Soviet civil defense - urban evacuation and dispersal: final report [faculty publication]

Dr. Leon Goure was a political scientist, Sovietologist and expert on Soviet civil defense. He was born in Moscow on November 1, 1922 and his family immigrated to the United States in 1940 through Berlin and Paris. In 1943, he was back in Germany as an infantryman fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and later served in counterintelligence, where he used his fluency in German, French and Russian to interview Nazis and their collaborators who were being held after the war.

After discharge, he received an undergraduate degree from New York University in 1947, a master's from Columbia University in 1949 and a doctorate from Georgetown University in 1961. He became an analyst with the Rand Corp. in Washington in 1954 and in 1959 transferred to Rand's Santa Monica, Calif., branch, where he began to develop his ideas on civil defense. He also advised President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration on military policy in Vietnam.

In 1969, he moved to the University of Miami's Center for Advanced International Studies, where he was director of Soviet studies. In 1980, he joined Science Applications International Corp., a McLean consulting firm, and was director of Russian and Central Eurasian studies until his retirement in 2004. He was the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including "The Siege of Leningrad" (1962) and "Civil Defense in the Soviet Union" (1962).

Dr. Goure died on March 16, 2007 of congestive heart failure in Arlington.

[source: Joe Holley, Washington Post, April 5, 2007]

Dr. Leon Goure was a political scientist, Sovietologist and expert on Soviet civil defense.  He was born in Moscow on November 1, 1922 and his family immigrated to the United States in 1940 through Berlin and Paris.  In 1943, he was back in Germany as an infantryman fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and later served in counterintelligence, where he used his fluency in German, French and Russian to interview Nazis and their collaborators who were being held after the war.

After discharge, he received an undergraduate degree from New York University in 1947, a master's from Columbia University in 1949 and a doctorate from Georgetown University in 1961.  He became an analyst with the Rand Corp. in Washington in 1954 and in 1959 transferred to Rand's Santa Monica, Calif., branch, where he began to develop his ideas on civil defense. He also advised President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration on military policy in Vietnam.

In 1969, he moved to the University of Miami's Center for Advanced International Studies, where he was director of Soviet studies. In 1980, he joined Science Applications International Corp., a McLean consulting firm, and was director of Russian and Central Eurasian studies until his retirement in 2004.  He was the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including "The Siege of Leningrad" (1962) and "Civil Defense in the Soviet Union" (1962).

Dr. Goure died on March 16, 2007 of congestive heart failure in Arlington.

[source: Joe Holley, Washington Post, April 5, 2007]