Charles Taylor McDowell (November 23, 1921 – July 8, 2007) was professor emeritus and former director of the Center for Post-Soviet and Eastern European Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington, and a member of the Military Science Hall of Honor. Prior to founding and becoming director of the Center for Post Soviet and Eastern European Studies, McDowell served as Assistant to the President and Dean of Student Life at the University during the late 1960s, which saw the Rebel Theme Controversy and attempts by the Students for a Democratic Society to establish a chapter on campus. He was the first chair of the UT Arlington Faculty Senate, a position to which he was re-elected six times.
At UT Arlington, McDowell was regularly cited as one of the most popular professors among students and has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards.
Military career
Prior to his academic career, McDowell had a long career with the United States Army and government agencies. After graduating from Texas A&M University (then known as the Agricultural and Mechanical college of Texas) and the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was commissioned second lieutenant of infantry in the U. S. Army. After commissioning, McDowell was assigned to teach in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at Fort Benning. He then attended the Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, and, after completion, was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and the 11th Airborne Division. He also served with the 97th Infantry Division in Europe. His early assignments included command positions from platoon leader to battalion commander. As part of the 82nd Airborne Division, McDowell participated in Operation Market Garden, jumping behind enemy lines and engaging objectives in Nijmegen and Arnhem.
During later assignments McDowell was a professor at Tokyo Army College (1946–1948) and was commandant and director of the College (1947–1948). While serving as director of the Tokyo Army College, McDowell was sent by General Douglas MacArthur to recruit Japanese-French woodblock print artist Paul Jacoulet – who had been in seclusion in Karuizawa – to the college. General MacArthur and Commandant McDowell became avid collectors of Jacoulet woodblock prints.
From 1947 to 1949, McDowell was information and education officer for the Eighth U.S. Army and later the 82nd Airborne Division. From 1955 to 1958 he was a professor of Russian language, history, economics, geography, and political science in a classified joint military/civilian intelligence agency and chief of the research division from 1956 to 1958. In 1959, McDowell was an instructor for the Command and General Staff College in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Hawaii, where he taught U.S. military forces about nuclear weapons.
McDowell was a graduate of the Defense Language Institute, the Foreign Area Specialist Program, the Defense Intelligence Course, the Armed Forces Staff College, the Command and General Staff College, and a two-year Soviet-East Europe Advanced Foreign Area Studies Program at the doctoral level as one of a small number of State Department, military, and intelligence agency personnel selected to participate in the program known as Detachment R. He received a BS degree from Texas A&M University, an MA from Columbia University in 1953 and in 1956 a PhD from Texas A&M University. McDowell retired as a colonel.
At UT Arlington
McDowell joined the University of Texas at Arlington (then Arlington State College) in 1959 as Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics. After being promoted to lieutenant colonel, he left the university to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he was intelligence officer of the Airborne Command Post, a job that often involved flying with the President of the United States and his senior staff to evaluate foreign military threats and provide mobile control of U.S. nuclear forces. In this role, McDowell was the custodian of the Nuclear Football, which is used by the President of the United States to authorize the use of nuclear weapons while away from fixed command centers.