Richard Pipes

Richard Pipes ( born July 11, 1923 in Cieszyn ) is an American historian who specializes in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, he stood before a panel of outside experts called Team B, which analyzed the strategic capacities and goals of the Soviet Union for the CIA.

Life

Richard Pipes was born in the Polish town of Cieszyn in a family of assimilated Jews. His father was a businessman. According to Pipes ' own words, he had no interest in the Soviet Union during his childhood and youth. He was particularly influenced by the Polish and German culture Culturally. After the German invasion of Poland, the family fled to Italy in October 1939 in the United States. Pipes was naturalized in 1943 during his military service in World War II in the USAAF. He received his secondary education at Muskingum College in Ohio, Harvard University and Cornell University.

He married Irene Eugenia Roth in 1946. From this marriage two children were born. His son, Daniel Pipes is a Middle East expert and critic of Islam.

Richard Pipes taught at Harvard University from 1950 until his retirement in 1996. He was the director of the Center for Russian Studies at the University from 1968 to 1973 and is an emeritus professor of history. Between 1973 and 1978 he served the Research Institute at Stanford University as a consultant. He also was a consultant in the 1970s for Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson. In the years 1981 and 1982 he was a member of the National Security Council Director for Eastern European and Soviet Affairs under President Ronald Reagan. From 1977 to 1992 he was a member of the Committee on the Present Danger, a leading foreign and armaments policy interest group. In addition, Pipes was a longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He teamed up in the 1970s as a critic of détente forth.

Writings

Richard Pipes: Vixi. Memoirs of a Non- Belonger. Yale University Press, New Haven 2005, ISBN 978-0-300-10965-8 ( autobiography, English).