Quincy Wright: an appreciation

WILLIAM B. BALLIS Department of , University of Michigan

Quincy Wright had a lifelong interest and tional sense. professional concern in the problem of con- He was, like most of the scholars of his trolling , but his unique approach was generation, originally trained as a legalist. His clearly shaped by his family’s scholarly pur- academic mentor, James W. Garner of the suits. His great-grandfather, a mathematician, University of Illinois, was in his day one of set up the first actuarial tables in the United the most distinguished scholars in interna- States. His father, Philip G. Wright, was an tional law, especially the law of war, prize economist with the US Tariff Commission. law, etc. Quincy’s first important scholarly Quincy’s older brother, Sewall, is an interna- study was on the relationship of international tionally known mathematical geneticist and law to domestic law, particularly its enforce- his younger brother, Theodore P., was an ment in the courts. But even before he took up internationally renowned aeronautical engi- the study of , Quincy was neer. Thus all of his immediate family on the very much concerned with the problem of war. male side were scientists, applying mathemati- A childhood classmate of his once recounted cal techniques in their fields. Quincy in his to me Quincy’s delivering a high school ora- way began to look for mathematical applica- tion on peace and war about the time of the tions to the study of war. points Second Hague Conference of 1907. Undoubt- out in the preface to the second edition of A edly that era of concern over establishing Study of War (1965) that Wright was one of some sort of system to control war had an the first scholars to make use of quantitative enormous impact on his formative period. In data in research on war, adding, &dquo;If he were his international law phase, Quincy’s scholarly writing A Study of War today, he would output was prodigious. It moved into high probably abbreviate some of the historical and gear by the time he was thirty, which coin- legal arguments and integrate his behavioral cided with the first year of the League of and quantitative data into his main text rather Nations. In the twenties, he began to travel than segregate them....&dquo; However, as a abroad and visit Geneva, The Hague, the former student of Quincy Wright, I believe Middle East, and the Far East. It was these that this would vitiate his contribution. While observations on the scene that probably Quincy can be regarded as the founder of prompted him to combine his legalistic modern peace research, which relies heavily approach with some of the historical and cul- on mathematical or quantitative methods of tural aspects of current international prob- analysis, there still reposes in his work a lems. This period culminated in his impressive strong and wide core of immutable legal and and massive scholarly work, Mandates Under historical knowledge which is not only the League of Nations. descriptive but also analytical in the tradi- Beginning in the middle twenties his articles 454 turned to the problems of war-its legal sta- into doctoral dissertations and some into tus, its elimination through law, the control of books. Quincy credits Charles E. Merriam, aggression, etc.-an interest which continued chairman of the Department of Political Sci- throughout his life. During this time, Quincy ence, for initiating the Causes of War Project. read and reread the history of diplomacy, of To be sure, Merriam did father the interdisci- war, and of relations between nations. He plinary approach in the social sciences at the became in the eyes of his students &dquo;a one-man and played a key role university.&dquo; When they approached him for a in establishing the financial and intellectual thesis topic, he spurred them to pursue further bases for the project. But Quincy Wright was some aspect of a problem on war and peace the director and implementing force and his which he had pioneered in some journal arti- doctoral students were the most active partici- cle. My generation studied with him in the pants. early thirties at the University of Chicago and The 1930s represent the most creative we identify him primarily with the develop- period of Quincy’s productivity (he was then ment of interdisciplinary research on the prob- between his fortieth and fiftieth years). A lem of peace and war. It was he who triggered Study of War went to the publisher in 1941 my interest in working on comparative histori- but was drafted mainly in the late thirties. Par- cal aspects of the doctrines and practices of adoxically he finished it during the first bat- war in early international law (Ballis, 1937). tles of World War II and wrote the foreword The vehicle for the cross-fertilization of less than a month before Pearl Harbor. It was graduate students and faculty on the problem in this period that his work laid the basis for of peace and war was primarily Quincy what is now called &dquo;peace research.&dquo; But he Wright’s seminar on law and diplomacy. As a was not content with being a distinguished member of this seminar for two years, I well scholar in the study of war. Quincy moved out remember the papers not only of his own of the library to participation in organizations political science students but also those of concerned with the realization of peace. He historians, psychologists, sociologists, and was prominent in the League of Nations anthropologists. The dozen or so of us met for Association, the United Nations Association, two hours every Thursday afternoon. No and many public societies for the promotion matter how technical the subject, when a stu- of the study of , such as dent not in political science was reporting, the American Council of the Institute of Quincy would always enrich his comments Pacific Relations and the American Society of with considerable additional background to International Law. broaden our understanding. He would often Quincy Wright’s life was largely dedicated read to the seminar his own papers which to a to the idea that war could be controlled large extent dealt with the problem of war in through law based on a universal in.ernational international law. Sometimes there would be a system. In one of his last articles, published social evening for the students working on the just before his death, he wrote (Wright, 1969): &dquo;Causes of War hosted Project,&dquo; jointly by I conclude that the foundations for a universal his gracious wife, Louise. Also present would international system are to be found in education to be the distinguished historian, Bernadotte E. develop more general understanding of the condi- Schmitt, and equally distinguished economist, tions of the present and emerging world, in commit- ment of and to the interna- Jacob Viner, who worked with Quincy in the peoples governments tional system established by the Charter [of the of this As stated in his early phases Project. UN], and to the maintenance and development of the magnum opus, A Study of War (1965, pp. existing universal legal and political institutions by 409-13), many of these research reports grew appropriate policies and actions. 455

Quincy Wright’s influence on me, as on in public affairs. hundreds of students who came into contact While Quincy spent much time in his office with him, was that of the master teacher. His with its huge library, he somehow managed classes and conferences were a joy to his each year to give scores of talks on and off the students. He would awe, interest, and delight campus, over the radio on the University of his classes, and a conference in his office was Chicago Roundtable, and to student groups a pleasant and profitable experience. Four and audiences in the city and suburbs of Chi- days a week, at 10:10 AM, he would have his cago. Also active in his profession, he spoke international law and diplomacy class. The frequently before his professional associations. first quarter was the law of peace, the second There his recognition was especially evident. was the law of war, and the third, diplomacy. Among other honors, he was president of the His lectures were organized and clearly ex- American Political Science Association, of the pressed. Since the classes were small and International Political Science Association, of mostly graduates, he often used the Socratic the American Society of International Law, method of instruction-and he truly was a and of the American Association of Univer- Socrates. After class, four days a week, he had sity Professors. his office &dquo;hour.&dquo; Students would wait in his Quincy Wright reached the top in all outer room, which insulated him from the cor- branches of his profession and his scholarly ridor. He gave much time and displayed a accomplishments have been worthily ac- warm empathy toward each one. In these claimed, but he has left an additional legacy conference sessions, he discussed my research to his former students. This was the model of with me at great length, always adding, stimu- the scholar, teacher, and friend, the ideal lating, and prodding. Whenever I gave him a professor, so to speak, for all his students to chapter of my dissertation, I received it back strive to approximate. While his encyclopedic the next day, with his comments scribbled on knowledge of international law, history, and the margin of each page. the social sciences was generously shared with Quincy Wright’s daily office &dquo;hour&dquo; was his students, he was also warm, sympathetic, generally two, from eleven to one. Except for and encouraging to each of them. I never saw the day on which he held seminar, the after- him humiliate a student or express criticism in noons were for his research and the students a harsh way. He was in every respect a scholar all understood this. He could be reached on and a gentlemen. the telephone and was always willing to answer a but his massive query, scholarly REFERENCES output depended on his prodigious hours of work. On Saturday nights I used to attend the Ballis, William. The Legal Position of War Chicago Opera Company performances. Al- Changes in Its Practice and Theory from Plato to Vattel The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1937. though I would not return to my dormitory Deutsch, Karl. Preface to the second edition In Q. room on the until after campus long midnight, Wright,A Study of War Chicago University of there would always be a light in Quincy’s Chicago Press, 1965 office on the Midway side, fourth floor, of the Wnght, Quincy The foundations for a universal Research Building. Moreover international system (in Italian), Comprendre, 1969, 18. he would be there most likely on Saturdays —. Mandates Under the League of Nations a full and Sundays. Yet he also enjoyed very Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 1930. social life with his wife, who had a separate —.A Study of War (2nd edn.). Chicago Um- career and a distinguished record of her own versity of Chicago Press, 1965