George Herring, 1936-2022

George C. Herring, Jr., a longtime leading scholar of the Vietnam War, died November 30. He was 86 years old.

Dr. Herring received his B.A. in history in 1957 from Roanoke College in Virginia, served in the U.S. Navy for two years, and went on to get an MA. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. After teaching at the University of Ohio, he joined the history faculty at the University of Kentucky in 1969, where he specialized in the history of U.S. Foreign Relations. He retired after 36 years of teaching in 2005, having served three terms as chair of the UK Department of History and as Acting Director of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. He remained an Emeritus Professor at UK until his death.

He wrote or edited eight books and countless scholarly articles, including LBJ and Vietnam: A Different Kind of War (2010), and the pioneering  America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975  That concise book, first published in December 1979 and still in print, is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive and balanced histories of the Vietnam War.

 –December 4, 2022

---

---

---