Harvey Wheeler
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, political scientist, and scholar. He was best known as co-author with Eugene Burdick
Eugene Burdick
Eugene L. Burdick , was an American political scientist, novelist, and non-fiction writer, co-author of The Ugly American and Fail-Safe and author of The 480 ....
of Fail-Safe
Fail-Safe (novel)
Fail-Safe is a novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, published in 1962.The popular and critically acclaimed novel was first adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for...
, 1962, an early cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
novel that depicted what could easily go wrong in an age on the verge of nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
. The novel was made into a movie, directed by Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
and starring Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, in 1964. In later years, Wheeler was a founding editor of the Journal of Social and Biological Structures, 1982, and an early advocate of online education and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as a democratizing tool. He taught a course in "OnLine Publishing" for Connected Education
Connected Education
Connected Education - also known as Connect Ed - was a pioneering online education organization founded and administered by Paul Levinson and TinaVozick. Operating from 1985 to 1997, Connect Ed offered the M.A. degrees in Media Studies Connected Education - also known as Connect Ed - was a...
in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Wheeler attended Subiaco Academy
Subiaco Abbey and Academy
Subiaco Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located in Logan County, Arkansas, United States, in the Arkansas River valley. Subiaco Abbey and its associated academy are major features of the town of Subiaco, Arkansas. It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. It is named after...
, earned his bachelor's and master's degree from Indiana University, and his PhD from Harvard University. He taught at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University; became full professor of political science at Washington and Lee University, where he wrote "Fail-safe". In 1960 he became longtime fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California was an important think tank from 1959 to 1977, declining in influence thereafter. The Center held discussions in a variety of areas that it hoped would influence public deliberation...
in Santa Barbara, Calif. While at CSDI he wrote, edited or contributed to a dozen books, including "Democracy in a Revolutionary Era" (1968) and "The Virtual Library" (1987).
He was an authority on Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
(1561–1626).
Children: David C. Wheeler, John Harvey Wheeler III, Mark Wheeler.
Books
- Lattimore the Scholar, (1953), co-author with George Boas; Baltimore.
- The Conservative Crisis, (1956), Public Affairs Press, Washington.
- Fail-Safe, (1962) Eugene Burdick & Harvey Wheeler, McGraw Hill; Re-published, 1999, by Ecco Press, now part of Harper-Collins.
- Democracy in a Revolutionary Era, (1968) Harvey Wheeler, Encyclopædia Britannica Bicentennial Perspectives; Published separately by Praeger. New York.
- Democracy in a Revolutionary Era, (1970) Praeger, New York.
- Beyond the Punitive Society, (1973) editor and contributor, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco.
- The Structure of Human Reflexion, (1990) Ed and contributor, Peter Lang, New York.