Richard J. Ellis
Department of Politics
Willamette University
Salem, OR 97301
(503)370-6081; rellis@willamette.edu
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, degree completed December 1989
M.A. University of California, Berkeley, Political Science, 1984
B.A. University of California, Santa Cruz, Politics, 1982
Theses
Ph.D. Cabinet Members as Presidential Lightning Rods
M.A. George Washington and the Anti-Political Presidency
Grants, Fellowships, and Awards
2007 Outstanding Scientist, awarded by Oregon Academy of Science
2005 Langum Prize in Legal History for To the Flag
2003 Lawrence D. Cress Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship
2003 NEH Summer Stipend
2003 Oregon Council for the Humanities Research Grant
2003 Earhart Foundation Fellowship Research Grant
1998 Arnold L. Graves and Lois S. Graves Award in the Humanities; for "outstanding accomplishment in actual teaching in the humanities by younger faculty members"
1998 American Political Science Association Research Grant
1998 Earhart Foundation Fellowship Research Grant
1995 Donner Foundation (Canadian) Grant
1994 Oregon Council for the Humanities Research Grant
1993 George and Eliza Gardner Howard Fellowship
1993 Earhart Foundation Fellowship Research Grant
1993 Carthage Foundation Research Grant
1991 NEH Summer Stipend
1986-88 Lynde and Harry Bradley Fellowship
1986-88 I.G.S. Harris Fellowship
1983-85 U.C. Regents Fellowship
1982 Highest Honors in Department of Politics, UCSC
Teaching Experience
Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics, Willamette University (1999-)
Professor, Willamette University (1999)
Associate Professor, Willamette University (1995-99)
Assistant Professor, Willamette University (1990-95)
Publications
Books:
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.
To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance. University Press of Kansas, 2005.
Democratic Delusions: The Initiative Process in America. University Press of Kansas, 2002.
Founding the American Presidency. Rowman and Littlefield,1999.
Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in Historical Perspective (editor). University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.
The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America. University Press of Kansas, 1998.
Culture Matters: Essays in Honor of Aaron Wildavsky (editor, with Michael Thompson). Westview Press, 1997.
Presidential Lightning Rods: The Politics of Blame Avoidance. University Press of Kansas, 1994.
Politics, Policy, and Culture (editor, with Dennis J. Coyle). Westview Press, 1994.
American Political Cultures. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Cultural Theory (with Michael Thompson and Aaron Wildavsky). Westview Press, 1990.
Dilemmas of Presidential Leadership: From Washington Through Lincoln (with Aaron Wildavsky). 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:
Perspectives on Politics (June 2008), 388-90: review of Ian Macmullen, Faith in Schools? Autonomy, Citizenship, and Religious Education in the Liberal State, Princeton University Press, 2007; and Joseph P. Viteritti, The Last Freedom: Religion from the Public School to the Public Square, Princeton University Press, 2007.
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.