Malham Wakin
Malham M. Wakin is a retired United States Air Force brigadier general, and former head of the philosophy department at the U.S. Air Force Academy.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Wakin was raised in Oneonta, New York. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1952, earned an M.A. from the State University of New York,[2] and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in 1959.[3]
Military and teaching career[edit]
Wakin joined the U.S. Air Force in 1953, and spent 42 years on active duty. The great majority of those years were spent teaching at the Air Force Academy, beginning in 1959.[1][4] He retired from active duty in 1995, but continued to teach at the Academy until retiring from teaching in 2016.[4]
One theme of Wakin's teaching career was challenging the assertion made by H.G. Wells in The Outline of History: "The professional military mind is by necessity an inferior and unimaginative mind; no man of high intellectual quality would willingly imprison his gifts in such a calling.".[5]
Works[edit]
 |
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN | Subject matter | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Viet Cong Infrastructure: Modus Operandi of Selected Political Cadres[6] | 1968 | N/A | N/A | Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure | Handbook written for the Department of Defense. |
| War, Morality, and the Military Profession | 1979 | Westview Press | ISBN 9780891586708 | Military ethics | Cited as recommended reading by Marine General and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.[7] |
| The Teaching of Ethics in the Military | 1982 | Institute of Society, Ethics, and the Life Sciences, The Hastings Center | ISBN 9780916558161 | Military ethics | Written with Peter L. Stromberg and Daniel Callahan. |
| Integrity First: Reflections of a Military Philosopher | 2000 | Rowman & Littlefield | ISBN 9780739101704 | Military ethics |
References[edit]
- ^ a b Simon, Steven (September 21, 2007). "Academy Recognizes Retired General" (PDF). Academy Spirit. U.S. Air Force Academy. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Briand, Jr., Paul L.; Wakin, Malham M. (July 1963). "The Vocation of Arms". Air Force Magazine. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "A Gallery of Great Professors Agree That An Interested Student Is What Their Job Is About". People. October 13, 1975. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Bowden, Ray (April 27, 2016). "1 event, 2 celebrations: Polaris Hall opens, Academy educator Wakin retires". United States Air Force Academy. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
- ^ Wakin, Malham (2000). Integrity First: Reflections of a Military Philosopher. Lexington Books. p. 3. ISBN 0739101706. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- ^ "The Viet Cong Infrastructure Modus Operandi of Selected Political Cadres (Item Number: 2310302015)". Texas Tech University Vietnam Center and Archive. 20 January 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
- ^ Ricks, Thomas E. (March 28, 2017). "Book excerpt: Defense Secretary Mattis discusses his favorite books, and why". Foreign Policy. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
At the same time, you've got to study ethics and not confront your ethical dilemmas for the first time on the battlefield, so you read Michael Walzer's Just and Unjust Wars or Malham Wakin's War, Morality, and the Military Profession.
External links[edit]
- Malham M. Wakin in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Presentation by Wakin at the 2016 National Character and Leadership Symposium at the United States Air Force Academy
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