 kenneth robert maxwell (born 1941) is a british historian who specializes in iberia and latin america. a longtime member of the council on foreign relations, for fifteen years he headed its latin america studies program. his may 13, 2004 resignation from the council involved a major controversy over whether there had been a breach of the so-called "church-state separation" between the council itself and its magazine foreign affairs. , maxwell is a visiting professor of history at harvard university and a senior fellow at the university's david rockefeller center for latin american studies, where he directs the center's brazil studies program. =="the case of the missing letter"== maxwell wrote a review in foreign affairs november/december 2003 of peter kornbluh's book the pinochet file: a declassified dossier on atrocity and accountability. the review was written in his capacity as a scholar, independently of his role as an employee of the council. maxwell's review was, in part, critical of henry kissinger's relationship with the regime of chilean dictator augusto pinochet. maxwell claims that key council on foreign relations acting at kissinger's behest put pressure on foreign affairs editor, james hoge, to give the last word in a subsequent exchange about the review to william d. rogers, a close associate of kissinger's, rather than to maxwell; this went against established foreign affairs policy. the core subject matter of the abruptly terminated exchange was operation condor: the campaign of assassination and intelligence-gathering conducted jointly by the security services of argentina, bolivia, brazil, chile, paraguay, and uruguay in the mid-1970s. discussion turned particularly on the 1976 assassination of orlando letelier in washington, dc. maxwell had long been something of a public figure before what he refers to as "the case of the missing letter... a nixonian drama in four acts: preemption, suppression, and cover-up followed by denial" [maxwell 2004, 1], brought him to far wider attention. maxwell's review in foreign affairs november/december 2003 of kornbluh's the pinochet file occasioned a letter to foreign affairs from rogers; that letter and maxwell's reply were published in the january/february 2004 issue. maxwell characterizes rogers' letter as a "counter review", and claims to have evidence that much of it had circulated previously to maxwell's own review in foreign affairs, and that allusions to maxwell's review were simply pasted in so that it would appear more relevant. [maxwell 2004, 7] rogers wrote again, accusing maxwell of "bias". this letter was published in the march/april 2004 issue. contrary to all precedent a foreign affa
1941_births American_historians Guggenheim_Fellows Harvard_University_staff Historians_of_Latin_America Historians_of_the_United_States Latin_Americanists Living_people Operation_Condor Recipients_of_the_Great_Cross_of_the_National_Order_of_Scientific_Merit_(Brazil)