# Alfred W. McCoy

Alfred William McCoy (born June 8, 1945) is an American historian and educator. He is the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He specializes in the history of the Philippines, foreign policy of the United States, European colonisation of Southeast Asia, illegal drug trade, and Central Intelligence Agency covert operations.

## Career

Born in Concord, Massachusetts, to Alfred Mudge McCoy, Jr. and Margarita Piel, an urban planner, educator, and descendant of the originators of Piels Beer, McCoy graduated from the Kent School in 1964, where he earned varsity letters in football, rowing, and wrestling. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in European History from Columbia University in 1968, a Master of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Southeast Asian History from Yale University in 1977. His dissertation, advised by Harold C. Conklin was entitled Yloilo: Factional Conflict in a Colonial Economy, Iloilo Province, Philippines, 1937-1955, which examined the region of Iloilo.
McCoy began his teaching career as a lecturer at Yale while he was still a doctoral student (1976-1977). He spent the next academic year as a research fellow at the Australian National University. McCoy remained in Australia at the University of New South Wales as a lecturer (1978-1981), senior lecturer (1981-1985), and was eventually promoted to associate professor (1985-1989). He returned to the United States in 1989 as a full professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has since spent his career. McCoy has been given two endowed chairs during his tenure: John R.W. Smail (2004-2015) and Fred Harvey Harrington (2015-present).

## Congressional testimony

As a Ph.D candidate in Southeast Asian history at Yale, McCoy testified before the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee on June 2, 1972, and "accused American officials of condoning and even cooperating with corrupt elements in Southeast Asia's illegal drug trade out of political and military considerations". One of his major charges was that South Vietnam's President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vice President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, and Prime Minister Trần Thiện Khiêm led a narcotics ring with ties to the Corsican mafia, the Trafficante crime family in Florida, and other high level military officials in South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Those implicated by McCoy included Laotian Generals Ouane Rattikone and Vang Pao and South Vietnamese Generals Đặng Văn Quang and Ngô Dzu. He told the subcommittee that these military officials facilitated the distribution of heroin to American troops in Vietnam and addicts in the United States. According to McCoy, the Central Intelligence Agency chartered Air America aircraft and helicopters in northern Laos to transport opium harvested by their "tribal mercenaries". He also accused United States Ambassador to Laos G. McMurtrie Godley of blocking the assignment of Bureau of Narcotics officials to Laos in order to maintain the Laotian government's cooperation in military and political matters. A spokesman for the United States Department of State responded to the allegations: "We are aware of these charges but we have been unable to find any evidence to substantiate them, much less proof."

## Documenting the Marcos dictatorship

McCoy's work on the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has influenced not only the academic documentation regarding the dictatorship, but in some cases had a direct impact on the actual events - such as the publication in the New York Times of his investigation on Marcos' "fake medals", just week before the 1986 Philippine presidential election and Marcos' eventual ouster during the People Power Revolution.

## Awards

* 1985 - Philippine National Book Award
* 1995 - Philippine National Book Award
* 1998 - Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad
* 2001 - Philippine National Book Award
* 2001 - Association for Asian Studies, Grant Goodman Prize
* 2004 - University of Wisconsin Graduate School, J.R.W. Smail Chair in History
* 2011 - Association for Asian Studies, George Kahin Prize
* 2012 - Yale Graduate School Alumni Association, Wilbur Cross Medal
* 2012 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hilldale Award for Arts and Humanities

## Filmography

Film credits include:
| Year | Film | Role |
| 2003 | Plan Colombia: Cashing In on the Drug War Failure | Self |
| 2007 | Ghosts of Abu Ghraib | Self |
| 2007 | Taxi to the Dark Side | Self |
| 2011 | War on Terror | Self |
| 2019 | Clean Torture: An American Fabrication | Self |
Television credits include:
| Year | Television show | Role |
| 2009-2022 | Democracy Now! | Self |
| 2017 | On Contact | Self |