A native Vermonter, Bill received his A.B. degree from Harvard University, where he had met his bride-to-be, Alice, as an undergraduate student in an economics class they were taking together. He went on to complete his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Russian history, and shortly thereafter came to UVM as an assistant Professor of history. He was appointed associate professor in 1961 and full professor in 1964. From 1964-1969, Bill served as chairperson of the history department and also was the founder and director of the UVM Area Studies Program (now known as the Global and Regional Studies Program), 1962-1965. During his spare time in the 1970’s, Bill also served as a State Senator from Chittenden County in the Vermont State Legislature. Following a distinguished career of more than 30 years at UVM, he retired, in a manner of speaking, in 1988. After his retirement he continued to write, publishing an additional five seminal books on Russian history in his retirement. Bill Daniels passed away in 2010, but will be fondly remembered by the UVM community for his personal contributions to the field of international studies at UVM, and for his kindness and generosity as a friend and colleague.

The UVM Bailey-Howe Library lists more than twenty books written by professor Daniels. Included among them are: A Documentary History of Communism; Red October: The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917; Russia: The Roots of Confrontation; Trotsky, Stalin, and Socialism; End of the Communist Revolution; The Stalin Revolution: The Foundations of the Totalitarian Era; and Russia’s Transformation: Snapshots of a Crumbling System. The Fourth Revolution: Transformation in American Society From the Sixties to the Present, was published by Routledge Press in 2006.