De Kiewiet was born in the Netherlands, but grew up in South Africa, where his father went as a diamond and gold-seeker and later worked as an employee of the Transvaal Republic's Railway.

De Kiewiet emigrated to the United States in 1929 when he was offered a position teaching European history at the University of Iowa.

In 1941, he joined the faculty of Cornell University, where he taught modern European history and pursued his research interests in British colonial policy, particularly in South Africa.

In the mid-1940s, de Kiewiet became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell and, in 1948, he was named University provost.

[3] In retirement, de Kiewiet devoted his energies to the issue of higher education in Africa.