Dr. David Bath, an associate professor of history and Student Veteran Association faculty advisor, was awarded the General and Mrs. Matthew B. Ridgway Research Grant from the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center.
An RSU professor has been named one of seven recipients of the General and Mrs. Matthew B. Ridgway Research Grant.
Dr. David Bath, an associate professor of history and Student Veteran Association faculty advisor, was awarded the grant from the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to fund his research on the origins of the National Security Agency (NSA).
“I’m extremely honored to have been selected for this grant, that the board felt my research was valuable and important enough to be sponsored,” said Dr. Bath. “I’m also very excited to have the opportunity to go to the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Pennsylvania to receive the funding for my research.”
For his research, Bath will be studying the writings of Lieutenant General Ralph J. Canine, who was the first director of the NSA, and who led the agency from its inception in 1952 to 1956, following the directive of President Truman to consolidate cryptologic activities.
Bath will incorporate his research into his next book, which focuses on the creation of the U.S. Intelligence Community, a group of separate federal government intelligence agencies and organizations that work to conduct intelligence activities to support the foreign policy and national security interests of the U.S.
Although Bath said the book is still being written and won’t be finished for at least another few years, he’s thankful for the support of U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center to aid his research.
Funded by the Ridgway Family Endowment, the Ridgway Research Grant supports research on subjects of enduring or emerging value to the history of the U.S. Army, utilizing the resources of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center.
Bath served as a missile launch officer and intelligence officer in the United State Air Force before earning his PhD from Texas A&M. He then taught intelligence analysis as a visiting assistant professor/program coordinator, Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, at the University of Mississippi before coming to RSU.
Before this project, he authored “Assured Destruction” and edited “Air Force Missileers and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
Learn more about degree options in the Department of History and Political Science.