National World War I Conference in Sarasota, Florida

at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, on Lido Beach, Sarasota, Florida, with
Robert J. Dalessandro, Edwin C. Bearss,
Carlo D’Este, Edward G. Lengel,
Erin Mahan and Jerry D. Morelock

We are excited to announce the expansion of our popular annual Civil War and World War II conferences in Sarasota to include our organization’s first program on World War I. What was once called The Great War has largely been overlooked, obscured by the vivid moral clarities of the greater war that followed. World War I was a bloody preview of World War II - machine guns, air and submarine warfare, poison gas - these were technologies that applied the tools of mass production to human slaughter. Killing became impersonal, mechanical and vast.

World War I was more than just a war between nations. The "old world" was dying, and a new one had yet to be born. People of all classes and nations saw the conflict as some great cleansing fire that would lead to a better world. By the time it was over, millions of men and their dreams of progress had died in the trenches of Europe and on far-flung battlefields.

As we approach the centennial of World War I, we judge it time to begin a series of programs that examine and ponder this War to End All Wars. The setting for our first conference, featuring seven leading military historians, couldn’t differ more from the terrible trenches of Verdun and the deserts of Mesopotamia. We will headquarter at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel on the white sands of Lido Beach, and enjoy the warm breezes and spectacular views of the Gulf of Mexico.

This conference is a part of an exciting eleven-day period of history programs we are sponsoring in and around Sarasota - including the 20^th Anniversary Presentation of the Sarasota Civil War Symposium – January 18-21; the Ed Bearss Florida History Tour – January 22-24; and the 7^th Annual Sarasota World War II Conference – January 25-28. Make your plans now for January, and join us in Sarasota for one, two, three or all four of our Special Adventures in American history.

 

2012 NATIONAL WORLD WAR I CONFERENCE

* FACULTY *

 

COL. ROBERT J. DALESSANDRO, USA Ret. is the Chief of Military History at the United States Army Center of Military History at Fort McNair, Washington, DC. Previously he served as the Director of the Army Heritage Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is the co-author, with Gerald Torrence, of Willing Patriots: Men of Color in the First World War; with Michael G. Knapp, co-author of The Organization and Insignia of the American Expeditionary Force, 1917-1923 and, with Rebeccas Dalessandro, co-author of American Lions: the 332^nd Infantry Regiment in Italy in World War I.

 

EDWIN C. BEARSS, historian emeritus of the National Park Service, is the most well known battlefield guide in America and is acclaimed as one of the stars of Ken Burns's award-winning PBS series, The Civil War. While working for the NPS at Vicksburg in 1956, he helped locate and raise the ironclad gunboat Cairo, one of the most significant artifacts of the Civil War. He leads military history tours year-around of the Civil War, American Revolution, American West and World War I and World War II in Europe.

 

CARLO W. D’ESTE is the author of many history books including Decision in Normandy; Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943; World War II in the Mediterranean; Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome; and three biographies: Patton: A Genius For War; Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life; and Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945. 

 

EDWARD G. LENGEL is the author of To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918. He is Professor of History and Editor-in-Chief of the Papers of George Washington documentary editing project at the University of Virginia and the author of several other books including George Washington: A Military Life and Inventing George Washington: America’s Founder in Myth and Memory.

 

ERIN MAHAN is Chief Historian of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She previously served as associate research fellow at Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. and is an adjunct research historian for the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and also an adjunct professor for the Washington Center for Academic Seminars and Internships. From 2004-2008, she was Chief of the Division of Arms Control, Asia, and Africa in the Office of the Historian at the Department of State, where she edited several volumes in the Foreign Relations of the United States series related to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, the former Soviet Union, the Vietnam War, and Korea. She is also the author of Kennedy, De Gaulle and Western Europe and has published several chapters and articles on biological and chemical weapons, NATO, the Berlin Crisis, and U.S. and French foreign economic policies during the 1960s.

 

COL. JERRY D. MORELOCK, USA Ret., a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, is the Editor in Chief of Armchair General magazine. Previously, he served as the Director of the Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS, and was the Chief of Russia Branch, Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon.  His numerous publications include the books, Generals of the Ardennes: American Leadership in the Battle of the Bulge and Great Land Battles from the Civil War to the Gulf War. 

 

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

 

Wednesday, January 25

 

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM                Books for Display & Sale - A. Parker Books of Sarasota

 

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM               The Baker Commission and the Birth of the American
                                             Expeditionary Force - Robert J. Dalessandro

 

9:45 AM – 10:45AM                  George S. Patton and the Development of

                                   the Armored Tank Corps – Carlo D’Este

11:00 AM - 12:00 N               “Snow on Their Boots” – Russia’s World War I

                                   on the Eastern Front – Jerry D. Morelock

12:00 N - 1:00 PM                             Group Lunch in Dining Room. 

 

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM                The British Expeditionary Force -    Erin Mahan

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM                    Omar Effinger Bearss: A Marine in World War I– My
Father’s Story - Edwin C. Bearss

3:45 PM - 4:45 PM                     Meuse-Argonne, 1918: The Battle That Ended World War I
- Edward G. Lengel

American History Forum reserves the right to change the order and topics of presentations and to substitute faculty members as circumstances may dictate.

 

We have reserved rooms at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, 1540 Ben Franklin Drive, Sarasota, Florida, at the nightly rates, Single and Double, of $110 – Northside; $123 – Courtyard; $136 - Poolside and $162 - Gulfside. The Helmsley offers 600 feet of private beach, two outdoor pools and a host of other amenities. Act now to reserve your hotel room by calling 800-225-2181, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM and identifying yourself as a registrant for the American History Forum.

 

REGISTRATION FEE: $195 – includes lunch