Alfred W. McCoy

Alfred "Al" William McCoy 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, the foreign policy of the United States, the European colonization of Southeast Asia, the illegal drug trade, and Central Intelligence Agency covert operations.

Born in Concord, Massachusetts, to Alfred Mudge McCoy, Jr. and Margarita Piel, a noted 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) and 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). On June 2, 1972, while studying at Yale, McCoy testified before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, of which Senator William Proxmire was chairman, and accused American government officials, such as G. McMurtrie Godley and Nelson G. Gross, of covering up drug trafficking in Southeast Asia. 

Soon after, McCoy reaffirmed these beliefs in a letter to Congressman Les Aspin. McCoy uncovered drug trafficking methods for heroin and opium throughout Southeast Asia and to American troops stationed there by high-ranking government officials: Commander Ouane Rattikone and General Vang Pao (Laos); and President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and General Đặng Văn Quang (Vietnam). McCoy also cited their ties with the Mafia, namely a visit to Saigon in 1968 by Santo Trafficante Jr. Senator Gale W. McGee dismissed the allegations and accused McCoy of McCarthyism, which was immediately rebutted. 

Senator Proxmire requested additional evidence and documentation, to which McCoy responded his forthcoming book on the topic would serve as such. In that same year, McCoy's book, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, was published by Harper and Row. He restated that the Central Intelligence Agency was knowingly involved in the trade of heroin in the Golden Triangle.

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 a week before the 1986 Philippine presidential election and Marcos' eventual ouster during the People Power Revolution.