John George (political scientist)
American political scientist (1936–2008)
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John Herbert George (February 7, 1936–November 21, 2008) was an American political scientist and author. He was a professor of political science and sociology at the University of Central Oklahoma until his retirement in 2000. George received a masters degree in geology from the University of Oklahoma, and worked as a petroleum engineer for several years, only to resign from this job and return to the same institution to study political science. He received a masters degree and PhD in political science. Some of his work focuses were extremism and terrorism.
February 7, 1936
John George | |
|---|---|
George in his 1980 staff yearbook photo at the University of Central Oklahoma | |
| Born | John Herbert George February 7, 1936 Holdenville, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | November 21, 2008 (aged 72) Carlsbad, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Political scientist, professor, author |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Oklahoma (BA, MA, PhD) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociology, political science |
| Institutions | University of Central Oklahoma |
Notable works |
|
In 1989, he coauthored a book with Paul F. Boiler Jr. on false quotations, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. He also coauthored 2 books with extremism researcher Laird Wilcox: Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe in 1992, which focused on American political extremism, and Be Reasonable, another book on quotes, in 1994.
Early life and education
John Herbert George[1][2] was born February 7, 1936,[3] in Holdenville, Oklahoma.[4] He was raised in a Baptist family.[4]
George graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1958 with a bachelors and then a masters degree in geology.[4][5] He worked as a petroleum engineer for five years at the companies Conoco and Skelly Oil, before resigning from this job and shifting to work in political science.[4][5] He returned to university in 1965 and received a masters and then a PhD in political science from the University of Oklahoma.[4][5][6] His masters thesis was on extremist groups.[4]
Career
George became a professor of political science and sociology at University of Central Oklahoma,[5][7] joining the UCO faculty in 1968.[4][5] In 1994, George was recognized by the Oklahoma Political Science Association as their Oklahoma Political Science Scholar of the Year.[7] His work focuses included political extremism[5] and terrorism.[4][7] The Daily Oklahoman described him in 2000 as "Oklahoma's leading authority on extremists and hate groups".[4] He also taught sociology and politics of sports, as well as terrorism and politics.[4]
In 1995, he testified to a panel of a house judiciary subcommittee on the dangers of militia groups; he told the committee very few extremists were dangerous.[8][9] In 2001, he was featured on a C-SPAN panel as one of two terrorism experts.[10] He retired from UCO in 2000.[4][11] He moved with his wife to California for his retirement.[11] The University of Central Oklahoma maintains a collection of his donated materials on extremist groups, the Dr. John George Collection, originally donated to the university following his retirement.[11]
Works
George has coauthored several books.[5][6] His first, published in 1989 by Oxford University Press and coauthored with Paul F. Boller Jr., then a professor emeritus of history at Texas Christian University, was They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions.[12][13][14] The book aims to expose and discuss misleading, misquoted, and hoax quotations, with a particular focus on quotations fabricated in service of a political cause.[14][15][16]
He then coauthored Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe with extremism researcher Laird Wilcox in 1992, published by Prometheus Books. They discuss the varieties of American extremism and give a theoretical overview of extremism.[5][17][18] An appendix also contains a section on falsified quotes.[17] Following the resurgence in public and scholarly interest in extremism following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the book was republished in a second edition in 1996 as American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Communists & Others.[19][20]
In 1994, Wilcox and George authored a second book together, again published by Prometheus Books: Be Reasonable: Selected Quotations for Inquiring Minds.[21][22][23] This collects quotes related to freedom of expression and skepticism.[21][22][24]
Personal life and death
George described his primary ideology as "anti-authoritarian"[4] and said that he was for free expression regardless of source.[5][6] He said that he was pro-American and "75 percent libertarian, 15 percent liberal and 10 percent conservative".[4] He advocated for the legalization of marijuana, mandatory school uniforms, religious freedom, and against the income tax.[4] Though raised Baptist, he is an atheist.[4] George had an interest in karate. He earned a black belt aged 32, studying under Jack Hwang.[5] He was also a swimmer; he placed fifth in the 200-metre backstroke at the 1986 U.S. Masters Swimming Championships.[25][26]
He was married to Treva George. She was a professor of Spanish and psychology at Rose State College.[11][5][6]
He voiced his support for the First Amendment; he argued that while most Americans support the First Amendment in theory, they reject it in practice, not allowing speech they consider to be offensive, whether from communists or Nazis.[5] He was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality and the NAACP.[4] George stated in 1993 that he believed extremists were "more a danger to themselves than the rest of us";[6] he argued against suppressing hate groups, writing instead that we should counter them with our own words.[4] Following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which happened in his city, he expressed his shock and said: "You expect this kind of thing in [a major city]. We're not even a hub for a major airline. There are so many nuts loose in our society."[27]
George died from cancer in Carlsbad, California on November 21, 2008.[11]
Bibliography
- Boller, Paul F. Jr.; —— (1989). They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506469-0.
- ——; Wilcox, Laird (1992). Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: Political Extremism in America. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-680-2.
- ——; Wilcox, Laird (1996). American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists & Others (2nd ed.). Amherst: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-058-4.
- Wilcox, Laird; —— (1994). Be Reasonable: Selected Quotations for Inquiring Minds. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-867-8.