At the conclusion of his military service in 1946, he joined the faculty of Harvard University. There, he became one of Harvard's most popular and iconic professors, teaching its undergraduates "Western Thought and Institutions" for more than three decades, a course that covered European history, philosophy, and politics by examining six of history's revolutions in great detail—the twelfth century clash between church and state that resulted in Magna Carta; the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteenth century; the English revolution of the mid-seventeenth century; the French Revolution; the British Age of Reform of the early nineteenth century; and the rise and fall of Nazi Germany in the twentieth century.[1]
Beer published several books in his field, including his first in 1949, The City of Reason, which advocated a political approach predicated on the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1955.[2] His 1956 book, Treasury Control, documented fiscal policy in the UK. In 1965, British Politics in the Collectivist Age considered the conflict between liberal and conservative approaches in the UK following World War II. Britain Against Itself: The Political Contradictions of Collectivism (1982) analyzed the UK in the Thatcher era. He focused on the US in To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism (1993) about American political theory.[1]
Samuel Beer shared a birthday with Jacqueline Kennedy, July 28, and served as a political advisor to John F. Kennedy. The subject of Kennedy's first book, Why England Slept—one based upon his senior honors thesis as an undergraduate at Harvard in the class of 1940—touched upon Beer's area of specialization, modern British politics, and Kennedy would have met Beer while serving as Harvard overseer during the 1950s. Beer proudly wore a gold "JFK" tie clasp, a gift from the late president, to work every day.
Personal
Beer died at age 97 at his home in Washington, D.C.[3] He was survived by Jane K. Brooks, his second wife, two daughters, and two stepdaughters; six grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.[1]