Harry Emerson Wildes an American sociologist, historian and writer who is best known for his biographies of William Penn

William Penn

William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...

, George Fox

George Fox

George Fox was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.The son of a Leicestershire weaver, Fox lived in a time of great social upheaval and war...

 and Anthony Wayne

Anthony Wayne

Anthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...

History

Born April 3, 1890, Wildes received an undergraduate degree 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 the mid 1920’s, taught in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 before 1927, and received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania

University 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 1927

During the Second World War, Wildes served in the Pacific as a political advisor to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP

SCAP

SCAP may refer to:* Société de Constructions Automobiles* Security Content Automation Protocol* Separation of Content and Presentation* Shackled City Adventure Path* SREBP cleavage activating protein...

). Wildes was among those who drafted a Constitution for Japan after the Second World War under orders from General Douglas MacArthur. Wildes served on the Civil Rights Committee which utilized the precepts of the U.S Declaration of Independence

Declaration of independence

A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...

, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789, the Soviet Constitution of 1918, and the Weimar Constitution

Weimar constitution

The Constitution of the German Reich , usually known as the Weimar Constitution was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic...

 of 1919 to create a strong Bill of Rights for the Japanese Constitution.

Wildes left SCAP in frustration in late 1946 and wrote an expose for the American Political Science Review

American Political Science Review

The American Political Science Review is the flagship publication of the American Political Science Association and is the most prestigious journal in political science according to the ISI 2004 Journal Citation Report...

 charging the new political parties being formed in Japan had all the attributes of hooligan gangs.

Wildes died in February 1982. Some of his papers are at Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

Partial bibliography

Non-Fiction

Social Currents in Japan (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1927)

Japan in Crisis (Macmillan, New York, 1934)

Aliens in the East (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1937)

Valley Forge (Macmillan, New York, 1938)

The Delaware (Farrar & Rinehart, New York, 1940) (The 10th volume in the Rivers of America Series

Rivers of America Series

The Rivers of America Series is a landmark series of books on American rivers, for the most part written by literary figures rather than historians. The series spanned three publishers and thirty-seven years.- History :...

)

Anthony Wayne: Trouble Shooter of the American Revolution (Harcourt & Brace, New York, 1941)

Lonely Midas: The Story of Steven Girard (Farrar & Rinehart, New York, 1943)

Twin Rivers: The Raritan

Raritan

-Places:*Raritan, New Jersey, a borough in Somerset County*Raritan Township, New Jersey, a township in Hunterdon County*Raritan Bay, a bay between the U.S...

 and the Passaic

Passaic

-In New Jersey:*Passaic, New Jersey, a city in Passaic County*Passaic County, New Jersey*Passaic River, a river in northern New Jersey*Glacial Lake Passaic, a prehistoric proglacial lake-Historical events:...

(Farrar & Rinehart, New York, 1943) (The 23rd volume in the Rivers of America Series)

Voice of the Lord: A Biography of George Fox (University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia 1965)

William Penn (Macmillan, New York, 1974)

Typhoon in Tokyo: The Occupation and Its Aftermath (MacMillan, 1954)

Articles

Press Freedom in Japan (American Journal of Sociology, volume 32, page 601, 1927)

Review of Foster Rhea Dulles: Forty Years of American-Japanese Relations. (ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1938 195: 242-243)

Intellectual Progress in the East (ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.1958; 318: 27-33)

The American Occupation of Japan: A Retrospective View (Contributed a commentary) (Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas, 1968)