Description

Dr. Edwin M. Wright was born of missionary parents in Tabriz, Iran, in 1897. He
received an A.B. from Wooster, College in 1918, a B/D. from McCormick Theological Seminary
in 1921, and an A.M. from Columbia University in 1921. In that same year he began a
remarkably varied career focused on the Middle East, going to Iran for three years of work in
refugee rehabilitation. From 1925 to 1937, he worked as an educator in Iran, for the last two of
those years as principal of Avicenna High School in Hamadan. Between 1938 and 1941 he was
a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and lecturer in history at Columbia
University. With O.S.S. in 1941, Dr. Wright served in the U.S. Army Middle East Command
and on the General Staff , with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, from 1942 to 1945.
After the war, he joined the Department of State, holding several positions in the Bureau
of Near East, South Asian and African Affairs. While there he organized Turkish, Persian
and Arabic broadcasts on the Voice of America.

From 1955 to 1966 he was Assistant Dean of the Foreign Service
Institute and Professor of International Relations. His brilliance as a teacher is known
throughout this country. He has repeatedly lectured at The Johns Hopkins University School of
Advanced International Studies, the National Army and Navy War Colleges, the Naval and
Military Academies and innumerable other Government schools and private universities. He has
been decorated with the Legion of Merit and honored with the Department of State's Superior
Merit Award. In 1958 Wooster College awarded him an honorary L. H. D. He is the author of
numerous scholarly articles, and is an outstanding linguist, with native fluency in Farsi and
Azerbaijani Turkish, a scholar's command of Arabic and a conversational facility in Armenian.
Dr. Wright has served on the Middle East Institute Board of Governors since 1946, including
terms as Director of the Institute, Chairman of the Board, and President. He is a member
emeritus of the Board.