Bill O’Neill passes

[srru86]

The lectures for his courses on WWI & WWII were always interesting and informative.

History News Network
Historian William Lawrence O’Neill has died at age 80

I remember once years after taking the courses and chatting with some fellow amateur history geeks and talking about who taught us history. I told them that on the final exam for O'Neill's WWII course there was a question on the Japanese Imperial Navy leadership for the attack on Pearl Harbor. No, he did not want to know that Yammamoto was head of the Combined Fleet, or Nagumo lead the strike force. No, to get full credit you needed to know that Fuchida lead the air armada and Genda was the planner. My geeky fellows were duly impressed by the professor's rigor on the topic.

 

[e5fdny]

The lectures for his courses on WWI & WWII were always interesting and informative.

History News Network
Historian William Lawrence O’Neill has died at age 80

I remember once years after taking the courses and chatting with some fellow amateur history geeks and talking about who taught us history. I told them that on the final exam for O'Neill's WWII course there was a question on the Japanese Imperial Navy leadership for the attack on Pearl Harbor. No, he did not want to know that Yammamoto was head of the Combined Fleet, or Nagumo lead the strike force. No, to get full credit you needed to know that Fuchida lead the air armada and Genda was the planner. My geeky fellows were duly impressed by the professor's rigor on the topic.

Well any of us who are "Tora! Tora! Tora!" fans would have gotten the question right too. LOL

I think it was in his WWI class where somebody raised their hand with a question of, "...could you please slow down a bit, Professor. I can't keep up with my note taking." To which he replied after a slight pause, "No, I can't." And proceeded to go on with his lecture. Classic O'Neill.

I still have some of his texts in my library.

RIP

 

[BoroKnight]

Sitting through his World War I class, it certainly helped to have read the books and had much of the material in your head, because he would steamroll through those lectures. But his hatred of Woodrow Wilson was so pure -- and, if for different reasons, abundantly fair -- it bordered on comical. "Wild Bill" was a throwback to the days when delivering a lecture on auto-pilot was all that was deemed necessary to communicate with college students, and in a way that's all that should be necessary. No hand-holding here.

But I sure learned just about everything worth knowing about World War I.

 

[Scarlet Craig]

I had him for US History 1914-45....totally shat the bed on my midterm but got an A on the final. He used that as the final grade much to my relief! He was not one of my faves but I respected him.

Oshinsky was my fave history prof (he later went to U. of Texas, I think.)