William Conrad Gibbons, Ph.D.

Dr. William Conrad Gibbons was born in 1926 in Harrisonburg, Virginia to Howard and Jessie Gibbons and died on July 4, 2015 at his home on High Peak Farm in Monroe, Virginia from complications of a stroke. He was 88 years old. William was graduated from Harrisonburg High School, entered the University of Virginia in 1945, served in World War II for 2 years, returned to finish his college education at Randolph and was graduated (B.A. in history and government) in 1949. Dr. Gibbons earned his Masters and Ph.D. in government, economics and international relations from Princeton University in 1957.

In the late 1950’s William had 7 years of first-hand experience with the U.S. Congress where he worked for both Senator Wayne Morse and Senator Mike Mansfield, first as a Congressional Fellow (selected along with nine other political scientists, lawyers and journalists in nationwide competition) working in both the House and Senate, and subsequently as a staff member in the House and Senate, and on Congressional Committees. In 1960, he became Professional Staff Member of the Democratic Policy Committee and Assistant to the Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and then assisted Senator Johnson in his campaign for the Presidency and Vice President. He remained on the Staff of the Policy Committee under its new Chairman, Senator Mansfield and resigned Senate position in February, 1962.

In 1962, Dr. Gibbons ran for Congress from the Western District of Virginia, which covered his hometown of Harrisonburg but was defeated. He then returned to Washington to work as legislative program staff (62-63); Deputy Director (1963-65) and Director (1965-68) of Congressional Liaison for the Agency for International Development, Department of State.

At the beginning of the Nixon Administration, William Gibbons left Washington to set up and head the political science department at Texas A&M University. He went on to be a visiting professor at Wellesley College and worked briefly as the Senior Program Officer in charge of all historical activities for the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. In 1972, Dr. Gibbons became a senior analyst for the Foreign Affairs Division (“FAND”) of the Library of Congress in Washington DC, where he stayed for twenty years. It was as a senior analyst at FAND that he authored the definitive five-volume set entitled “The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War.” In 1980 he became a visiting professor at George Mason University where he continued work on the series.

The series has been described by historians and journalists as: “By far the best books on the subject” (William Bundy), “The master of Vietnam research” (David Maraniss), “Magisterial” (Brian VanDeMark), “Bill is an overlooked hero…for people like myself, well, just watch how much his name comes up in the footnotes” (Paul Hendrickson), “One of the most valuable studies of the formulation of Vietnam policy during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations” (Stanley Karnow). This series was also a major resource for Robert S. McNamara’s book “In Retrospect” and for Stanley Karnow’s book, “Vietnam, A History” and his 26-part PBS series of the same name. “Senator Mansfield” and “TET”, both written by Don Oberdorfer, were also greatly aided by the research from the Vietnam series by Gibbons. He was a friend to many scholars and historians in that he shares his knowledge and research willingly to anyone who asks. To read more about Dr. Gibbons, visit his website: www.williamconradgibbons.com.

Bill Gibbons loved Virginia and his farm on High Peak in Monroe. He enjoyed woodworking, spending time with his family, restoring old log cabins, family research and farming. He is survived by his wife Patricia of Monroe Virginia, six children (Rob, Frances, Stephen, Gayle, Ashley, Justin), seven grandchildren (Peter, Ben, Alex, Stephanie, Emma, Cecilia and Kobe), brother John H. Gibbons, sister Elizabeth Gibbons Reynolds, sister-in-law Mary H. Gibbons and brother-in-law Jon H. Reynolds.

The family will receive friends from 6-8pm Monday, July 6th at Whitten Funeral Home - Monelison Chapel (www.whittenfuneralhome.com). A funeral service will be conducted 11am Tuesday, July 7th, also in the Monelison Chapel. In lieu of flowers, memorials may take the form of donations to Randolph-Macon College, Ashland VA (www.rmc.edu).