Nat died Feb. 17, 2013, in Chico, Calif., his native state. He was a collateral descendant of patriot Nathan Hale of the American Revolution.
After preparing at the Montezuma Mountain School, he left Princeton in 1941 and entered the Signal Corps Intelligence Service to become a Japanese-language interpreter and translator. He spent nine months in Tokyo after the war, came back to Princeton to graduate in 1947, and was valedictorian of the combined 1944 to 1947 graduating classes. With a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, he studied in France at the Sorbonne.
Nat became a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and then earned a Ph.D. in American History at UC, Berkeley in 1964. He taught American history at UC, Riverside, and wrote a significant two-volume study titled Freud and the Americans.
He became owner of a family ranch in Tehama County, Calif., where he maintained a home and enjoying horseback riding.
Nat married Ann Wilson in 1973 and lived in Riverside, Berkeley, Piedmont, and then Chico. He was an accomplished piano player and loved classical music, the fine arts, and hiking. He was an Episcopalian.
He is survived by his wife; son David and his wife, Casey; two grandchildren; and his daughter, Elizabeth Love, and her husband.