Cleveland, Harlan 1918–2008

(James Harlan Cleveland)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 19, 1918, in New York, NY; died of multiple myeloma, May 30, 2008, in Sterling, VA. Diplomat, political scientist, educator, university administrator, and author. Cleveland devoted much of his career to government service and the rest to education. Medically exempt from military service during World War II, he spent most of the 1940s as an official of the Foreign Economic Administration, the Allied Control Commission, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the Economic Cooperation Administration. In 1956 Cleveland became the dean of the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, but in 1961 he was recalled to government service, first as an assistant secretary of state, then as the U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In 1969 Cleveland returned to the academy as the president of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, leading the institution through turbulent times until 1974. From 1980 to 1987 he was the founding dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. With experience in both worlds, Cleveland came to realize that the future of government was in a state of change—that the information age, the Internet, the globalization of the economy and the corporate infrastructure, and the increasing influence of factors beyond government control were transforming the role of government. He foresaw a day when credible and experienced leaders could no longer impose their expertise upon a populace without drawing on the knowledge and creativity of contributors from all levels of government and from society at large. Cleveland devoted himself to learning as much as possible about the burgeoning field of information technology, and he became actively involved in the work of research and development institutions such as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, the Atlantic Council of the United States, the International Council on Educational Development, and Global Perspectives in Education. He also wrote or edited several books on related topics, including The Knowledge Executive: Leadership in an Information Society (1985), The Global Commons: Policy for the Planet (1990), Birth of a New World: An Open Moment for International Leadership (1993), and Nobody in Charge: Essays on the Future of Leadership (2002). Cleveland's contributions were acknowledged by foreign governments from Italy to China and by numerous honorary degrees; he received the Louis Brownlow Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration for The Future Executive: A Guide for Tomorrow's Managers (1972).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2008, p. B5.

Washington Post, June 6, 2008, p. B7.