Raymond Arthur Esthus was professor emeritus of History at Newcomb College, Tulane University. Raised in Sarasota, Esthus was a graduate of Florida Southern College, and he received a Ph.D. from Duke University. He taught at Brevard College in North Carolina and University of Houston before coming to Tulane, where he was professor of Far Eastern and American Diplomatic History. He was elected and served as national president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and was founder of Tulane's Asian Studies Program.