Henry Jones Ford was a political scientist, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, university professor, and government official.

Biography

Ford worked as a managing editor and editorial writer from 1872 to 1905, at six different newspapers in three cities (Baltimore, New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

).

Later returning to Baltimore (his hometown), Ford taught at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, and afterwards taught at the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

. He later took a job as professor of politics at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, at the request of the university's then-president, Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

.

Ford's association with Wilson would take him also into politics. When Wilson became governor of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, he appointed Ford Commissioner of Banking and Insurance; after Wilson became president, Ford was sent to the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 on a special mission, reporting directly to the president, and toward the end of Wilson's presidency Ford was named to a position on the Interstate Commerce Commission

Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...

. Their association would also result in Ford's book Woodrow Wilson, the Man and His Work, which was an account of Wilson's experience on the presidential campaign trail.

Ford served as president of the American Political Science Association

American Political Science Association

The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...

 from 1918 to 1919.

Quote

"The constitutional ideal is noble; but the politicians are vile. If only the checks could be made more effective, if only a just balance of power could be established beyond the strength of the politicians to disarrange ... the constitution would work perfectly."

Selected works

The works marked with (e-book) are freely availables from Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...

:

• The Rise and Growth of American Politics: A Sketch of Constitutional Development (1898)
• The Cost of Our National Government: A Study in Political Pathology (1910)
• The Natural History of the State: An Introduction to Political Science (1915)
• The Scotch-Irish in America (1915; ISBN 0-7812-6080-9)
• Woodrow Wilson, the Man and His Work: A Biographical Study (1916)
• Washington and His Colleagues: A Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of Federalism (1918; ISBN 1-932109-14-5; e-book)
• The Cleveland Era: A Chronicle of the New Order in Politics (1918; ISBN 1-4043-4415-2; e-book)
• Alexander Hamilton (1920)
• Representative Government (1924)

External links

• Analysis of Rise and Growth of American Politics