Newt Gingrich’s ‘elite’ PhD topic

[ellisonz]

Posted at 02:21 AM ET, 01/23/2012
By Valerie Strauss

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich likes to use the word “elites” as a pejorative when he talks about things and people whom he considers liberal. But the former House speaker himself is in pretty elite company when it comes to his PhD.

For one thing, earning a doctorate is a pretty elite thing to do in the United States. Nearly 40 percent of Americans ages 25 and older had an associate and/or bachelor's degree in 2010, according to the Census Bureau, while less than 3 percent had a doctorate.

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Gingrich earned a bachelor’s degree at Emory University and then a master’s degree at Tulane University, where he studied modern European history. After joining the faculty of West Georgia College, now the University of West Georgia, as an assistant professor of history, he earned a PhD from Tulane in 1971 with a thesis titled “ Belgian Education Policy in the Congo: 1945–1960 ,” by Newton Leroy Gingrich.

Gingrich’s PhD, according to Garry Wills in this 1995 article in The New York Review of Books, “was partly critical of colonialism in the Belgian Congo, but was on the whole an apologia for it.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/newt-gingrichs-elite-phd-topic/2012/01/22/gIQA3TqGKQ_blog.html

Anyone in Louisiana wanna try and get their hands on this?

[dimbear]

1. It might easily be even more interesting to hear Neut's opinion of King Leopold.

His colonial policies were rather strict: they included piling up the skulls of Africans he had killed in pyramids as warnings toward good behavior. "The Butcher of the Congo."

[davidpdx]

2. I'll be one of the less than 3%

in about 2 years.

[BlueToTheBone]

3. Congrats on all your hard work

and dedication! What is your thesis?

[davidpdx]

5. My dissertation topic is not decided at this point

I'm going to have to commit to one this year. It will be something to do with international retail management I think. Having lived here in Korea for 8 years I have been interested in seeing how western companies do coming into the country. Some have done well and some have failed badly.

[BlueToTheBone]

6. Wow. I am fascinated by Korea

I have wanted to move our manufacturing there, but don't know how at all. My beloved is a designer and we have created some really cool gift items and have been making and selling for about 25 years or so. We started manufacturing in the US and exported to 3 countries, we were forced offshore several years ago and work in China.

Anyway, congratulations! I hope you do well. If you'd like to have more conversation about international retailing, pm me.

[JBoy]

4. Both "elitist" and "European".

I'm surprised he doesn't spontaneously combust.