Social Reform in the United States Navy, 1798-1862 Hardcover - 1967

Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1967. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good/Fair. Fabian Bachrach (Author photograph). x, [4], 309, [1] pages. Footnotes. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. DJ is worn, torn, soiled, chipped, and price clipped. Minor cover wear. Slight page staining at the back. Harold David Langley (15 February 1925 - 29 July 2020) was an American diplomatic and naval historian who served as associate curator of naval history at the Smithsonian Institution from 1969 to 1996. As a naval historian, he was a pioneer in exploring American naval social and medical history. Harold Langley joined the U.S. Army and served from 1943 to 1946, receiving with his unit the Army Meritorious Service Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal. Following his military service, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1960 with a dissertation on "The Humanitarians and the United States Navy, 1798-1862." Langley began his professional career at the Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division, in Washington, where he served in 1951-52. Moving to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he served as a manuscripts specialist, rare book collection, 1952-54. Returning to the Library of Congress in Washington, he was a manuscripts specialist, there in 1954-55. In 1957, he became a diplomatic historian in the U.S. Department of State. In 1964, Catholic University of America appointed him associate professor, and in 1968 promoted him to full professor in 1968. In 1969, the Smithsonian Institution appointed him associate curator of naval history. He was also an adjunct professor of American history at the Catholic University of America from 1971 to 2001. In the decades before the American Civil War various political, social, and religious groups agitated for reforms in American society that would be in keeping with its professed democratic and national principles. One such organization was the American Seaman's Friend Society, which lobbied for improvements in the enlistment, discipline, and treatment of sailors in the Merchant Marine and the Navy. Their causes were embraced by some naval officers, members of Congress, and a few Secretaries of the Navy. This history explores the circumstances and people in and out of the Navy who eventually convinced Congress to enact reforms to improve the conditions of service of naval enlisted men and to lay the foundation for a career enlisted force. The interests of most naval historians and of American historians who focus on war and diplomacy are on such topics as strategy, leadership, naval ships and battles. In contrast, this book explores the effort to change the rules, regulations and actions of officers which affected the lives, morale and the retention rates of enlisted men in an effort to build and hold a better quality of native born Americans and the strength and effectiveness of the U.S. Navy.