Carl Kaysen
Encyclopedia
Carl Kaysen was an economist
and professor
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and co-chair of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
' Committee on International Security Studies. He is the father of Girl, Interrupted
author Susanna Kaysen
. He was married for 50 years to Annette Neutra until her death in 1990. In 1994, he married Ruth Butler.
Carl Kaysen worked for President John F. Kennedy
as Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
, and was directly under National Security Advisor
McGeorge Bundy
. Kaysen took over the position from Walt Rostow
in 1961 and concentrated on the key issues of the Kennedy presidency such as foreign trade, economic policy, and the potential use of nuclear weapons.
in 1940 where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Philomathean Society. He received both his M.S. in 1947, and Ph.D. in 1954 from Harvard University
in Economics
. He did graduate study at Columbia University
from 1940 to 1946.
He co-authored Peace Operations by the United Nations: The Case for a Volunteer Military Force (1996) and co-edited The United States and the Fundamental Criminal Court: National Security and Fundamental Law (2000).
He edited and contributed to a volume of essays, The American Corporation Today (1996).
, and from 1943 to 1945 he was in Intelligence for the U.S. Army Air Forces, rising from private to captain.
After receiving his M.A. from Harvard University in 1947, he was an Assistant professor there from 1950 to 1955, and was a clerk to Judge E. E. Wyzanski, U.S. District Court from 1950 to 1952, providing economic analysis for United States v. United Shoe Corporation, a major antitrust case.
In 1954 he received his Ph.D. from Harvard and did Military and Wartime Service. In 1955, he became an Associate Professor at Harvard, and in 1957, a full Professor of Economics. He served as Associate Dean, Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University from 1960 to 1966.
From 1961 to 1963, he was Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
to President John F. Kennedy
, a position in which he concentrated on foreign trade, economic policy, and the potential use of nuclear weapons. In this capacity, he was asked to prepare a report on how to utilize the US nuclear arsenal to preemptively destroy the Soviet Union’s nuclear capacity and its ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons. Though Kaysen was merely fulfilling Kennedy’s demand for alternative nuclear war strategies in case of conflict over Berlin, his report, which envisioned ‘only’ half a million to a million Soviet casualties, caused outrage and disgust within the administration, with White House Chief Counsel Ted Sorensen calling him crazy. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he became known as the "Vice President in charge of the rest of the world."
He was named Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, at Harvard University from 1964 to 1966.
He served as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study
from 1966 to 1976, taking over the position from J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Dr. Kaysen joined the MIT faculty in 1976 and in 1977 named as David W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy.
From 1978 to 1980, he was Vice Chairman and Director of Research for the Sloan Commission on Higher Education, an initiative that explored the increasingly complex relationship between government and institutions of higher education.
From 1981 until his death, he was the Director, Program in Science, Technology and Society, at MIT.
He had been a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University and a Guggenheim Fellow, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
and the American Philosophical Society
.
Kaysen had spinal stenosis
in the final decade of his life. In October 2009, he suffered a bad fall; his health began to fail, and he died in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts
on February 8, 2010.
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and co-chair of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
' Committee on International Security Studies. He is the father of Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder...
author Susanna Kaysen
Susanna Kaysen
-Life:Susanna Kaysen was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of economist Carl Kaysen, a professor at MIT and former advisor to President John F. Kennedy, and his wife Annette Neutra Kaysen. Kaysen has one sister and is divorced...
. He was married for 50 years to Annette Neutra until her death in 1990. In 1994, he married Ruth Butler.
Carl Kaysen worked for President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
as Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
Deputy National Security Advisor
The Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, serving as deputy to the President's National Security Advisor....
, and was directly under National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
. Kaysen took over the position from Walt Rostow
Walt Whitman Rostow
Walt Whitman Rostow was a United States economist and political theorist who served as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to U.S. President Lyndon B...
in 1961 and concentrated on the key issues of the Kennedy presidency such as foreign trade, economic policy, and the potential use of nuclear weapons.
Educational background
Dr. Kaysen received his B.A. from the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in 1940 where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Philomathean Society. He received both his M.S. in 1947, and Ph.D. in 1954 from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. He did graduate study at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
from 1940 to 1946.
Work and research
Dr. Kaysen's scholarly work was in the areas where economics, sociology, politics and law come together. At the end of his career, his research focused on arms control and international politics.He co-authored Peace Operations by the United Nations: The Case for a Volunteer Military Force (1996) and co-edited The United States and the Fundamental Criminal Court: National Security and Fundamental Law (2000).
He edited and contributed to a volume of essays, The American Corporation Today (1996).
Career
Between 1940 and 1942 he was on the staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research. From 1942 to 1943 he was an Economist for the U.S. Office of Strategic ServicesOffice of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, and from 1943 to 1945 he was in Intelligence for the U.S. Army Air Forces, rising from private to captain.
After receiving his M.A. from Harvard University in 1947, he was an Assistant professor there from 1950 to 1955, and was a clerk to Judge E. E. Wyzanski, U.S. District Court from 1950 to 1952, providing economic analysis for United States v. United Shoe Corporation, a major antitrust case.
In 1954 he received his Ph.D. from Harvard and did Military and Wartime Service. In 1955, he became an Associate Professor at Harvard, and in 1957, a full Professor of Economics. He served as Associate Dean, Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University from 1960 to 1966.
From 1961 to 1963, he was Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
Deputy National Security Advisor
The Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, serving as deputy to the President's National Security Advisor....
to President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, a position in which he concentrated on foreign trade, economic policy, and the potential use of nuclear weapons. In this capacity, he was asked to prepare a report on how to utilize the US nuclear arsenal to preemptively destroy the Soviet Union’s nuclear capacity and its ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons. Though Kaysen was merely fulfilling Kennedy’s demand for alternative nuclear war strategies in case of conflict over Berlin, his report, which envisioned ‘only’ half a million to a million Soviet casualties, caused outrage and disgust within the administration, with White House Chief Counsel Ted Sorensen calling him crazy. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he became known as the "Vice President in charge of the rest of the world."
He was named Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, at Harvard University from 1964 to 1966.
He served as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
from 1966 to 1976, taking over the position from J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Dr. Kaysen joined the MIT faculty in 1976 and in 1977 named as David W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy.
From 1978 to 1980, he was Vice Chairman and Director of Research for the Sloan Commission on Higher Education, an initiative that explored the increasingly complex relationship between government and institutions of higher education.
From 1981 until his death, he was the Director, Program in Science, Technology and Society, at MIT.
He had been a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University and a Guggenheim Fellow, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
and the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
.
Kaysen had spinal stenosis
Spinal stenosis
Lumbar spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves at the level of the lumbar vertebra. This is usually due to the common occurrence of spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. It can also sometimes be caused by spinal disc...
in the final decade of his life. In October 2009, he suffered a bad fall; his health began to fail, and he died in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
on February 8, 2010.
Selected publications
- “United States v. United Shoe Machinery Corporation”: An Economic Analysis of an Anti-Trust Case, 1956
- The American Business Creed (with Francis X. Sutton, Seymour E. Harris, and James. Tobin), 1956
- Anti-Trust Policy: An Economic and Legal Analysis (with Donald F. Turner), 1959
- The Demand for Electricity in the United States (with Franklin M. Fisher), 1962
- The Higher Learning: The Universities and the Public, 1969
- Content and Context: Essays on College Education (editor), 1973
- A Debate on “A Time to Choose” (with William Tavoulareas), 1977
- Program for Renewed Partnership: A Report, 1980.
- Nuclear Weapons After the Cold War (Foreign Affairs), 1991
- War with Iraq: Costs, Consequences, and Alternatives (American Academy of Arts and Sciences), 2002