George McTurnan Kahin  George McTurnan Kahin (January 25, 1918 – January 29, 2000) was an American historian and political scientist. He was one of the leading experts on Southeast Asia and a critic of United States involvement in the Vietnam War. After completing his dissertation, which is still considered a classic on Indonesian history, Kahin became a faculty member at Cornell University. At Cornell, he became the director of its Southeast Asia Program and founded the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. Kahin's incomplete memoir was published posthumously in 2003. George McTurnan Kahin was born on January 25, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Seattle, Washington. He received a B.S. in history from Harvard University in 1940. Kahin married Margaret Baker in 1942, but the marriage ended in divorce. During World War II, Kahin served in the United States Army between 1942 and 1945, where "he was trained as one of a group of 60 GIs who were to be parachuted into Japanese-occupied Indonesia in advance of Allied forces". However, the operation was canceled after it was determined that U.S. forces would bypass the Indies after the Potsdam Conference. As a result, his unit was sent to the European theater. He earned the rank of sergeant before leaving the Army. Kahin's interest in Southeast Asia developed during this period, and he learned to speak Indonesian and Dutch. Kahin returned after the war to complete his M.A. from Stanford University, which he received in 1946. His thesis was titled "The Political Position of the Chinese in Indonesia" , describing the role of Chinese Indonesians in the new country. He continued to pursue of his interest in Southeast Asia, going to Indonesia in 1948 to conduct research during the Indonesian National Revolution. During his work, he was arrested by Dutch colonial authorities and expelled from the country. Kahin received a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1951. His dissertation, titled "Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia" , is considered a classic on Indonesian history. In 1951, Kahin became an assistant professor of government at Cornell University. He received tenure and was promoted to associate professor in 1954; he became a full professor in 1959. He became the director of Cornell's Southeast Asia Program in 1961 and held the position until 1970. Kahin also founded the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project in 1954 and served as its director until his retirement in 1988. Between 1962 and 1963, he became a Fulbright professor at London University.