ANNA KASTEN NELSON
Anna Kasten Nelson, a professor of U.S. diplomatic
history at American University, died in her home in
Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. She earned
degrees from George Washington University, a Ph.D
. in history; from Ohio State University program in
history; the University of Oklahoma, a master’s of
arts in government; and the University of Oklahoma,
a bachelor of arts in history.
Professor Nelson, distinguished historian in residence,
was with American University for 22 years. Born in
Fort Smith, she attended Fort Smith Junior College and
was one of the early founders of the Fort Smith Little
Theatre. Professor Nelson returned there in recent
years as a special lecturer at the University of Arkansas
at Fort Smith.
In Washington, she was a member of the Department of
State Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic
Documentation and received a presidential appointment
to the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review
Board. She was a member of the National Coalition for
History Policy Board, the Society for Historians of American
Foreign Relations, the American Historical Organization
and the Organization of American Historians.
Professor Nelson published more than 30 articles in books
and journals, such as the American Historical Review,
Diplomatic History and the Journal of Military History.
Recently, she edited a book of original essays and was
the author of one in “The Policy Makers,” fall of 2009,
and was also the author of the chapter “The Evolution of
the National Security State: Ubiquitous and Endless,”
in Andrew Bacevich’s “The Long War: A New History of
U.S. National Security Policy since World War II,” Columbia
University Press, 2007. Her most recent publication is
“The Policy Makers: Shaping American Foreign Policy
from 1947 to the Present,” which she edited and includes
her essay about Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson. In the
summer of 2007, she received a four-month fellowship
in public policy from the Woodrow Wilson Center for
International Scholars. In 2009, she was awarded the
Troyer Steele Anderson Prize for her contributions to the
history profession.
Beloved wife of the late Dr. Paul Nelson, who for many
years was staff assistant to the House Banking Committee,
she is survived by her sister, Reba Kasten Nosoff; her two
sons, Eric and wife Sarah and Michael; and her three
grandchildren, Faith, Marc and Jeffrey Nelson.
