Ernest H. Latham, Jr. is an American historian specialized on modern Romania. After service as an officer in the U. S. Coast Guard, he entered the American Foreign Service. His early assignments were in the Middle East but thereafter serving in Central and Eastern Europe, including the years 1983-7 in Bucharest, Romania, as the American cultural attaché. After retiring in 1993 he returned to Romania as a Fulbright professor for two years in 2000. His doctorate is from the University of Bucharest.