David Unger (journalist)

David C. Unger (b. March 5, 1947, in Brooklyn, NY, USA) is a journalist, former foreign affairs editorial writer for The New York Times (1977–2013) and author of the book The Emergency State. He is currently an adjunct professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies Europe, at Bologna and Contributing Editor at Survival.

Unger received an A.B. in History and Comparative Literature from Cornell University, a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin and has done additional graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the Institute for Historical Research, University of London.

He studied American foreign policy with Walter LaFeber at Cornell, economic history with W.W. Rostow and M.M. Postan at the University of Texas, and British labor history with E.J. Hobsbawm at the University of London.

Early life

Unger grew up in Brooklyn and attended New York City public schools through high school. After receiving his bachelor's from Cornell he worked as an elementary school teacher in public schools in Brooklyn and Staten Island for three years.

He began work at The New York Times in 1977 as a news clerk for its editorial board while completing his doctorate from the University of Texas.

Writing

In addition to numerous articles he has written for The New York Times and other periodicals, Unger wrote the book, The Emergency State (published 2012) in which, according to a review in The New York Times, he "...deplores what he sees as Washington’s obsession with security and overreliance on military and intelligence capabilities, arguing that they are dangerous perversions of the country’s Jeffersonian traditions."

Other recent publications include chapters he contributed to Origins of the National Security State and The Legacy of Harry S. Truman (2015) and a 2013 Italian-language book, 22 novembre 1963, Il giorno in cui ci svegliammo dal sogno cinquat'anni dopo: JFK visto dagli americani d'Italia (22 November 1963, Fifty years after the day we woke from the dream: Views of JFK by Americans in Italy) titled, "Un americano amico dell’Europa" ("An American Friend of Europe"). His essay, "A Better Internationalism" was published in the spring, 2012 edition of World Policy Journal.