Thomas J. McCormick

Thomas J. McCormick (March 6, 1933 – July 25, 2020)^[1] was an American academic who was emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the same place he got a Ph. D.^[2] where he succeeded William Appleman Williams and continued the groundbreaking work of the so-called Wisconsin School of diplomatic history. Indeed he is considered one of the core members of the Wisconsin School, along with Williams, Walter LaFeber, and Lloyd Gardner.^[3][4] He has used Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems approach to describe the dynamics of hegemony in US diplomatic history^[5] and also studied US corporatism.^[6]

McCormick taught at the Ohio University, University of Pittsburgh, and University of Wisconsin–Madison where he won the Wisconsin Student Association Award for Teaching Excellence (1992-1993). He was a Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow (1981), Distinguished Fulbright Lecturer at University College Dublin (1993-1994), and Vilas Associate (1996-1998). McCormick authored six books (see Works) and many influential articles.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]} He often gave US guest lectures^{[17][18][19][20]} as well as several keynote addresses at worldwide conferences.^{[21][22][23][24]}

On December 4, 2023, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Senate Faculty passed a memorial resolution^[25] honoring the career and life of Professor Thomas J. McCormick.

Works

• China Market: America's Quest for Informal Empire, 1893-1901. Chicago, IL: Quadrangle Books, 1967.
• Creation of the American Empire: U.S. Diplomatic History. With Lloyd C. Gardner and Walter F. LaFeber. New York: Rand McNally & Co., 1973.
• America in Vietnam. With William A. Williams and Walter F. LaFeber. New York: Anchor Doubleday, 1988.
• America's Half-Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990, revised second edition 1995.
• The Vietnam War: Four American Perspectives. With William Westmorland, George McGovern, and Edward Luttwack. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1990.
• Behind the Throne: Servants of Power to Imperial Presidents, 1898-1968. With Walter F. LaFeber (eds.) Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.