• Politics 124 Patriotism
• Politics 210 American Politics
• Politics 301 Liberalism and Its Critics
• Politics 343 The Initiative and Referendum
• Politics 354 The American Presidency
• Politics 358 American Political Development
• IDS 101 Tocqueville's Democracy in America
• Politics 480 Senior Thesis

Presidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush. University Press of Kansas, forthcoming April 2008

Debating the Presidency: Conflicting Perspectives on the American Executive (editor, with Michael Nelson). Congressional Quarterly, 2006.

Description: Presidential performance, the Electoral College, and the balance of power between Congress and the president are discussed in every presidency text. But now you can expose your students to alternate points of view on these critical topics, incisively argued by today's leading presidential scholars. Moving far beyond a broad synthesis of the literature, this provocative reader will actively engage your students with conflicting perspectives, inspiring spirited debate beyond the pages of the book.

Each pro and con essay, written in the form of a debate resolution, offers a compelling yet concise view on the most pivotal issues facing the modern presidency: whether the framers of the Constitution would approve of the modern presidency, the media scrutinize the president too much, or the president is a better representative of the people than Congress. Ellis and Nelson introduce each pair of pro/con essays, giving students context and preparing them to read each argument critically, so they can decide for themselves which side of the debate they find most persuasive.

Published by Congressional Quarterly Press, 2006.

To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance. University Press of Kansas, 2005.

Description: For over one hundred years, it has been deeply ingrained in American culture. Saluting the flag in public schools began as part of a national effort to Americanize immigrants, its final six words imbruing it with universal hope and breathtaking power. Now Richard Ellis unfurls the fascinating history of the Pledge of Allegiance and of the debates and controversies that have sometimes surrounded it.

For anyone who has ever recited those thirty-one words, To the Flag provides an unprecedented historical perspective on recent challenges to the Pledge. As engaging at it is informative, it traces the story from the Pledge's composition by Francis Bellamy in 1892 up to the Supreme Court's action in 2004 regarding atheist Michael Newdow's objection to the words "under God." Ellis is especially good at highlighting aspects of this story that might not be familiar to most readers: the schoolhouse flag movement, the codification of the Pledge at the First National Flag Conference in 1923, changing styles of salute, and the uses of the Pledge to quell public concerns over sundry strains of radicalism.

The Pledge has inspired millions but has also been used to promote conformity and silence dissent - indeed its daily recitation in schools and legislatures tells us as much about our anxieties as a nation as they do about our highest ideals. Ellis reveals how, for over a century, those who have been most fearful about threats to our national identity have often been most insistent on the importance of patriotic rituals. Indeed, by addressing this inescapable paradox of our civic life, Ellis opens a new and unexpected window on the American Soul.

Published by University Press of Kansas, 2005.

Democratic Delusions: The Initiative Process in America. University Press of Kansas, 2002.

Description: It is becoming common in many states: citizens seizing the opportunity to reclaim government from politicians by signing a petition to put an initiative on the ballot and then voting on it. During the past decade alone, Americans voted on nearly 500 statewide initiatives. Particularly in the West, direct legislation increasingly defines and dominates the political agenda.

Although this may appear to be democracy in action, Richard Ellis warns us that the initiative process may be putting democracy at risk. In Democratic Delusions he offers a critical analysis of the statewide initiative process in the United States, challenging readers to look beyond populist rhetoric and face political reality.

Through engaging prose and illuminating anecdotes, Ellis shows readers the "dark side" of direct democracy - specifically the undemocratic consequences that result from relying too heavily on the initiative process. He provides historical context to the development of initiatives - from their Populist and Progressive roots to their accelerated use in recent decades - and a comparative context in which to understand the variations among states in their initiative processes.

Published by University Press of Kansas, 2002.

Founding the American Presidency. Rowman and Littlefield,1999.

Description: At a time when the institution of the presidency seems in a state of almost permanent crisis, it is particularly important to understand what sort of an institution the framers of the Constitution thought they were creating. Founding the American Presidency offers a first-hand view of the minds of the founders by bringing together extensive selections from the constitutional convention in Philadelphia as well as representative selections from the subsequent debates over ratification. Pointed discussion questions provoke students to consider new perspectives on the presidency. Ideal for all courses on the presidency, the book is also important for all citizens who want to understand not only the past but the future of the American presidency.

Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 1999

Reviews: "Absolutely first rate - Richard Ellis is a superb writer and a thorough and original scholar. Founding the American Presidency is well conceived and well executed, perfect for any course on the presidency." Michael Nelson, Rhodes College

"The author has done an excellent job of conveying the fact that there was a real debate over the presidency specifically and the Constitution in general in which reasonable arguments could be found on both sides. Few texts accomplish this feat." Andrew Busch, University of Denver

Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in Historical Perspective (editor). University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

Description: Americans today expect their president to speak directly to them on the issues of the day - to address their concerns, to ask for their support, even to feel their pain. Yet, as the essays in this volume make clear, this was not always the case. During the early years of the republic, such behavior would have been deemed beneath the president's office, undignified at best, demagogic at worst. How, then, did the practice of "speaking to the people" evolve from the icy reserve of George Washington to the effusive empathy of Bill Clinton?

This book explores how the "rhetorical presidency" became a central feature of American politics. Beginning with a fresh look at the framing of the Constitution, the essays examine the role of rhetoric in a variety of nineteenth-century presidencies, as well as in the crucial turn-of-the-century presidencies of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. Viewed against this historical backdrop, the "modern" presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and his successors appear less a break with the past than a culmination of developments in popular leadership and rhetorical practice that began more than a century before.

Published by University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

Reviews: "These fine essays crystallize the debates about the presidency's communications with the people in American political development. The collection is informationally rich and conceptually subtle, and it is framed well by Ellis's thoughful introduction and Jeffrey Tulis's engaged conclusion. Ellis's volume will enrich scholars as well as inform students." Peri E. Arnold, author of "Making the Managerial Presidency: Comprehensive Reorganization Planning, 1905-1980.

The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America. University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Description: Why do people who identify themselves as liberal or egalitarian sometimes embrace intolerance or even preach violence? Illiberalism has come to be expected of the right in this country; its occurrence on the left is more paradoxical but no less real. Although equality lies at the heart of the liberal tradition, the earnest pursuit of egalitarian goals has often come at the expense of other liberal ideals.

In this provocative book, Richard J. Ellis examines the illiberal tendencies that have characterized egalitarian movements throughout American history, from the radical abolitionists of the 1830s to the New Left activists of the 1960s. He also takes on contemporary radical feminists like Catherine MacKinnon and radical environmental groups like Earth First! to show that, even today, many of the American left's sacred cows have cloven hooves.

Ellis identifies the organizational and ideological dilemmas that caused Students for a Democratic Society to transform itself from a democratic to an elitist organization, or that allow radicals to justify illegal acts as long as they are free of self-interest. He explains how orthodoxy arises within a group from the need to maintain distance from a society it views as hopelessly corrupt, and how individuals committed to egalitarian causes are particularly susceptible to illiberalism - even poets like Walt Whitman, who celebrated the common people but often expressed contempt for their mundane lives. Political correctness, idealizing the oppressed, and an affinity for authoritarian and charismatic leaders are all parts of what Ellis calls "the dark side of the left."

Published by University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Culture Matters: Essays in Honor of Aaron Wildavsky (editor, with Michael Thompson). Westview Press, 1997.

Description: Culture Matters explores the role of political culture studies as one of the major investigative fields in contemporary political science. Cultural theory was the focal point of the late Aaron Wildavsky's teaching and research for the last decade of his life, a life that profoundly affected many fields of politcal science from the study of the presidency to public budgeting. Hence, in this volume, original essays prepared in Wildavsky's honor examine the arenas of rationale choice, institutions, theories of change, political risk, the environment, and practical policies.

Published by Westview Press, 1997.

Presidential Lightning Rods: The Politics of Blame Avoidance. University Press of Kansas, 1994.

Description: H.R. Haldeman, President Nixon's former chief of staff, is said to have boasted: "Every president needs a son of a bitch, and I'm Nixon's. I'm his buffer and I'm his bastard. I get done what he wants done and I take the head instead of him."

Richard Ellis explores the widely discussed but poorly understood phenomenon of presidential "lightning rods" - cabinet officials who "take the heat" instead of their bosses. Whether by intent or circumstance, these officials divert criticism and blame away from their presidents. The phenomenon is so common that it's assumed to be an essential item in every president's managerial toolbox. But, Ellis argues, such assumptions can oversimplify our understanding of this tool.

Ellis advises against indiscriminate use of the lightning rod metaphor. Such labeling can hide as much as it reveals about presidential administration and policymaking at the cabinet level. The metaphor often misleads by suggesting strategic intent on the president's part while obscuring the calculations and objections of presidential adversaries and the lightning rods themselves.

Published by University Press of Kansas, 1994.

Reviews: "Ellis explores an important - but often misunderstood - tool in a president's kit-bag of political and strategic management. 'When to take the blame?' and 'Who is to take the blame?' are crucial questions all recent presidents have faced and will continue to face. Ellis provides an interesting an timely analysis of the 'lightening rod' phenomenon." John P. Burke, author of "The Institutional Presidency."

Politics, Policy, and Culture (editor, with Dennis J. Coyle). Westview Press, 1994.

American Political Cultures. Oxford University Press, 1993.

Description: This work challenges the thesis first formulated by de Tocqueville and later systematically developed by Louis Hartz, that American political culture is characterized by a consensus on liberal capitalist values. Ranging over three hundred years of history and drawing upon the seminal work anthropologist Mary Douglas, Ellis demonstrates that American history is best understood as a contest between five rival political cultures: egalitarian community, competitive individualism, hierarchical collectivism, atomized fatalism, and autonomous hermitude.

Published by Oxford University Press, 1993.

Reviews: "A useful and clear map of a road well traveled by those who have tried to come to terms with the complexity of American political life." American Political Science Review, "A valuable critical survey of the latest scholarship on the history of America's troublesome political culture." American Historical Review

"Extraordinarily intelligent, insightful, documented . . . a book that gives genuine pause to all of us who still think of ourselves as strongly and rightfully influenced by Louis Hartz's seminal work." The Review of Politics

Cultural Theory (with Michael Thompson and Aaron Wildavsky). Westview Press, 1990.

Description: Taking their cue from the pioneering work of anthropologist Mary Douglas, the authors of "Cultural Theory" have created a typology of five ways of life - egalitarianism, fatalism, individualism, hierarchy, and autonomy - to serve as an analytic tool in the examination of people, culture, and politics. They then show how cultural theorists can develop large numbers of falsifiable propositions.

Published by Westview Press, 1990.

Dilemmas of Presidential Leadership: From Washington Through Lincoln (with Aaron Wildavsky). Transaction Publishers, 1989.

Description: Dilemmas of Presidential Leadership challenges the widely accepted distinction between "traditional" and "modern" presidencies, a dichotomy by which political science has justified excluding from its domain of inquiry all presidents preceding Franklin Roosevelt. Rather than divide history into two mutually exclusive eras, Ellis and Wildavsky divide the world into three sorts of people - egalitarians, individualists, and hierarchs. All presidents, the authors contend, must manage the competition between these rival political cultures. It is this commonality that lays the basis for comparing presidents across time.

The unique dimension of this volume is its use of cultural theory to explain presidential behavior. It also differs from other books in that it deals with pre-modern presidents who are too often treated as only of antiquarian interest in mainstream political science literature on the presidency. The analysis lays the groundwork for a new basis for comparison of early presidents with modern presidents.

Published by Transaction Publishers, 1989.

Selected Articles, Book Chapters, and Encyclopedia Entries:

"Policy Speech in the Nineteenth Century Rhetorical Presidency: The Case of Zachary Taylor's 1849 Tour" (with Alexis Walker) Presidential Studies Quarterly 37(June 2007), 248-69.

"Clumsy Solutions for a Complex World: The Case of Climate Change" (with Marco Verweij et al.) Journal of Public Administration 84(2006), 817-43.

Con position on the resolution "Resolved, the president is a more authentic representative of the American people than is Congress," in Debating the Presidency: Conflicting Perspectives on the American Executive, ed. Richard J. Ellis and Michael Nelson (Congressional Quarterly, forthcoming, 2006), 86-91.

"Why and How Culture Matters" (with Michael Thompson and Marco Verweij) in Oxford Handbook of Contextual Political Analysis, ed. Robert E. Goodin and Charles Tilly (Oxford University Press, 2006), 319-40.

Introduction to Part 4 of Aaron Wildavsky, Cultural Analysis: Politics, Public Law, and Administration, ed. Brendon Swedlow (Transaction, 2006), 301-308.

"The Rise of the Rhetorical Presidency," Insights on Law & Society (Fall 2005; special issue on Presidents & the Constitution), 7-9, 29.

"Direct Democracy" in Oregon Politics and Government, ed. Richard Clucas, Mark Henkels, and Brent Steel (University of Nebraska Press, 2005), 63-81.

"Constitutional Convention," in Michael Genovese, ed. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (Facts on File 2004), 113-15

"‘Under God': Francis Bellamy, the Origins of the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Conceit of American Exceptionalism," Oregon Humanities (Summer 2003), 22-26

"The Joy of Power: Changing Conceptions of the Presidential Office," Presidential Studies Quarterly 33(June 2003), 269-90.

"Signature Gathering in the Initiative Process: How Democratic Is It?" University of Montana Law Review 64(Winter 2003), 35-97.

"Pluralism," in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, ed. Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (Pergamon, 2001), 17:11516-20.

"The States: Direct Democracy," in The Elections of 2000, ed. Michael Nelson (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001), 133-60.

"Pluralism," in Election Law: Cases and Materials, ed. Daniel Hays Lowenstein and Richard L. Hasen (Carolina Academic Press, 2001, 2nd ed.), 12-18.

"Liberalism" (with Robert E. Hawkinson), in Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History, ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton and Peter W. Williams (Scribner's, 2001), 2:753-61.

"The Rise of the Rhetorical Candidate" (with Mark Dedrick), in The Presidency Then and Now, ed. Philip G. Henderson (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), 185-200.

The Culture Wars By Other Means: Environmental Attitudes and Cultural Biases in the Pacific Northwest (with Fred Thompson), monograph published by SFU-UBC Centre for the Study of Government and Business. Vancouver, 2000.

"Abraham Lincoln," in Melvin Urofsky, ed., The American Presidents (Garland, 2000), 165-84.

"Polarization and Presidentialism," Society 36(March/April 1999), 8-11; reprinted in The Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics ed. David T. Canon, Anne Khademian, and Kenneth R. Mayer (New York: Norton, 2000).

"Accepting the Nomination: From Martin Van Buren to Franklin Delano Roosevelt," in Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in Historical Perspective, ed. Richard J. Ellis (University of Massachusetts Press, 1998), 112-33.

"Jefferson, Jackson, and the Origins of the Presidential Mandate" (with Stephen Kirk), in Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in Historical Perspective, ed. Richard J. Ellis (University of Massachusetts Press, 1998), 35-65.

"Culture and the Environment in the Pacific Northwest" (with Fred Thompson), American Political Science Review 91(December 1997), 885-97; reprinted in The Environment and Society Reader ed. R. Scott Frey (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001), 180-201.

"The Presidential Candidate, Then and Now" (with Mark Dedrick), Perspectives in Political Science 26(Fall 1997), 208-16.

"Seeing Green: Cultural Biases and Environmental Preferences" (with Fred Thompson), in Culture Matters: Essays in Honor of Aaron Wildavsky, ed. Richard J. Ellis and Michael Thompson, (Westview Press, 1997), 169-88.

"Kfivor kulturteori?" ("Why Cultural Theory?") in Kultur som levemate (Culture as a Way of Life), ed., Gunnar Grendstad and Per Selle (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1996), 47-54.

"Romancing the Oppressed: The New Left and the Left Out," Review of Politics 58(Winter 1996), 109-54.

"Presidential Mandates in the Nineteenth Century: Conceptual Change and Institutional Development" (with Stephen Kirk), in Studies in American Political Development 9(Spring 1995), 117-186.

"The Social Construction of Slavery," in Politics, Policy, and Culture, ed. Dennis Coyle and Richard J. Ellis (Westview Press, 1994), 117-136.

"Presidential Greatness and Cultural Dilemmas" (with Aaron Wildavsky), in Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, ed. Leonard W. Levy and Louis Fischer (Simon and Schuster, 1994), 3:1209-13.

"The Case for Cultural Theory: Reply to Friedman," Critical Review 7(Winter 1993), 541-588.

"Radical Lockeanism in American Political Culture," Western Political Quarterly 45(December 1992), 825-850.

"Pluralist Political Science and 'The State': Distinguishing Between Autonomy and Coherence," Polity 24(Summer 1992), 569-590.

"Rival Visions of Equality in American Political Culture," Review of Politics 54(Spring 1992), 253-280.

"Political Cultures" (with Michael Thompson and Aaron Wildavsky), in Routledge Encyclopedia of Government and Politics, ed. Mary Hawkesworth and Maurice Kogan (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1992), 507-519.

"Legitimating Slavery in the Old South: The Effect of Political Institutions on Ideology," Studies in American Political Development 5(Fall 1991), 340-351.

"Explaining the Occurrence of Charismatic Leadership in Organizations," Journal of Theoretical Politics 3(July 1991), 305-319.

"Franklin Pierce" and "John Tyler," in Political Parties and Elections in the United States: An Encyclopedia, ed. L. Sandy Maisel (Garland Publishing, 1991), 2:810-11, 1140-41.

"'Greatness' Revisited: Evaluating the Performance of Early American Presidents in Terms of Cultural Dilemmas" (with Aaron Wildavsky), Presidential Studies Quarterly (1991), 15-34.

"Making Ends Meet: The Social Malleability of Needs and Resources" (with Michael Thompson and Aaron Wildavsky), The Journal of Behavioral Economics 19(Summer 1990), 209-219.

"A Cultural Analysis of the Role of Abolitionists in the Coming of the Civil War" (with Aaron Wildavsky), Comparative Studies in Society and History 32(January 1990), 89-116.

Articles and chapters reprinted:

"Liberalism," originally published in Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History, ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton and Peter W. Williams (Scribner's, 2001). Reprinted in American Politics, Media, and Elections: Contemporary International Perspectives on US Presidency, Foreign Policy, and Political Communication, ed. Tomasz Pludowski (Warsaw and Torun: Collegium Civitas Press and Adam Marszalek, 2006).

"Radical Lockeanism in American Political Culture," originally published in Western Political Quarterly 45(December 1992). Reprinted in Bruce Kuklick, ed., Thomas Paine (Ashgate, 2005 forthcoming).

Chapter two from Democratic Delusions: The Initiative Process in America, orig. pub. in 2002. Excerpted and reprinted in Election Law: Cases and Materials, ed. Daniel H. Lowenstein and Rick Hasen (Carolina Academic Press, 2004, 3rd ed).

"Direct Democracy," originally published in Oregon Politics and Government: Progressive versus Conservative Populism, ed. Richard Clucas, Mark Henkels, and Brent Steel (University of Nebraska Press, 2004). Excerpted in Oregon's Future 5(Spring 2004), 6-7.

Selections from Presidential Lightning Rods: The Politics of Blame Avoidance, originally published in 1994. Reprinted in Peter Woll, ed., American Government: Reading and Cases 13th edition (Addison Wesley Longman, 1999), 310-16.

"Polarization and Presidentialism," originally published in Society 36(March/April 1999). Reprinted in David T. Canon, Anne Khademian, and Kenneth R. Mayer, The Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics 2nd edition (Norton, 2000), 310-15.

"Culture and the Environment in the Pacific Northwest" (with Fred Thompson), originally published in American Political Science Review 91(December 1997). Reprinted in The Environment and Society Reader, ed. R. Scott Frey (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2001), 180-201.

Selected Book Reviews:

American Historical Review (February 2007), 209-210: review of Noah Pickus, True Faith and Allegiance: Immigration and American Civic Nationalism, Princeton University Press, 2005.

Washington Post Book World, June 12-18, 2005, p. 2: review of Marc Leepson, Flag: An American Biography, Thomas Dunne/St.Martin’s, 2005; and Neil Baldwin, The American Revelation: Ten Ideals That Shaped Our Country From the Puritans to the Cold War, St. Martin’s, 2005.

Presidential Studies Quarterly (September 2004), 700-702: review of Raymond Tatalovich and Thomas S. Engeman, The Presidency and Political Science: Two Hundred Years of Constitutional Debate, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003

Pacific Historical Review (May 2003), 280-82: review of Thomas Goebel, A Government by the People: Direct Democracy in America, 1890-1940, University of North Carolina Press, 2002

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 21(Spring 2002), 306-308: review of Amitai Etzioni, The Limits of Privacy, Basic Books, 1999

Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 3(November 2001), 342-46: review of Michael Thompson, Gunnar Grendstad, and Per Selle, Cultural Theory as Political Science, Routledge, 1999

Journal of Politics 61(November 1999): review of John Gerring, Political Ideologies in America, 1828-1996, Cambridge University Press, 1998

Society 36(July/August 1999), 87-90: review of Alan Brinkley, Liberalism and Its Discontents, Harvard University Press, 1998

Political Theory 27(June 1999), 446-53: review of Leslie Vaughan, Randolph Bourne and the Politics of Cultural Radicalism, University Press of Kansas, 1997

TLS (Times Literary Supplement), March 19, 1999, 5-6: "The Forgotten Friedan," review of Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminie Mystique: Te American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism, University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

Journal of Politics 61(February 1999), 244-46: review of Judith N. Shklar, Redeeming American Political Thought and Political Thought and Political Thinkers, University of Chicago Press, 1998

National Review, June 22, 1998, 60-61: review of Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth Century America, Harvard University Press, 1998

American Political Science Review 91(September 1997), 736-37: review of Philip Abbott, Strong Presidents: A Theory of Leadership, University of Tennessee Press, 1996

Journal of American History 82(June 1995), 360-61: review of David Farber, The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s, Hill & Wang, 1994.

Journal of the Early Republic 15(Spring 1995), 128-130: review of Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush, Harvard University Press, 1994.

William and Mary Quarterly 51(October 1994), 826-29: review of David Ericson, The Shaping of American Liberalism, University of Chicago Press, 1993.