Chester V. Easum was born near Clayton, Illinois in 1894 and received his B.A. degree from Knox College, Illinois in 1914. After one year as principal of a small rural high school in his native state, Easum went to England in 1916 where he studied modern British history as a Rhodes Scholar. When the United States entered World War I, he left Oxford to serve for two years as a company commander in the U.S. infantry. After the war, Easum returned to Oxford where he received another B.A. and his M.A. in 1920. Once again in the United States, he taught at Culver Military Academy in Indiana until 1930. In the meantime, his interest had shifted from British to German history and he completed his work for a Ph.D. in that field at the University of Wisconsin, 1928, and was appointed professor of history there in 1930.
During his career Easum spent much time in Germany. In 1936 he held a six-month research fellowship in Germany from the Oberlaender Trust. He returned in 1946 to work on captured World War II German documents for the State Department and again in 1954-1956 as chief cultural affairs officer for the United States High Commission and then for the new American embassy in Bonn. His duties included speaking at universities and on such public occasions as the opening of new schools, libraries, and museums.
Professor Easum was a prominent speaker in the United States too, speaking on the radio and to Madison, Wisconsin civic and University groups.
At this writing (1971), Professor Easum is retired and living in his Madison home.
Easum's publications include his thesis The Americanization of Carl Schurz, 1929; a translation of Letters from a Hessian Mercenary by Hans Huth, 1938; Prince Henry of Prussia, Brother of Frederick the Great, 1942; and Half Century of Conflict, 1952.
