John C. Wahlke Cluding John, Were Greatly Relieved

the 1995 book!, Identities, Boundaries, Contentious Politics was a magnet for as a captain. He received training as an and Social Ties ~Paradigm, 2005!, Why? young and less young students of conten- air observation pilot flying small air- ~Princeton University Press, 2006!, the tious politics across the broad New York planes and spotting enemy targets for the Oxford Handbook of Contextual Politi- metropolitan area. field artillery. While he was attending cal Analysis ~co-edited and co-authored Tilly’s abiding virtue was the intellec- flight school in Kansas he met Virginia with Robert Goodin, Oxford University tual excitement he generated, which will Joan Higgins of Pittsburg, Kansas, and Press, 2006!, Contentious Politics ~co- be remembered by all those who had the they were married in December 1943. authored with Sidney Tarrow, Paradigm, privilege of working with him. As Roy They had two children, Janet ~Parmely! 2006!, Regimes and Repertoires ~Uni- Licklider writes of the time he spent as a and Dale. versity of Chicago Press, 2006!, Democ- participant in Tilly’s seminar on social John served for two years in the Euro- racy ~Cambridge 2007!, and Credit and change at the New School: pean Theater, among other assignments, Blame ~Princeton 2008!. Several of these flying over the Ardennes during the Bat- books were written while he was receiv- His ability to treat all students, not just tle of the Bulge in the winter months of ing chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins the chosen few disciples, as intellectual 1944–45. He won five battle stars, and lymphoma. The latest, Contentious Per- equals was equaled only by his eagerness was awarded the Air Medal with two formances, which Cambridge will bring to put his staggering knowledge and time Oak Leaf Clusters. For John, these were out in late 2008, he was robbed of the at their service and his concern about exciting and rewarding times; he thought satisfaction of seeing in print. their lives as well as their work which of his European military service as a Tilly was recognized by honorary de- lasted long after they had departed.1 high point of his life. He loved to tell the grees from numerous universities and story about flying over the American- was a fellow of the National Academy of Sidney Tarrow German lines when his plane’s engine Sciences, the American Academy of Arts Cornell University failed and he had to land in the midst of and Sciences, and the American Philo- a hotly contested battle zone. He was sophical Society. He was recently able to hide his small airplane in a awarded the Albert Hirschman Prize for nearby barn and, after dark, join a small significant lifetime contributions to the convoy of Americans searching for social sciences by the Social Science Notes friendly forces. Suddenly a German tank Research Council, which will be awarded * This obituary draws on the kind collabora- lumbered out of the woods and, unaware posthumously in October 2008. tion of Doug McAdam. that the convoy was American, not Ger- 1. In a personal reflection on the listserv, But recounting these honors and titles Amsoc, founded by Tilly, which served as a man, the tank proceeded to fall into line. does little to communicate the character major source of communication for scholars of John was close enough to hear the Ger- of Chuck Tilly the person. His sense of social change and contentious politics around the mans talking. Luckily, after a short time humor, his quick ear for cant, and his world. Quoted with permission. the tank headed off in a completely dif- impatience with pretense were combined ferent direction, and the Americans, in- with unfailing generosity, broadness of John C. Wahlke cluding John, were greatly relieved. spirit, and his open and his egalitarian John Wahlke became a distinguished relationship to all who knew him. I re- A life of distinguished scholarship and teacher and research scholar. His under- member his review of a book on empires teaching ended in Tucson, Arizona, on graduate teaching interests were varied that enjoyed a brief moment of fame a April 10, 2008, with the death of John C. and longstanding. While still at Harvard, few years ago. Chuck took that book Wahlke, who served successively on the he served on the board of freshman ad- apart chapter by chapter, exposing the political science faculties of Amherst visers; for a number of years he was an hollowness at its core and highlighting College, Vanderbilt University, the State examiner for honors studies at the Uni- its errors of fact and logic. But his abid- University of New York at Buffalo, the versity of Rochester; and he worked tire- ing characteristic was his generosity. University of Iowa, Stony Brook Univer- lessly as part of the “syllabus project” of From our first encounter in Ann Arbor sity, and the University of Arizona. Born the APSA. But his teaching career really through his years at the New School and in Cincinnati, Ohio, John lived more began with his first academic affilia- Columbia, I never sent him a text that he than five months beyond 90 years of age. tion—a four-year stint teaching under- failed to comment on ~usually overnight!, His professional career stretched over graduates at Amherst College. In or a student he failed to help. The only more than half a century, and his teach- 1961–62 he worked with undergraduates time this intensely private person al- ing, research, and leadership deeply in the Vanderbilt-in-France program at lowed his emotions to show was when I influenced at least two important sub- Nice and Aix-en-Provence. Active in pro- presented him with a book I dedicated divisions of political science: legislative grams for undergraduates undertaken by to: “Chuck Tilly; a teacher!” and biopolitical research. the APSA, in the mid-1970s, he chaired It is fitting to close this memoir by He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on an association committee on educational highlighting Tilly’s commitment to train- October 29, 1917, where he grew up and policy and programs. Then from 1988– ing students and mentoring them and attended elementary and high school. He 90 he chaired an APSA task force on younger colleagues. In his more than graduated from high school in 1935, and the political science major that worked four decades of training graduate stu- then enrolled in Harvard College, where in collaboration with the American dents, he directed over 200 Ph.D. disser- he earned an AB degree magna cum Association of Colleges and Universities. tations and served on the committees of laude, with election to Phi Beta Kappa, This influential educational policy com- numerous others. His service to the so- in 1939. He briefly worked at jobs for mittee made a number of recommenda- cial sciences went well beyond his own Seagram and Sons and the Crosley Cor- tions for greater structure in the political institutions. He created a listserv, poration, and attended the University of science major ~see Wahlke’s March 1991 AMSOC, which serves as an interactive Cincinnati, but his obvious promise as a report, “Liberal Learning and the Politi- forum for discussions and sharing of in- student was interrupted by the vicissi- cal Science Major: A Report to the Pro- formation in many areas of the social tudes of World War II. John entered the fession” in PS: Political Science and sciences. And his Columbia Workshop on U.S. Army as a private in 1942, and left Politics!. PSOnline www.apsanet.org 641 But Wahlke’s deep interest in teaching thored with Heinz Eulau, William Bucha- the Committee on Governmental and political science went much further than nan, and LeRoy C. Ferguson, helped to Legal Affairs of the Social Science Re- advising students and serving on com- enlarge the profound influence of this search Council. In the 1970s, he was a mittees. He was also committed to teach- project. fellow at the Netherlands Institute for ing through developing and writing the Moreover, Wahlke expanded the pur- Advanced Study, chairman of the Educa- textbooks used in courses of instruction. view of legislative behavior research in a tional Testing Services’s committee on For the general introductory political sci- seminal article published in the British the advanced political science test, and ence course for undergraduates, he first Journal of Political Science, “Policy president of the Midwest Political Sci- wrote Government and Politics: An In- Demands and System Support: The Role ence Association. Over the years, he was troduction to Political Science ~1971; of the Represented” ~July 1971!. Here he a member of the editorial boards of six with Alex N. Dragnich and others!.A focused on how “representative bodies political science research journals, in- quarter-century later, he wrote another contribute to the generation and mainte- cluding the American Journal of Politi- general textbook entitled Introduction to nance of support” for governing institu- cal Science and the American Political Political Science: Reason, Reflection, tions and for the wider political system. Science Review. He was elected presi- and Analysis ~1996; with R. Kenneth As was his inclination, he called for a dent of the American Political Science Godwin!. For students of American poli- new agenda of political science research Association for 1977–78. tics, he edited a collection of readings, that would move away from exclusive Moreover, John possessed many quali- The American Political System: Notes attention to the so-called “demand-input ties that inclined his colleagues to choose and Readings ~1967; revised in 1971; model,” and work on the formation, mo- him to be their leader. Accordingly, he with Bernard E. Brown!. bilization, content, and consequences of served as department chair at three Of course John Wahlke came to be support for the political system.

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