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ASU Prof Wins Research Grant

January 31, 2013

Dr. William A. Taylor, an assistant professor of security studies at Angelo State University, has been awarded a prestigious 2013 Harry S. Truman Library Research Grant by the Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs.

The grant will fund round-trip travel to the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., as well as food, lodging and a rental car for a two-week research period, and reimbursement of additional expenses.  Taylor tentatively plans to conduct his research in May, and the grant will also provide for personal administrative assistance from the senior library archivist.  Grant recipients are determined by the Truman Library Institute’s Committee on Research, Scholarship and Academic Relations with preference given to projects that apply to enduring public and foreign policy issues, and have a high probability of being published.

Taylor will be conducting research for his upcoming book titled Every Citizen A Soldier: The U.S. Army’s Campaign for Universal Military Training Following World War II, which will be published by Texas A&M University Press upon completion.  Specifically, he will be analyzing the President’s Advisory Commission on Universal Training that Truman established formally on Dec. 19, 1946, and Truman’s Executive Order 9981 issued on July 26, 1948, that sought to end segregation in the U.S. military.

The Truman Library grant is the second Taylor has been awarded for research on his book.  He was previously awarded a 2012 George C. Marshall/Baruch Fellowship to conduct research at the Marshall Research Library in Lexington, Va.  There, Taylor analyzed George C. Marshall’s role in the U.S. Army’s campaign for Universal Military Training (UMT) following World War II – first as Army chief of staff, then secretary of state, and finally secretary of defense – as well as his lifelong friendship with John McAuley Palmer, the originator of the Army’s plan for UMT.

The Marshall/Baruch Fellowships are administered by the George C. Marshall Foundation, and generated from a gift provided annually by the Baruch Family Foundation in Encino, Calif.  They are designed to encourage postdoctoral research in 20th-century U.S. military or diplomatic history and related fields.

Both the Truman and Marshall libraries will display Taylor’s book upon publication.

A former U.S. Marine, Taylor joined the ASU Center for Security Studies faculty in 2011.  He has also published several book chapters, book reviews and encyclopedia articles, and has been a featured speaker for ASU’s Civil War Lecture Series.  He earned his doctoral degree in history from George Washington University, holds three master’s degrees, and graduated with his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy.