Index # 15890
The year 2020 will bring an intensely watched, highly contested presidential election, perhaps one of the most consequential elections in United States history. Many Rutgers students will be following the election campaign closely, and some of them will likely become heavily engaged on behalf of their chosen candidates. My interdisciplinary honors seminar will place the 2020 presidential election in a deep historical context enabling students more fully to understand the election and its possible implications for the future of American democracy. To achieve that result, we will study approximately ten especially notable presidential elections. These are likely to be the elections of 1788-89 (Washington), 1800 (Jefferson), 1828 (Jackson), 1860 (Lincoln), 1876 (Hayes), 1896 (McKinley), 1932 (Franklin Roosevelt), 1960 (Kennedy), 1972 (Nixon), and 2016 (Trump).
Presidential elections in the United States have always been bellwethers—both indicating and shaping the directions taken by American politics and government. Such elections have brought to the fore deep cleavages in American society and have sometimes, but surely not always, pointed toward a resolution of the most important issues at stake. Through assigned readings, class discussions, and engagement with materials from the internet, students will become highly knowledgeable about the most important presidential elections and their aftermaths. When the course is over, they will be able to articulate and defend thoughtful conclusions about how, and with what consequences, Americans have chosen their national executive leaders across the centuries.
Writing will be a significant component of this honors seminar. First, each student will keep—and submit to me—a journal of their weekly readings. More important, each student will research and write a 15-20 page paper on a presidential election, or a pair of presidential elections—to be chosen in consultation with me. Each student’s research paper will be based on selected secondary works of history about the election(s) he/she is studying and on carefully chosen primary sources (likely found on the internet). Each student will also make an oral presentation to the class on the election(s) he/she has studied.
About Professor McCormick
Richard L. McCormick is president emeritus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He served as the university’s 19th president from December 1, 2002, to June 30, 2012. During his tenure, Rutgers greatly expanded its enrollment and budget, substantially reorganized and reinvigorated undergraduate education on its New Brunswick Campus, invested in research areas of interdisciplinary strength and global impact, transformed the Livingston Campus in Piscataway into a destination of choice for students and a hub of professional education, and revamped its alumni relations program to more effectively serve Rutgers’ 400,000 living graduates. In a billion-dollar fundraising campaign launched by Dr. McCormick, the university raised more than $650 million before the end of his tenure. In the final year of his presidency, Rutgers realized a longstanding goal of returning medical education to the university’s portfolio when the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill to integrate nearly all units of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey into Rutgers.
Over his decade in office, Rutgers increased its student diversity as well as its students’ academic profile. The university also built an infrastructure of programs and services for student veterans and established the Rutgers Future Scholars program to mentor and encourage teenagers from the university’s host communities to pursue a college education, with the promise of a tuition-free Rutgers education for any student who earns admission. This website provides an archive of his major speeches, communications to the Rutgers community, and other information about his presidency.
Dr. McCormick, a scholar of American political history who began his academic career on the Rutgers faculty in 1976 and later served as provost of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and president of the University of Washington, returned to the faculty upon the completion of his Rutgers presidency. In 2012, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rutgers for his achievements and service as president.