denied tenure at Harvard last fall although students regarded him as one of the University's better lecturers. Lee is currently working on a three-volume study of World War II and the Great Depression for which he has received a one-year German Marshall Fund grant.

At the time of his unsuccessful tenure bid, Lee said that the fact that he had not completed his book played a major role in the department's decision todeny him a lifetime post.

The Lee decision combined with the failedtenure bid of Dunwalke Associate Professor ofHistory Alan Brinkley later that fall raisedquestions about the University's commitment tomake teaching a factor in tenure considerations.

Bernstein said Lee will add strength to theNaval War College, which is currently regarded asthe top place for the study of military strategy."He is a prolific scholar whose work is firstrate, and he is also an excellent teacher,"Bernstein said.

Lee will join several other scholars at the WarCollege who at one time taught at Harvard. "Youguys turn out the best people in the field. Therewas a joke going around that the Soviets weregoing to put a plant in the War College because noone would pay attention to him since he didn'tcome from Harvard," Bernstein said.

While teaching at the Naval War College will bea "very different experience from Harvard," Leesaid yesterday that the "terms of salary, researchsupport, teaching requirements, and the brightgroup of people involved" made the offerattractive.

Although the college is affiliated with theDepartment of Defense, both Bernstein and Lee saidthat scholars are free to say whatever they wishand their work is not subject to review.

"The school has no political orthodoxy whichmust be followed. If we did we'd be dead in thewater because no one would come," Bernstein said