Armstrong, Sinclair W.

Sinclair Wallace Armstrong (1897-1959), professor of history, was born in Middletown, Connecticut, on March 31, 1897, the son of a professor of philosophy at Wesleyan. He graduated from Princeton in 1918, served in the Field Artillery in World War I, and returned to Princeton to earn his master’s degree in 1920. He taught at St. George’s School in Newport from 1923 to 1928. He came to Brown as an instructor in history in 1930, and was promoted to assistant professor in 1935, associate professor in 1946, and full professor in 1949. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1935. His field was modern European, especially German, history. During World War II he was in Washington, London, and Germany with the Office of Strategic Services and the Office of Military Government. At the end of the war, he played a major role in the discovery of German Foreign Office documents relative to Nazi-Russian relations. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom for his work as civilian technical advisor to the commander of the American section of “Operation Goldcup,” which recovered tons of documents hidden by the Nazis. Professor James B. Hedges said of Armstrong, “In the classroom he displayed a rare skill in communicating to others his own deep concern over the world around him. To his students he gave unsparingly of his time and energy; and no appeal to him for aid or counsel ever went unanswered.” During his final illness, he still held conferences at his home with his advanced history students, and devoted students gave many donations of blood. He died in Providence on March 20, 1959.