Dr. Keith B. Payne
Introduction
The Defense and Strategic Studies (DSS) program started at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. The exact year of its initiation is not entirely clear. I have seen 1969, 1971, and 1976 as the starting point from three different individuals close to the program. They may all be correct, each describing something a bit different in the development of DSS. I tend to accept the 1971 date as the beginning point; DSS was thriving, with several advanced Ph.D. students, by the time I arrived as a first-year graduate student in August 1976.
It is important to focus on the origins of DSS and its founder, Professor William R. Van Cleave, to understand the program’s uniqueness then, and now. Prof. Van Cleave entered USC as a young professor in 1967, founded DSS there, and led it until his retirement in 2005. His portrait, as a young Marine, hangs prominently in the DSS offices for those students who have wondered, “who is that?” Millions of people have used one of the ancestry services to find out about their family roots. I would like to provide an overview of DSS roots that continue to shape its curriculum and educational goals after more than five decades.
DSS Origins
At USC, DSS was not a separate academic department, but rather a selected concentration of courses within the university’s School of International Relations (SIR). It was an anomaly within the SIR for multiple reasons. For example, if Professor Van Cleave was to serve as the chair of a student’s Ph.D. committee, the student had to take several specific courses offered by Prof. Van Cleave (or “VC” as we students referred to him amongst ourselves), and additional courses in three other related concentrations, e.g., Russian, Chinese, and/or European studies, theory, political economy, inter alia.[1] The SIR required only three fields of concentration for the Ph.D.; Prof. Van Cleave required four. That additional concentration requirement may seem minimal. But when doctoral comprehensive exams loomed, having to take an exam in four areas of concentration vice three loomed large. In addition, the comprehensive Ph.D. exam given by Professor Van Cleave was known to be particularly challenging—a one-week take-home exam that, in my case, demanded a 55-page response.
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