George Babcock Cressey (December 15, 1896 – October 21, 1963) was an American geographer, author, and academic. Born in Tiffin, Ohio, he attended Denison University and then the University of Chicago, where he received a PhD in geology. After receiving his degree, he taught at University of Shanghai and traveled widely in China. Upon his return to the United States in 1929, he completed a pioneering book on the country, China's Geographic Foundations. In 1931, Cressey received a second PhD from Clark University in geography. He then joined the faculty of Syracuse University, where he remained for the rest of his professional career. At Syracuse, Cressey wrote on a variety of subjects, but focused on "population problems as related to the worldwide distribution of land and arable resources," and primarily studied Asia, though he traveled to 75 countries on six continents (all but Australia), over the course of his career. Cressey also served as chair of the department and helped to develop the geography graduate program at Syracuse into one of the best in the country. In addition to his academic work, Cressey consulted for the US Department of State, the Board of Economic Warfare, and the Military Intelligence Corps during World War II. After the war, he was also an outspoken advocate of better relations with People's Republic of China and traveled widely in East Asia and the Middle East with a variety of fellowships. Cressey was also highly involved in a number of professional organizations, serving as President of the International Geographical Union and the Association for Asian Studies, and as Honorary President of the Association of American Geographers.
Early life Cressey was born in Tiffin, Ohio, on December 15, 1896. His father, Frank G. Cressey, was a Baptist minister and his mother, Frances Babcock, the first woman to graduate from the University of Chicago, taught Latin at Denison University. After high school, Cressey attended Denison University, graduating in 1919 with a B.S. He then entered the University of Chicago, where he studied under the noted geologist Rollin D. Salisbury, receiving a Master's degree in 1921 and a PhD in 1923, both in geology. His dissertation was entitled "A Study of Indiana Sand Dunes." After receiving his degree, Cressey went to China with the American Baptist Missionary Union and took a position at University of Shanghai in Shanghai, China, teaching both geology and geography. While in China, he met Marion Chatfield, an American missionary, whom he married in 1925. The two went on to have one son and three daughters. Cressey also used his time in China to travel in East Asia, visiting Mongolia and the Ordos Desert with particular frequency. His trips were often dangerous and took him far from other Westerners; during one of his trips, in Hebei, he was beaten and robbed by a group of bandits. His travels in China covered more than 30,000 miles, and formed the basis of a book he began writing, China's Geographic Foundations: A Survey of the Land and its Peoples. Cressey finished the book shortly before leaving China and gave the manuscript to the Commercial Press in Shanghai to prepare for publication. In 1932, however, the press was bombed by the Japanese and the manuscript was lost in the ensuing fire.
Second PhD and academic career In 1929, Cressey left China, returning to the United States for a year of study at Harvard University. In 1931, he earned a second PhD, in geography, from Clark University, writing his dissertation on the Ordos Desert. The same year, Cressey joined the faculty of Syracuse University as a professor of geography and geology, and soon became chairman of the department. After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in September 1931, Cressey's travels in Asia made him a sought-after expert and lecturer on China, and he traveled frequently, giving lectures to academic audiences and the general public. Cressey also began to reconstruct his book, China's Geographic Foundations, from his original notes, finishing it in 1934. In China's Geographic Foundations, Cressey focused on describing the 15 geographic regions of China, but he also devoted chapters to "history, topography, climate, agriculture, and foreign trade." Writing in Political Science Quarterly, Grover Clark called the book "a clear, comprehensive and yet comprehensible description of the land and the people's relation to it." The book went on to become "the standard work in its field." Although welcomed by the Kuomintang, the book was "strongly criticized" by the Chinese Communist Party because of Cressey's judgment that China lacked the resources to quickly become a great industrial power. While teaching at Syracuse, Cressey continued his travels, and in 1937, he visited Moscow, where he was invited to consult on the production of the Great Soviet World Atlas. After his trip to Moscow, Cressey traveled widely in the Soviet Union, and after returning to the United States he spoke of the great economic potential of the country, despite anti-Soviet sentiment. As a result, he earned "the trust and gratitude of his Soviet colleagues," allowing him access to their knowledge and resources. Cressey also spent the 1930s developing the academic offerings at Syracuse, building "one of the best Master of Arts programs in geography available in the United States."
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