Walt Whitman Rostow was a United States economist and political theorist who served as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966?69. Prominent for his role in the shaping of US foreign policy in Southeast Asia during the 1960s, he was a staunch anti-communist, noted for a belief in the efficacy of capitalism and free enterprise, strongly supporting US involvement in the Vietnam War. Rostow is known for his book The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto, which was used in several fields of social science. His older brother Eugene Rostow also held a number of high government foreign policy posts. 

October 7th, 1916 in New York City  /  Died:   Feb 13th, 2003