Richard P. McCormick (1916–2006) stands as a monumental figure in American historical scholarship, significantly altering the landscape of American political history. His profound impact extends beyond this field, encompassing notable contributions to colonial history and an exemplary study of American higher education.
Richard P. McCormick, a distinguished historian who reshaped understandings of American political processes and institutions.
McCormick’s most enduring legacy resides in his groundbreaking work on American political history. His seminal publications, including The History of Voting in New Jersey, 1664–1911 (1953), The Second American Party System: Party Formation in the Jacksonian Era (1966), and The Presidential Game: The Origins of American Presidential Politics (1982), revolutionized the field. McCormick’s central achievement was to establish the paramount importance of political parties as autonomous entities within the political process. This perspective challenged traditional interpretations that heavily emphasized connections between class, ethnicity, religious affiliation, specific issues, elections, and public policy outcomes.
Prior to McCormick’s scholarship, the dominant historical narrative of American politics centered on class and economic factors. The prevailing view posited that voters were primarily motivated by economic interests, voting along economic lines on issues such as tariffs, banking, and internal improvements. Elected officials, in turn, were expected to enact policies reflecting these economic demands. However, focusing particularly on the Jacksonian period, Richard McCormick compellingly argued that political parties operated with considerable autonomy. As a review of The Second American Party System aptly noted, parties were “more adept at electing candidates, than in articulating convictions, educating voters, or fulfilling policy goals.” This assertion, while initially controversial, initiated a paradigm shift in American political history. It redirected scholarly attention towards the dynamics between elections and the electorate, contributing significantly to the deconstruction of the “presidential synthesis” as the overarching narrative of the American experience. In essence, Richard McCormick’s perspective highlighted the machinery of political parties as a driving force, arguably more so than specific policy platforms or the direct influence of socioeconomic demographics at certain junctures in American political development.
Beyond his contributions to understanding American political parties and systems, McCormick also distinguished himself as a scholar of the 18th century. Through influential articles and books, notably Experiment in Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781–1789 (1950) and New Jersey from Colony to State (1964), he illuminated the crucial role of the Middle Colonies/States, and New Jersey in particular, during the colonial era and the formative years of the early Republic. Challenging the New England-centric historiography prevalent at the time, McCormick demonstrated how the challenges of state building encountered by New Jersey settlers and officials mirrored and occasionally shaped broader American experiences. His meticulously researched state studies served as exemplary models for understanding institutional and political history, akin to the local studies that later characterized the social history era of the 1950s.
Richard McCormick dedicated his entire professional life to Rutgers University. He earned his BA in history from Rutgers College in 1938, followed by a master’s degree from the Graduate School in 1940. After obtaining his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1948, he returned to Rutgers as an instructor in 1945 and remained there throughout his distinguished career, with the exception of a visiting professorship at Cambridge University in 1961–62. He witnessed Rutgers’ transformation into a state university and actively participated in faculty governance. McCormick stood as a leader in faculty protests against the dismissal of professors who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights during Senate hearings concerning alleged communist affiliations. He was also present during the Vietnam War “teach-ins” at Rutgers and played a mediating role in the black student protests on the Newark campus in 1969. Even in retirement, as an emeritus professor, he continued to engage in critical discussions on university matters, such as the role of high-profile intercollegiate athletics. Throughout his tenure, he served Rutgers with distinction as university historian, chair of the History Department, and dean of Rutgers College, consistently supporting and mentoring junior colleagues.
McCormick’s teaching career coincided with an era of large American history survey courses. Jack Reynolds, a former teaching assistant to McCormick and now a professor of political history, recalls McCormick’s effortless lecturing style. In a time before multimedia classrooms, McCormick captivated large student audiences through meticulously crafted lectures, devoid of dramatic flair but rich in essential content. He maintained popularity across the political spectrum of students, from the more conservative students of the late 1970s to their more “radical” predecessors. Furthermore, McCormick was a highly effective mentor to graduate students, including notable historians such as Carl Prince, Peter Levine, Larry Gerlach, and Lloyd Ray Gunn. Interestingly, several of his political history students later transitioned to writing about sports history, a development McCormick found both surprising and amusing.
His deep connection to Rutgers University led to three significant scholarly works on the institution’s history. In 1964, he published Rutgers: A Bicentennial History, tracing the university’s evolution from a small religious college in the 1760s to a 20th-century state institution, offering insightful social and policy analysis of American higher education’s development. This was followed by The Case of the Nazi Professor (1989), co-authored with David Oshinsky and Daniel Horn, examining the university’s response to the controversial firing of a Jewish professor in the 1930s. Additionally, The Black Student Protest Movement at Rutgers (1990) analyzed the origins and impact of student activism in the 1960s. McCormick’s unparalleled knowledge of New Jersey and Rutgers history made him a sought-after expert witness for state officials and a strong advocate for historical preservation efforts across the state.
Richard P. McCormick was married to Katheryne Levis and had two children, Dorothy Boulia and Richard L. McCormick. Following in his father’s footsteps, his son also became a political historian and is currently president of Rutgers University, continuing the family’s legacy in both history and the institution to which Richard P. McCormick dedicated his life. In recognition of his profound scholarly contributions, the American Historical Association honored Richard P. McCormick with the Award for Scholarly Distinction in 2002, cementing his place as a transformative figure in the study of American history and especially the role of political parties within its ever-evolving narrative.
