Draft:Benjamin Rivlin

Benjamin "Ben" Rivlin is a scholar of African Studies, International Studies, Political Science, and Anthropology. He practiced Comparativist Political Science.

Rivlin served on the Secretariat, and was a participant in the founding of the United Nations.

He has worked or performed research for the US State Department, the Hoover Commission, the World Bank, the World Jewish Congress, CUNY, Columbia University, the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, and New York University.

World War Two Years
From 1943 - 1945, during World War II, he served in the Office of Strategic Services and the United States Army.

While assigned to the Africa Research Section of the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services, Benjamin studied under a professor named Ralph Bunche. The two men eventually formed a professional friendship.

CIA Lecturer
Dr. Rivlin would occasionally lecture to recruits and analysts at the newly established Central Intelligence Agency, the successor of the OSS, especially for the School of Advanced International Studies.

In 1976, Rivlin's relationship to the CIA caused minor controversy surrounding the sale of Comparative Politics, an academic journal in the field of Political Science, to a company known to have received funding from the CIA for the study of Latin American elections.

United Nations Years
Dr. Rivlin served under Dr. Ralph Bunche in the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations Secretariat.

Academic Career
Rivlin was a Fulbright Scholar from 1956-1957, studying French Colonial North Africa.

Rivlin was an Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College after his Fulbright Program, giving talks and lectures. In 1950, he was assigned an Instructorship. His primary extracurricular activity was in pursuing African Self-Determination in a decolonized world, following his great mentor Bunche's lead.

Rivlin stayed at Brooklyn through the merger with CUNY in 1961.

Notably, Rivlin taught Political Science to Alan Dershowitz at Brooklyn College. Dershowitz is quoted as saying that Rivlin presented and taught "all the facts, all sides, not the propaganda being taught today."

Ralph Bunche Institute
From 1984, Rivlin served on the leadership, now Director Emeritus, of the Ralph Bunche Institute at City University of New York.

Upon the occasion of Bunche's death, Dr. Rivlin was one of several academics who gave speeches at the conference honoring Bunche's legacy. After the Centenary, Rivlin compiled the speeches as a collection of essays in "Ralph Bunche: The Man and His Times."

Rivlin was present for the establishment of the Ralph Bunche Societies at the State Department in 2006. Secretary Condolezza Rice noted that his "many accomplishments include a biography of Dr. Bunche."

Rivlin was present for the Ralph Bunche Exhibit hosted by Tunisia at the United Nations in 2002.

Publications

 * Ralph Bunche: The Man and His Times.
 * The Challenging Role of the UN Secretary-General: Making The Most Impossible Job in the World Possible
 * The Middle East and North Africa
 * The United Nations and the Italian colonies
 * Self-Determination and Dependent Areas: International Conciliation, No. 501
 * Contemporary Middle East, The: Tradition And Innovation
 * Non-self governing territories: status of Puerto Rico
 * UN Reform from the Standpoint of the United States