History Department Remembers A Supportive Alum

The History Department lost a loyal friend and alumnus with the passing of John McNay on October 27, 2023. A native Montanan, John was born in 1957.  He graduated from the University of Montana in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and spent the next decade working as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Montana and Idaho. John then decided to take a year’s leave of absence from the Montana Standard and earn an MA in History. He completed his MA (1991) in four quarters and wrote a fine thesis on the Copper Collar (the domination of Montana’s newspapers by the Anaconda Company). During the process, however, he decided that he wanted to pursue a career in History. Moreover, his interests changed from domestic matters to U.S. foreign policy. This led him to the University of Hawaii, where he studied with Richard Immerman. When Professor Immerman was offered a position at Temple University, he took John with him. After completing his Ph.D. at Temple in 1997, John worked as a visiting professor at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. In 2000, the University of Cincinnati’s Blue Ash College hired him on a tenure line. John rose to the rank of full professor and taught there until his death. 

John’s scholarship focused on U.S. diplomatic history during the Cold War.  He published Acheson and Empire: The British Accent in American Foreign Policy (2001), a reassessment of Secretary of State Acheson’s policies toward Great Britain and its former colonies. John rejected the idea that Acheson was a realist. Rather, he argued that Acheson’s background led him to approach the world in terms of imperial-style relationships and that his affinity for the British empire extended beyond his clothing and manner of speech.  The resulting policies, John concluded, damaged American relations with emerging nations.  

At the University of Cincinnati, John earned a reputation as a dedicated teacher who encouraged and supported his students. He kept in touch with former students, and they invited him to their graduations and weddings, which he attended. 

A fierce advocate of faculty rights and free speech, John served as president of the University of Cincinnati’s chapter of the AAUP and was elected four times to the presidency of Ohio’s state AAUP.  His service to the University included chairing his department, five terms on the faculty senate, and co-directing the Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and Democracy. For this and much else, the University of Cincinnati awarded him its Distinguished Service Award. 

John donated an annual cash prize for a graduate student in history at the University of Montana. He named it for his father. Recalling that he had received support for research on his MA thesis from the Hammond Fund, John commented on how important that help had been to him. The prize was his way of giving back something to the department. 

Those who knew him will remember his easy laugh, his gentle manner, and his generosity. The department extends its deepest sympathy to John’s sisters, Lynn Fontana and Pam Buralli.