Rostow, Walt Whitman (1916–2003)

Abstract

Walt Whitman Rostow, economic historian, historian of economic thought, pioneer of modern development economics, and social scientist with interests in demography, politics, sociology and cultural aspects of development, was born in 1916. A professor of economics and history at the University of Oxford in 1946–7, Cambridge University, 1949–50, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1950–61 and University of Texas at Austin 1968–2003, he is best known for his Stages of Economic Growth: A Noncommunist Manifesto (1960a) and for his service as National Security Advisor to US President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War. He led an active intellectual life engaged in public policy issues up to his death in 2003.