Alfred de Grazia 

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Alfred de Grazia in Naxos, Greece, August 2003 

Alfred de Grazia (born December 29, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois). is a political 
scientist and author. He has defended the catastrophism thesis of Immanuel 
Velikovsky. 
Contents 
[hide] 

1 Education 

2 Military activity 

3 Academic career 

4 Support for Velikovsky 

5 Later career 

6 Personal life 

7 Works 

8 See also 

9 About Alfred de Grazia 

10 References 

11 External links  

[edit] Education 

De Grazia attended the University of Chicago, receiving an A.B. there in 1939, 
attended law school at Columbia University from 1940–1941, and in 1948 gained a 
PhD from the University of Chicago[1] in political science. His thesis was 
published as Public and Republic: Political Representation in America by Alfred 
A. Knopf, Inc, New York (1951): “A thoroughgoing examination of the meaning of 
representation, the fundamental element in any definition of republic.” (The New 
York Times)[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] 

[edit] Military activity 

Alfred de Grazia at Dachau concentration camp, shortly after its liberation, May 
1945 

In World War II, Alfred de Grazia served in the ranks from private to captain, 
in artillery, intelligence, and psychological warfare.[11] He received training 
in this then new field at in Washington D.C. and the newly established Camp 
Ritchie, Maryland.[12][citation needed] He served with the 3rd, 5th and 7th US 
Armies and as a liaison officer with the British 8th Army.[citation needed] He 
took part in six campaigns, from North Africa to Italy (Battle of Monte Cassino) 
to France and Germany, receiving several decorations.[citation needed][13] He co-authored 
a report on psychological warfare for the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied 
Expeditionary Force.[14] By the end of the war, he was Commanding Officer of the 
Psychological Warfare Propaganda Team attached to the headquarters of the 7th 
Army.[citation needed] With his fiancée, then wife, journalist Jill Oppenheim, 
he carried on an extensive wartime correspondence of well over 2,000 lengthy 
letters, probably one of the largest such correspondences still extant, 
published on the web under the title “Letters of Love and War.” [16][15][16][17] 
He wrote manuals of psychological warfare for the CIA for the Korean War and 
organized and investigated psychological operations for the Department of 
Defence during the Vietnam War. His reports on psychological operations, now 
largely declassified, include Target Analysis and Media in Propaganda to 
Audiences Abroad (1952),[18] Elites Analysis (1955), as well as Psychological 
Operations in Vietnam (1968). 

[edit] Academic career 

He was assistant professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, 
Minneapolis from 1948 to 1950, before becoming associate professor of political 
science Brown University.[1] He was appointed at Stanford University in 1952 as 
director of the Committee for Research in the Social Sciences, supported by a 
Ford Foundation grant, but in 1955 he was turned down for academic tenure at 
Stanford.[19] 

From 1959 he was professor of government and social theory at New York 
University.[1] 

In 1957 Alfred de Grazia founded PROD; Political Research: Organization and 
Design, later renamed The American Behavioral Scientist, an academic journal 
devoted to the Chicago school of behaviorist sociology. In 1965, he created the 
Universal Reference System, the first computerized reference system in the 
Social Sciences.[20][citation needed] 

[edit] Support for Velikovsky 

De Grazia became interested in Immanuel Velikovsky's catastrophism. Following 
considerable criticism of Velikovsky's claims by the scientific community, de 
Grazia dedicated the whole September 1963 issue of American Behavioral Scientist 
to the issue.[21][22] He also published two books on it, The Velikovsky Affair: 
The Warfare of Science and Scientism and Cosmic Heretics: A Personal History of 
Attempts to Establish and Resist Theories of Quantavolution and Catastrophe in 
the Natural and Human Sciences. 

Michael Polanyi stated: 

A number of sociologists actually supported the popular view against the 
scientists. They came out first in The American Behavioral Scientist (September, 
1963) and then again in a book (de Grazia 1966), which angrily attacking the 
whole community of natural scientists for paying no attention to Velikovsky. For 
my part I believe that the scientists were quite right in refusing to pay 
serious attention to Velikovsky’s writings, and that the sociologists' attack on 
them was totally unfounded.[21] 

In a review of the second book, Henry Bauer suggests that de Grazia's efforts 
may be responsible for Velikovsky's continuing notability.[23] 

In both books de Grazia subscribes to the thesis that, in the words of Henry 
Bauer, "the affair revealed something seriously rotten in the state of science". 
The review however suggests that the rejection came about… 

because Velikovsky wanted instant recognition as the authority on science when 
he had no standing in any science, no qualifications, had not paid his dues 
through recognized achievements and presented his ideas in the form of a 
popularly published book rather than through technical articles. 

The review further suggests that "de Grazia does not understand how the content 
of science is generated" and that his "understanding of science as a social 
activity is ambiguous."[23] 

In the second book, de Grazia upholds Velikovsky's most general claim, that 
geologically recent (in the last 15,000 years) extraterrestrially-caused 
catastrophes occurred, and had a significant impact on the Earth and its 
inhabitants. De Grazia terms this belief Quantavolution.[23] 

[edit] Later career 

In the early 1970s, de Grazia founded the "University of the New World" in Haute-Nendaz 
Switzerland, as an unstructured alternative to American universities. He invited 
Beat author William S. Burroughs to teach at it. In his biography of Burroughs, 
Ted Morgan described the students that it attracted as "drifters and dropouts on 
the international hippie circuit"; he suggested that this resulted in a culture 
clash with the "prim Swiss", and that the university lacked adequate facilities 
or a sound business model.[24] 

In 2002, de Grazia was appointed "visiting professor" in the Department of 
Mathematics, Statistics, Computing and Applications of the University of Bergamo.[25] 
He has previously been a visiting lecturer at the University of Rome[disambiguation 
needed ], University of Bombay, University of Istanbul, and University of 
Gothenburg.[1] 

[edit] Personal life 

Alfred de Grazia was married to Jill Oppenheim (d. 1996) from 1942 to 1971, to 
Nina Mavridis from 1972 to 1973,[1] and is presently married to Anne-Marie (Ami) 
Hueber de Grazia (since 1982),[26][27][28] a French writer. He had seven 
children with Jill Oppenheim. One of them, Carl, a musician, died in 2000. One 
of his daughters, Victoria de Grazia, a Professor of Contemporary History at 
Columbia University, is a member of the American Academy[disambiguation needed ].[29] 

[edit] Works 

Michels, Robert, First lectures in political sociology. Translated, with an 
introduction, by Alfred de Grazia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, [1949]. 
And Harper & Row, 1965.[30] 

Public and republic: political representation in America. New York: Knopf, 1951.[31][32][33] 

The elements of political science. Series: Borzoi Books in Political Science. 
New York: Knopf, 1952. And second revised edition: Politics and government: the 
elements of political science. Vol 1: the element of political science and Vol. 
2: Political organization. [1962]. New York: Collier, 1962– . And new revised 
edition, New York: Free Press London: Collier Macmillan, 1965.[34][35] 

The Western Public: 1952 and beyond. [A study of political behaviour in the 
western United States.]. Stanford: Stanford University Press, [1954.][36] 

The American way of government. National edition. New York : Wiley, [1957]. 
There is also a "National, State and Local edition".[37] 

Foundation for Voluntary Welfare. Grass roots private welfare : winning essays 
of the 1956 national awards competition of the Foundation for Voluntary Welfare. 
Alfred de Grazia, editor. New York: New York University Press, 1957. 

American welfare. New York: New York University Press, 1961 (with Ted Gurr). 

World politics: a study in international relations. Series: College Outline 
Series. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1962. 

Apportionment and representative government. Series: Books that matter. New York 
: Praeger, c1963 

Essay on apportionment and representative government. Washington : American 
Enterprise Institute, 1963[38] 

Revolution in teaching: new theory, technology, and curricula. With an 
introduction by Jerome Bruner. New York: Bantam Books, [1964] (Editor, with 
David A. Sohn). 

Universal Reference System. Political science, government, and public policy: an 
annotated and intensively indexed compilation of significant books, pamphlets, 
and articles, selected and processed by the Universal Reference System. Prepared 
under the direction of Alfred De Grazia, general editor, Carl E. Martinson, 
managing editor, and John B. Simeone, consultant. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton 
Research Pub. Co., 1965–69. Plus nine more volumes on the subjects of: 
International Affairs; Economic Regulation; Public Policy and the Management of 
Science; Administrative Management; Comparative Government and Cultures; 
Legislative Process; Bibliography of Bibliographies in Political Science, 
Government and Public Policy; Current Events and Problems of Modern Society; 
Public Opinion, Mass Behavior and Political Psychology; Law, Jurisprudence and 
Judicial Process. 

Republic in crisis: Congress against the executive force. New York: Federal 
Legal Publications, [1965]."Republic in Crisis is a significant and important 
book deserving to be read widely and widely pondered; it ought not to be ignored, 
lightly dismissed, or put out of hand or sight" in Charles W. Shull, The Annals 
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1966, p;162. [17] 

Political behavior. Series: Elements of political science; 1. New, revised 
edition. New York: Free press paperback, 1966.[39] 

Congress, The First Branch of Government, editor, Doubleday – Anchor Books, 1967[40] 

Congress and the Presidency: Their Roles in Modern Times, with Arthur M. 
Schlesinger, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 
Washington, 1967. 

Passage of the Year, Poetry, Quiddity Press, Metron publications, Princeton, N.J., 
1967. [18] 

The Behavioral Sciences: Essays in honor of George A. Lundberg, editor, 
Behavioral Research Council, Great Barrington, Mass;, 1968. 

Old Government, New People: Readings for the New politics, et al., Scott, 
Foresman, Glenview, Ill., 1971. 

Politics for Better or Worse, Scott, Foresman, Glenview, Ill., 1973. 

Eight Branches of Government: American Government Today, w. Eric Weise, 
Collegiate Pub., 1975. 

Eight Bads – Eight Goods: The American Contradictions, Doubleday – Anchor Books, 
1975. 

Supporting Art and Culture: 1001 Questions on Policy, Lieber-Atherton, New York, 
1979. 

A Cloud Over Bhopal: Causes, Consequences, and Constructive Solutions, Kalos 
Foundation for the India-America Committee for the Bhopal Victims: Popular 
Prakashan, Bombay, 1985. 

The Babe, Child of Boom and Bust in Old Chicago, umbilicus mundi, Quiddity Press, 
Metron Publications, Princeton, N.J., 1992.[19] 

The Student: at Chicago in Hutchin's Hey-day, Quiddity Press, Metron 
Publications, Princeton N.J., 1991. [20] 

The Taste of War: Soldiering in World War II, Quiddity Press, Metron 
Publications, Princeton, N.J., 1992. [21] 

Twentieth Century Fire-Sale, Poetry, Quiddity Press, Metron Publications, 
Princeton, N.J., 1996. [22] 

The American State of Canaan – the peaceful, prosperous juncture of Israel and 
Palestine as the 51st State of the United States of America, Metron Publications, 
Princeton, NJ, 2009 LCCN 2008945276. [23] 

[edit] See also 

Velikovskyism 

[edit] About Alfred de Grazia 

Quantavolution - Challenges to Conventional Science, Festschrift in honor of 
Alfred de Grazia's 90th birthday, compiled and edited by Ian Tresman, Knowledge 
Computing, UK (2010) ISBN 9786187309161161 & ISBN 9786187309161365 

[edit] References 

^ a b c d e Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography 
Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. 

^ The New York Times, p.6 August 26, 1951, 350w review by W.E. Binkley 

^ American Political Science Review 45:882 S 1951 650w review by M. J. Fisher 

^ Annals of the American Academy, 276:141 Jl 1951, 350w review by Frank Paddock 

^ Canadian History Review 32:170 Je 1951 350w review by R.A. Preston 

^ New York Herald Tribune Book Review p13 March 18, 1951 450w review by August 
Heckscher: "A sober scholarly volume, authoritative in its field." 

^ William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series 8, 1951, review by Herbert N. Drennon 

^ Booklist 47:232 March 1st, 1951 

^ U.S. Quarterly Book Review7:163 Je 1951, 210w 

^ Library Journal 76:408 March 1st, 1951 130w review by R. W. Henderson. 

^ See 1958 biographical notice for Alfred de Grazia in Annals of the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science: "Dr. de Grazia has taught Political 
Science at Minnesota, Brown, Columbia and Stanford Universities and has served 
as Captain engaged in psychological welfare in Africa and Europe during World 
War II." [1] 

^ See credits of "The Ritchie Boys," documentary film by Christian Bauer, 
Tangram Productions, a Germany-Canada co-production, 2004, widely shown and 
short-listed for the Academy-Awards. 

^ Alfred de Grazia:The Taste of War: Soldiering in World War II, 
autobiographical, 1992.[2] 

^ Martin Herz, Alfred de Grazia: Combat Propaganda by Leaflet Shell, 
Psychological Warfare study produced for the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied 
Expeditionary Force, Georgetown University Library, Washington D.C. http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/fl/f134%7d4.htm 

^ “Wartime Love Story to Unfold on the Net” Chicago Sun-Times, February 14, 1997 

^ Quoted in anthologies such as: Tom Spain, Michael Shohl: I'll Be Home for 
Christmas: The Library of Congress Revisits the Spirit of Christmas in World War 
II. Delacorte Press, 1999. 

^ Scott Turow cites the letters among the sources for his book “Ordinary Heroes,” 
2005. http://www.scottturow.com/books/ordinary-heroes/ 

^ US Army Military History Institute: Psychological Warfare since WWII – A 
working bibliography [3] 

^ Rebecca S. Lowen. Creating the Cold War University: The Transformation of 
Stanford, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997: "In 
1955, he [de Grazia] accepted a grant from the Relm Foundation for a study of “the 
origins and present restrictions on the political activities of workers.” In 
preparing notes for a meeting of Stanford’s board of trustees, Fred Glover 
flagged the grant and de Grazia’s name. Two months later, Provost Terman 
informed de Grazia that he would not be given tenure." 

^ Cliford Brock, "Political Science" in Library Trends (April 1967): "The 
leading exponent-and practitioner-in this area, however, has been Alfred de 
Grazia, professor of government at New York University and founder-editor of the 
American Behavioral Scientist, originally entitled PROD; Political Research: 
Organization and Design.(...) Through the early 1960’s de Grazia made the 
American Behavioral Scientist a forum for writings on bibliographic and data 
problems in the social sciences. By 1963 he had developed a “Topical and 
Methodological Index,” a special social science classification system consisting 
of some 250 terms emphasizing methodological and theoretical approaches and 
adaptable to computerization. This classification system was further refined and 
in 1965 was applied to the first of a projected ten-volume series of 
bibliographies in “Political Science, Government, and Public Policy. Volume 1 of 
this Universal Reference System series, on "International Affairs" (New York, 
1965),was produced on IBM 1401/1410computers and contains citations, annotations, 
and indexed descriptors of over 3,000 books and articles...." (The full article 
is available at www.illinois.ideals.edu under "Cliford Brock.") 

^ a b Michael Polanyi, Lecture 4: Myths, ancient and modern, Lecture at 
University of Chicago Spring 1969. Polanyi archive 

^ Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend and Matteo Motterlini, For and against method: 
including Lakatos's lectures on scientific method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend 
correspondence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. ISBN 0-226-46774-0 
ISBN 0-226-46775-9 

^ a b c Bauer, Henry H. (1985). "Inside the Velikovsky Affair". Skeptical 
Inquirer 9 (3): 284–288. http://www.henryhbauer.homestead.com/DeGraziaReviewSI1985.pdf. 

^ Morgan, Ted (1990). Literary Outlaw. New York: Avon. pp. 453–454. ISBN 0-805-00901-9. 

^ unibg.it staff entry 

^ Publisher's Note 

^ Publisher's Note, Grazian-Archive 

^ De Grazia, Alfred (1984). Cosmic Heretics, Metron. ISBN 0-940268-08-6. Chapter 
15: "The Knowledge Industry", p. 329. 

^ [4] American Historical Association: Ten Historians are elected to the 
American Academy, Nov. 2005 

^ Floyd Hunter in Social Forces Vol. 29, No. 2 (Dec., 1950), pp. 220-221, 
University of North Carolina Press [5] 

^ Charles E. Merriam, in The University of Chicago Law Review Vol. 18, No. 4 (Summer, 
1951), pp. 825-826 [6] 

^ Laurence Stapleton, in The New England Quarterly Vol. 25, No. 1 (Mar., 1952), 
p. 129[7] 

^ S. H. Brockunier, in The Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jun., 
1951), pp. 92-93, publ. by Organization of American Historians [8] 

^ William Ebenstein, in The Western Political Quarterly Vol. 5, No. 3 (Sep., 
1952), pp. 539-540, publ. by University of Utah on behalf of Western Political 
Science Association [9] 

^ Steven Muller, in American Quarterly Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring, 1954), pp. 88+90-91, 
The Johns Hopkins University Press [10] 

^ C.J.C. in International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs, 
1944-) Vol. 31, No. 4 (Oct., 1955), p. 552, Blackwell Publishing [11] 

^ Esmond Wright, in International Affairs (Royal Institute of International 
Affairs: 1944-) Vol. 34, No. 2 (Apr., 1958), pp. 263-264, Blackwell Publishing [12] 

^ Revista Mexicana de Sociologia, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Sep. - Dec., 1964), pp. 908-910 
[13] 

^ "A seminal treatment of the subject of charismatic leadership and political 
organizations,” in Thomas H. Johnson, Chris Mason: "Understanding the Taliban 
and Insurgency in Afghanistan," 2007 [14] 

^ W. Wayne Shannon, in The Journal of Politics Vol. 29, No. 4 (Nov., 1967), pp. 
889-890, Cambridge University Press on behalf of Southern Political Science 
Association[15] 

[edit] External links 

The Grazian Archive: archived works of Alfred de Grazia 

The American State of Canaan 


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