Schwartz, Scholar of Chinese Intellectual History, Dies

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November 18, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Benjamin Schwartz, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science Emeritus and an influential scholar of ancient and modern China, died of cancer Monday at his home in Cambridge. He was 82.

"Schwartz was unique among political scientists working on China in being equally at home in ancient and contemporary history," said Elizabeth Perry, the Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government. "He had an enormous impact on the field of Chinese studies, being one of the first scholars to demonstrate that Chinese Communism was not simply a carbon copy of Soviet Communism, but had its own historical roots and contemporary practices."

Benjamin Schwartz was born in Boston on Dec. 12, 1916. He came to Harvard as an undergraduate in 1934 and stayed for most of his career until his retirement in 1987. Along the way, he received an A.B. in Romance languages and literatures, an A.M. from the Graduate School of Education, an A.M. in regional studies, and a doctorate in history and Far Eastern languages.

From 1942 to 1946 he served in World War II, intercepting Japanese messages in the cryptoanalysis section of the U.S. Signal Corps’ Intelligence Branch.

In 1950 Schwartz began his Harvard teaching career as an instructor in history and government and in the Russian Research Center. In 1951 he was named assistant professor. Less than a decade later he was promoted to full professor, and in 1975 he was named Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science.

He was the author of several influential books, including Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao (1951), In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West (1964), and The World of Thought in Ancient China (1985).
"Ben always had a twinkle in his eye and in his conversations he was always digging into philosophy of the West or the East and when he had made his point, he would raise his head slightly, twinkle his eyes . . . and wait for your response," said Marshall Goldman, associate director of the Davis Center for Russian Studies. "He cared deeply about so many things and he took them to heart. He really wanted to make the world a better place."

Goldman also said Schwartz played a "crucial role" in bringing the sides together during the disturbances on campus over the Vietnam War.

In 1979 he was elected president of the Association for Asian Studies. Last year the American Historical Association gave him its Award for Scholarly Distinction.

"He is a scholarly ideal for all of us. He didn’t care about status, advancement, or money. He was always wrapped up in ideas," said Ezra Vogel, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences and director of the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies.

Schwartz is survived by his wife, Bernice; his son, Jonathan; and his daughter, Sara-Ann Erichson.