James David Barber | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 31, 1930 Charleston, West Virginia, US |
| Died |
September 12, 2004 (aged 74) Durham, North Carolina, US |
| Spouse |
Ann Goodridge Sale (1930-2015) Amanda Mackay Smith (1972–2004) |
| Children | 4 |
| Occupation | Author, political scientist |
James David Barber (July 31, 1930 – September 12, 2004) was a political scientist whose book The Presidential Character made him famous for his classification of presidents through their worldviews. From 1977 to 1995, he taught political science at Duke University.
Background[]
Barber was born on July 31, 1930, in Charleston, West Virginia, to a physician and a nurse.[1] In the 1950s he served in the United States Army as a counter-intelligence agent before attending the University of Chicago, where he earned a master's degree in political science. He earned a Ph.D. in the same field from Yale University.[when?]
He joined the faculty at Duke University in 1972, and became a full professor there in 1977.[2]
He is credited in the field of political science for being the first to examine presidents beyond case studies. He devised a system of organizing a president's character into either active-positive, passive-positive, active-negative, or passive-negative.
- Traits of an active-positive president include: a readiness to act, high optimism, and an overall fondness of the presidency. Some examples of presidents Barber cites as active-positive include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford.
- Traits of a passive-positive president include: a low self-esteem compensated by an ingratiating personality, superficially optimistic, and a desire to please. Examples of passive-positive presidents include William Howard Taft, Ronald Reagan, and Warren G. Harding.
- Traits of an active-negative president include: lack of deriving joy after expending much effort on tasks, aggressive, highly rigid, and having a general view of power as a means to self-realization. Examples of active-negative presidents include Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, and Richard Nixon.
- Traits of a passive-negative president include: a strong sense of duty, desire to avoid power, low self-esteem compensated by service towards others, and an overall aversion to intense political negotiation. Presidential examples include Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
References[]
- ↑ Bernstein, Adam. (2004). "James Barber Dies; Studied Presidents' Psyches", The Washington Post, .
- ↑ Margalit Fox, "James D. Barber, Expert on Presidents, Dies at 74", The New York Times, 15 September 2004.
External links[]
- Appearances on C-SPAN
The original article can be found at James David Barber and the edit history here.