Olson, Keith W(aldemar) 1931-

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OLSON, Keith W(aldemar) 1931-

PERSONAL: Born August 4, 1931, in Poughkeepsie, NY; son of Ernest Waldemar and Elin (Rehnstrom) Olson; married Marilyn Wittschen, September 10, 1955; children: Paula, Judy. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: State University of New York, Albany, B.A., 1957, M.A., 1959; University of Wisconsin, Ph. D., 1964. Politics: "Registered independent but with rare exception vote Democratic." Religion: Unitarian Universalist. Hobbies and other interests: Swedish culture, camping.

ADDRESSES: Home—10746 Kinloch Rd., Silver Springs, MD 20903. Office—Department of History, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20746. E-mail—ko6@umail.umd.edu.

CAREER: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, taught in department of history, 1963-66; University of Maryland, College Park, 1966—, became professor of history. Appearances on radio and television regarding presidential history in the twentieth century. Military service: U.S. Army, Finance Corps, 1952-54.

MEMBER: American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, American-Scandinavian Foundation, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Swedish-American Historical Society, Center for the Study of the Presidency, Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations, Finnish Historical Society (honorary member).

AWARDS, HONORS: Runner-up, Frederick Jackson Turner Prize, Organization of American Historians, for The G.I. Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges; Fulbright fellow, 1986-87, 1993-94; twice recipient of outstanding teaching awards, Panhellenic Association. Honorary doctorate, University of Tampere, Finland, 2000.

WRITINGS:

The G.I. Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 1974.

Biography of a Progressive, Franklin K. Lane, 1864-1921, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1979.

Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2003.

Contributor to books, including Encyclopedia Americana, Oxford Companion to United States History, the Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia, American National Biography, American-Historic Sites, Encyclopedia USA, Encyclopedia of World War I, the Harry S. Truman Encyclopedia, the Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era, Government Agencies, Great Lives from History: American Series, The Human Tradition in America since 1945, In Search of a Continent: A North American Studies Odyssey, After Consensus, The Road to War, Charting an Independent Course: Finland's Place in the Cold War and in U.S. Foreign Policy, and The Encyclopedia of American Political History. Contributor to periodicals, including American Quarterly, Historian, Wisconsin Magazine of History, Wilson Quarterly, Mid-America, Educational Record, and Progressive. Contributor of book reviews for Washington Star, 1966-70.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research on Dwight D. Eisenhower and civil rights.

SIDELIGHTS: A professor of twentieth-century U.S. history at the University of Maryland, Keith W. Olson is the author of several well-received works of history. In his 1974 title The G.I. Bill, the Veterans, and theColleges, he details the educational benefits accruing to veterans as a result of the G.I. Bill, and the impact such a state-sponsored educational program had on colleges and universities around the country. Olson examines Progressivism in politics in his 1979 title Biography of a Progressive, Franklin K. Lane, 1864-1921.

In his 2003 title Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America, he commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of that landmark affair with an "elegant, succinct account," according to a contributor for Publishers Weekly. Watergate, a name often invoked to describe presidential wrong-doings of any sort, began as a rather tawdry 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington's Watergate building in hopes of finding incriminating material on White House critics and to plant listening devices. Caught in the act, these self-described "plumbers" turned out to be in the employ of President Richard Nixon's White House. The ensuing investigation and scandal rocked the nation and ultimately led to Nixon leaving office in disgrace. The cast of characters in the national drama was large, including the ex-CIA operatives acting as the break-in artists; the energetic young journalists on the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and their "Deep Throat" secret source; the stubborn Judge John J. Sirica, who vowed to get to the bottom of the case; the White House staffers; and of course President Nixon himself and the tapes he made of all Oval Office conversations. According to the same Publishers Weekly writer, Olson manages to deal with all these details in an "excellent, compact narrative."

John W. Dean, himself a participant in the affair as White House counsel, wrote in a Chicago Tribune Books review that Olson's book is "particularly timely" in light of the comparisons between Nixon's use of national security as an excuse to withhold evidence and similar concerns of President George W. Bush. According to Dean, "There has never been a better time to recall the lessons of Watergate, lest history repeat itself." Dean further noted that Olson's account is "different" than those supplied by several hundred other writers on the subject in that it provides a "concise and readable overview of the entire mess." For Dean, Olson also managed to make "highly complex and convoluted information accessible, not to mention interesting." Karl Helicher, writing in Library Journal, also thought Olson's book was an "excellent investigation" and one that would appeal to both "newcomers to Watergate and those who vividly remember it."

For David M. Oshinsky, however, writing in the New York Times, Olson's account "catches little of this drama." Olson's book is, according to Oshinsky, a "dry piece of work, faithful to the subject without truly extending its reach." Oshinsky also complained that Olson left out "the most important variable: Nixon himself." Yet Robert J. Spitzer, reviewing Watergate in Perspectives on Political Science, felt that Olson added "plenty" of new information on the scandal. According to Spitzer, one of Olson's aims in the book was to demonstrate that—contrary to some opinions—Nixon was not driven from office by the so-called liberal press but by a bipartisan effort in Congress. For Spitzer, Watergate is a "brilliant synthesis … of a history that all presidency students need to know."

Olson told CA: "Looking back, three factors may account for my interest in history and in writing. I grew up in Hyde Park, New York, the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In public school and as an undergraduate I was blessed with teachers and professors of a high quality. My family life and culture reflected a Swedish father and a mother with most of her relatives still in Sweden. This combination of family life, Hyde Park, and marvelous teachers stimulated an early interest in history.

"Writing requires solitude and that reflects one characteristic of my personality. One of my leisure activities is running and when possible cross-country skiing. Both sports involve an element of solitude.

"I hope that my books will have a long shelf life; that students and scholars will consult the books in the future because they rest on thorough research. Clear writing, judicious analysis, and convincing conclusions."