Walter Berns (1919–2015) was a distinguished political scientist, constitutional scholar, and author. Berns was raised in Chicago, where, as late as 1926, he was impressed by “Union soldiers in the [Memorial Day] parade feebly carrying the standard.” After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he enlisted in the Navy before Pearl Harbor and served at sea during the entire course of World War II. After the war, Berns worked as a waiter in New Mexico in hopes of becoming a writer, but soon decide to enroll at the University of Chicago to study for his Ph.D. He has taught at Louisiana State University, Yale University, Cornell University, the University of Toronto, the University of Chicago, and Georgetown University. Berns served on the National Council on the Humanities from 1982 to 1988 and the Council of Scholars in the Library of Congress from 1981 to 1985. He was also a delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2005.
Making American citizens through literature
Author: Walter Berns
Walter Berns (1919–2015) was a distinguished political scientist, constitutional scholar, and author. Berns was raised in Chicago, where, as late as 1926, he was impressed by “Union soldiers in the [Memorial Day] parade feebly carrying the standard.” After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he enlisted in the Navy before Pearl Harbor and served at sea during the entire course of World War II. After the war, Berns worked as a waiter in New Mexico in hopes of becoming a writer, but soon decide to enroll at the University of Chicago to study for his Ph.D. He has taught at Louisiana State University, Yale University, Cornell University, the University of Toronto, the University of Chicago, and Georgetown University. Berns served on the National Council on the Humanities from 1982 to 1988 and the Council of Scholars in the Library of Congress from 1981 to 1985. He was also a delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2005.
From Making Patriots
Walter Berns
In his 2001 book, Making Patriots, American political scientist Walter Berns (b. 1919) reflects on several difficulties, old and new, confronting the cultivation of patriotism in the American republic, and offers important suggestions for how these difficulties might be addressed.
From the Ashes Comes the Rebirth of Patriotism
Walter Berns
Less than one month after the 9/11 attacks, Walter Berns (b. 1919), distinguished political scientist, constitutional scholar, and author of Making Patriots (2001), wrote this essay on the meaning of the new surge of patriotism and why we were now waving the flag.