Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History

• Civil War and Reconstruction
   

 Educational Background

• Ph.D. University of Washington, 1964

• M.A. University of Washington, 1957
• B.A. University of Washington, 1951

Awards and Service

• SMU Outstanding Faculty Award, 2003
• Willis Tate Award, 1981
• “M” Award, 1980
• President, SMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, 1990 to present
• Chairman, Department of History, 1972 -75
• Department of Education, 1975 -78
• Director, SMU International Programs
• Director, SMU in Spain Founder, SMU-in–Paris
• SMU-in-Japan; SMU-in-England Founding Director
• SMU Mexican American Studies, 1973 –1990
• Founding Member, Sixth Floor Exhibit on President John F. Kennedy President
• Texas Association for the Advancement of History, 1977- 89
   

Books and Essays

• Voices from the Gathering Storm Scholarly Resources, 2001

• Voices from the Reconstruction Years, 1865-1877, Harcourt Brace, 1999
• Voices from the House Divided, co-author w/Thomas Pressly,  McGraw Hill, 1995
• Desegregating the Dallas Schools, Four Decades in the Federal Courts, Three Forks Press, 1985
• Politics or Principle, Congressional Voting on Civil War Amendments, University of Washington, 1976

Professor Glenn Linden’s contributions to the histories of the American Civil War, Reconstruction, and Dallas school desegregation have influenced scholars, educators, and policy makers for 30 years.

Linden’s book, Politics or Principle: Congressional Voting on the Civil War Amendments and Pro-Negro Measures, makes the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments more understandable. Unconvinced by existing interpretations of the votes—cynicism and party expedience—Linden made an extensive examination of thousands of congressional votes between 1838 and 1869 and showed a marked consistency and persistence in congressional action on measures designed to help the Negro. While their motives may have had strong elements of idealism and principle, Linden found party considerations to be of secondary importance.

A significant number of legislators voted for all major efforts to help the Negro and two-thirds of all congressmen did not significantly change their voting behavior. Rather, voting positions were firmly established early in their congressional careers and time and events would only serve to strengthen those patterns. Linden’s findings have been largely accepted and confirmed by historians. The firsthand accounts in Linden’s Voices books traced the journeys of many northern and southern citizens from 1846 to 1877. He showed that the war was not inevitable. There were many opportunities to compromise but there was not sufficient leadership on either side to avoid the war. In other words, no one wanted a war but neither side was able to avoid it. Both the North and South had many chances to win the war. Only in the last months of the war did the North finally prevail.

Linden found that readers of Voices From the House Divided learn to appreciate the enormous sacrifices made by both sides. They saw how whites and blacks struggled after the end of the war to lay aside old prejudices and find a way to reunite the country. Readers understand how Reconstruction laid the basis for future resolutions of the race problem in the United States—activated by a confident generation during the next century.

Linden studied the Dallas response to the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in Desegregating Schools in Dallas: Four Decades in the Federal Courts. He found 20 years of resistance followed by a gradual compliance and in spite of its release from federal supervision in 2003, Linden suggested that much work remains to be done if Dallas wants to be a city where all can receive an equal educational opportunity regardless of race.

updated June 27, 2012.