Robert Paxton
Encyclopedia
Robert O. Paxton is an American political scientist and historian
specializing in Vichy France
, fascism and Europe during the World War II era. Paxton is best known for his 1972 book Vichy France, Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944, in which he argued that Vichy collaboration with Germany was a voluntary program entered into by the Vichy government, not forced upon it by German pressure. It is considered one of the path-breaking works on France in the Vichy era. Its thesis has earned respect among both American and French historians. Paxton was the co-writer of Claude Chabrol
's The Eye of Vichy
.
Paxton was called to testify at the trial of Maurice Papon
(1910–2007), who was convicted for crimes against humanity in 1998.
Additionally, Paxton has put forward a definition of fascism
:
and educated at Washington and Lee University
before earning his M.A. at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Paxton taught at the University of California, Berkeley
and the State University of New York at Stony Brook
before joining the faculty of Columbia University
in New York
, where he is now Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science in the Department of History.
In April, 2009, the French government awarded Paxton the Legion d'honneur
.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
specializing in Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, fascism and Europe during the World War II era. Paxton is best known for his 1972 book Vichy France, Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944, in which he argued that Vichy collaboration with Germany was a voluntary program entered into by the Vichy government, not forced upon it by German pressure. It is considered one of the path-breaking works on France in the Vichy era. Its thesis has earned respect among both American and French historians. Paxton was the co-writer of Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
's The Eye of Vichy
The Eye of Vichy
The Eye of Vichy is a 1993 film directed by Claude Chabrol. The documentary is about propaganda produced by Nazi-occupied France during World War II from 1940 to 1944. The film documents the pro-Nazi sentiments of Philippe Pétain's Vichy regime and its efforts to spread propaganda against both the...
.
Paxton was called to testify at the trial of Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon was a French civil servant, industrial leader and Gaullist politician, who was convicted for crimes against humanity for his participation in the deportation of over 1600 Jews during World War II when he was secretary general for police of the Prefecture of Bordeaux.Papon also...
(1910–2007), who was convicted for crimes against humanity in 1998.
Additionally, Paxton has put forward a definition of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
:
- "Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliationHumiliationHumiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have...
, or victim-hood and by compensatory cultCultThe word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
s of unity, energy, and purityVirtueVirtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militantMilitantThe word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
s, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democraticDemocracyDemocracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
liberties and pursues with redemptive violenceViolenceViolence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."
Biography
Paxton was born in Lexington, VirginiaLexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
and educated at Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
before earning his M.A. at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Paxton taught at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and the State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
before joining the faculty of 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...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he is now Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science in the Department of History.
In April, 2009, the French government awarded Paxton the Legion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.