Gilbert Courtland Fite (May 14, 1918 – July 13, 2010) was an American historian and university president known for his work on the history of agriculture in the United States. He was a professor at the University of Oklahoma 1945–1971, then president of Eastern Illinois University from 1971 to 1976, and next held the Richard B. Russell Chair in American History at the University of Georgia until his retirement in 1986. Fite's books included works on how farmers affected the political environment and broader economic history of the United States, examining the political power that farmers wielded in various eras. His best known books in agricultural history included The Farmers' Frontier, 1865–1900 (1977), American Farmers: The New Minority (1981), and Cotton Fields No More: Southern Agriculture, 1865–1980 (1984). He was president of the Agricultural History Society 1960–1961, of the Southern Historical Association in 1974, of the Western History Association 1985–1986, and of Phi Alpha Theta 1981–1983.
Early life and education Fite was born on May 14, 1918, in Santa Fe, Ohio, to a couple of poor homesteaders, Fite spent his childhood and teenage years in western South Dakota. He graduated from a Free Methodist secondary school in Wessington Springs, South Dakota, and attended Wessington Springs Junior College. By 1937, Fite attended Seattle Pacific College until medical issues forced him to attend an institution closer to his family's farm. He enrolled in the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, SD, and graduated with both his bachelor's degree and master's degree in history in 1941 under advisors Herbert S. Schell and Bert Loewenberg. In the spring of 1945, he earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Missouri with a dissertation on South Dakota governor and senator Peter Norbeck later published as Peter Norbeck: Prairie Statesman (1948). His advisors were Elmer Ellis and economic historian Lewis F. Atherton.
Career In 1945, Fite began teaching at the University of Oklahoma alongside other prominent historians such as Edward Everett Dale and Carl Rister. During his early years at the institution, Fite published numerous articles and monographs, including the first major study of the Mount Rushmore National Monument. He took a Ford Fellowship 1954–1955 to study economics at Harvard University, and won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964. He served as chair of the history department 1955–1958 and rose to the named chair of George Lynn Cross Research Professor in 1968. While at Oklahoma, Fite also took two year-long trips to serve as visiting professor in India. For 1962–1963 he taught at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and for 1969–1970, he was director of the American Studies Research Center at Osmania University in Hyderabad. In 1971, he took over the position of college president at Eastern Illinois University. He was president of the institution 1971–1976, where he guided it through a budget crisis and expanded the university, after which he took the Richard B. Russell Chair in American History at the University of Georgia. While at Georgia, Fite authored more monographs on agricultural history, including Cotton Fields No More: Southern Agriculture, 1865–1980, which won the Theodore Saluoutos Award for the best book in agricultural history in 1985. Fite retired from teaching in 1986 but continued to research and write on agricultural history. In addition to his teaching and research, Fite held numerous leadership positions in various historical societies. He was president of the Agricultural History Society from 1960 to 1961, of the Southern Historical Association in 1974, of the Western History Association from 1985 to 1986, and of Phi Alpha Theta from 1981 to 1983. In 1990, he entered the South Dakota Hall of Fame. He was among the first honorary fellows of the Agricultural History Society in 1995, and in honor of his influence in shaping American agricultural history, in 2000 the Agricultural History Society created an annual award for the best dissertation on agricultural history named after Fite.
Personal life and death In 1939, Fite met Alberta June Goodwin while in a hospital in Mitchell, South Dakota. The two married on July 24, 1941, and later had two sons. Fite died on July 13, 2010, in Fort Myers, Florida.
Writings In total, Fite authored, co-authored, or edited over eighteen monograph-length works and fifty articles.
Political figures Fite's first work, an expansion of his doctoral thesis, was an investigation into how Peter Norbeck, a South Dakota politician, helped secure federal support for agricultural programs and the Mount Rushmore National Monument. In 1954, he published a book on George Peek titled George N. Peek and the Fight for Farm Parity. In 1991, he completed a biography of Richard B. Russell, Jr., a Georgia politician who was namesake for the named chair that he occupied at the University of Georgia.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
