Born and raised in Wisconsin, U.S. he received a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D in political science (on a Ford Fellowship) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His doctoral study was interrupted with the onset of the Vietnam War to which he was drafted as a member of the U.S. Navy serving on USS Forrestal (CV-59) during the fire (1967-1968) as Division Officer. In 1986 he was an Instructor at the Chinese Ministry of Economic Affairs.