McCormick, Richard Patrick, 1916-2006

An historian of both American politics and New Jersey, Richard Patrick McCormick was born on December 24, 1916 in New York, N.Y. He received his A.B. in 1938 and his A.M. in 1940, both from Rutgers University, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1948. McCormick began his teaching career as an instructor at the University of Delaware in 1944-1945. At Rutgers University, he went from instructor to professor of history from 1945-1974, served as University Historian from 1948-1982, chariman of the History Dept., 1966-1969, Dean of Rutgers College from 1974-1977, university professor from 1974-1982 and became Emeritus Professor of History in 1982. Concurrently, McCormick served as president of the New Jersey Historical Society from 1950-1957, as a research advisor at Colonial Williamsburg from 1953-1961, Fulbright lecturer at Cambridge University (London) 1961-1962, Commonwealth lecturer at the University of London in 1971, chairman of the New Jersey Historical Commission from 1967-1970 and president of the Historians of the Early American Republic in 1988-1989.

Quite a prolific writer, McCormick is the author of The History of Voting in New Jersey, New Jersey From Colony to State, Rutgers: A Bicentennial History, and most recently, The Black Student Protest Movement at Rutgers. A member of the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, McCormick also served on the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission from 1958-1960, the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission from 1971-1974 and as a Social Science Research Council fellow in 1956-57.

From the description of Richard P. McCormick Papers, 1929-2003. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122562186

Richard P. McCormick began his career at Rutgers as an undergraduate student in 1934, and contributed to Rutgers in a number of ways. McCormick served Rutgers as Professor of History, University Historian, Dean of Rutgers College, and distinguished alumnus. McCormick's relationship with Rutgers, which continued beyond his retirement, is documented throughout the collection.

As a historian, McCormick focused his research and writing on the history of New Jersey, the history of Rutgers University, and the broader scope of American political history. He was affiliated with, and active in, numerous national historical and professional organizations, including the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. He was not only affiliated and active in many New Jersey historical organizations, but he was instrumental in the establishment of several, including the New Jersey Historical Commission, the New Jersey State Historical Records Advisory Board, and the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission. His longtime relationship with the New Jersey Historical Society, which is reflected in the collection, dates back to his involvement in the revitalization of the Historical Society and as President of the Society beginning in 1950.

A prolific writer of history, McCormick was the published author of nine books, more than forty articles, and a number of guides, pamphlets, and reports. McCormick spoke frequently on the topics of New Jersey and American political history, and the collection is enriched by a large number of speech outlines and drafts, and the correspondence related to those speaking engagements.

The following chronology lists the highlights of the career of Richard P. McCormick. For a more detailed biographical account, see Michael Birkner's introductory essay in McCormick of Rutgers: Scholar, Teacher, Public Historian (2001), as well as the oral history interviews conducted with McCormick that follow Professor Birkner's introduction.

• 1916, December 24: Richard Patrick McCormick (RPM) born in Ridgewood (Queens), New York.
• 1927: McCormick family moves to Upper Nyack, New York.
• 1929: Graduates from Upper Nyack Elementary School.
• 1929: Family moves to Cresskill, New Jersey. RPM attends Tenafly High School.
• 1933: Graduates from Tenafly High School. RPM continues on at Tenafly High, taking the requisite courses necessary for admission to Rutgers University.
• 1934: Begins freshman year at Rutgers College.
• 1938: Receives A.B. degree from Rutgers.
• 1940: Receives A.M. degree from Rutgers, completing a thesis, "The War Aims of President Wilson and Congress."
• 1940, September: Begins Ph.D. program at University of Pennsylvania.
• 1942, Spring: RPM completes all of his doctoral course work and examinations under the advisement of Professor Roy Nichols.
• 1942 - 1944 : RPM works as a civil historian at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot and writes two lengthy studies: "A History of Storage and Distribution at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, 1917-1943," and "The Physical Plant, 1917-1942."
• 1944: Teaches ASTRP (Army Specialized Training Reserve Program) students at the University of Delaware. Meets Katheryne Levis, a graduate fellowship student in chemistry at the University of Delaware.
• 1945, July: RPM starts teaching full time in the history department at Rutgers University. During this summer, RPM begins to center his research on New Jersey history, which leads to his focus on New Jersey in the critical period of 1781 to 1789 for his dissertation.
• 1945, August: Marries Katheryne Levis in Baltimore, Maryland. Katheryne McCormick begins teaching at the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College) in September 1945. The two become the proud parents of two children: Richard (1947) and Dorothy (1950).
• 1948: RPM completes his dissertation, "Experiment in Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781-1789" and receives his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
• 1948: Appointed Rutgers University Historian.
• 1948: Receives grant from Rutgers Research Council to begin a study of electoral machinery in New Jersey
• 1948: Named Chairman of the Conference of New Jersey Historians, of which he conceived, organized, and implemented.
• 1948: Inaugurates a full-year, college-level course on New Jersey History at Rutgers.
• 1950: Experiment in Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781-1789 is published by Rutgers University Press.
• 1950 - 1957 : Serves as President of New Jersey Historical Society.
• 1951: Rutgers University publishes McCormick's New Jersey History course quiz as a flyer entitled, "How Well Do You Know New Jersey?"
• 1952 - 1961 : Serves as Research Advisor to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.
• 1953: The History of Voting in New Jersey: A Study of the Development of Election Machinery, 1664-1911 published by Rutgers University Press.
• 1953 - 1954 : Serves on the Governor's Commission on Morven.
• 1956 - 1957 : Receives grant from Social Science Research Council for a year-long leave to research Early American political behavior and organize the "Conference on Early American Political Behavior" (June 1957). RPM later publishes a summary of the conference proceedings.
• 1958: Plays an instrumental role in organizing New Jersey government to appoint a commission to arrange a statewide celebration of the New Jersey Tercentenary in 1964. He briefly serves as Acting Chair of the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission.
• 1959: "Suffrage Classes and Party Alignments: A Study in Voter Behavior" published in the Mississippi Valley Historical Review.
• 1960: "New Perspectives on Jacksonian Politics" published in the American Historical Review.
• 1960, June - 1960 August : British colonial records trip for New Jersey Tercentenary Commission. The Commission published his findings as a report that same year.
• 1960: Receives New Jersey Award for distinguished contributions to the study of New Jersey history.
• 1961 - 1962 : Receives a Fulbright award to lecture on American history at Cambridge University, England.
• 1963: Serves as Chairman of the State Committee on Historic Sites Evaluation.
• 1964: Receives Lindback Award for distinguished teaching and research at Rutgers University.
• 1964: New Jersey from Colony to State, 1609-1789 published by Van Nostrand. A second edition is published by the Rutgers University Press in 1970 and a paperback edition published by the New Jersey Historical Society appears in 1981.
• 1965: The Second American Party System: Party Formations in the Jacksonian Era receives the biennial book prize from the American Association for State and Local History prior to its publication.
• 1966: Although completed in 1962, The Second American Party System: Party Formation in the Jacksonian Era published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1966.
• 1966: Rutgers, A Bicentennial History published by Rutgers University Press.
• 1966 - 1969 : Serves as Chair of history department of Rutgers College.
• 1967 - 1970 : Serves as Chairman of New Jersey Historical Commission.
• 1968: Awarded the biennial book prize from the American Association for State and Local History for Rutgers: A Bicentennial History.
• 1969: Serves as Chair of a Special Faculty Committee to deal with demands of black students at Rutgers in wake of protests on the Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden campuses.
• 1969 - 1970 : Serves as Chairman of the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission.
• 1970, January 29 - 30 : Lectures at the Commonwealth Fund and Colloquium in England.
• 1971: Serves as Chair of Coeducation Committee at Rutgers College.
• 1971 - 1974 : Member of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission.
• 1974: Appointed by the Rutgers Board of Governors as University Professor of History.
• 1974 - 1977 : Serves as Dean of Rutgers College.
• 1977 - 1978 : While on sabbatical, RPM conducts research for his 1978 report, Academic Reorganization in New Brunswick, 1962-1978: the Federated College Plan, which contributes to the 1981 restructuring of the University.
• 1980: The Selected Speeches of Mason Welch Gross, edited by RPM and Richard Schlatter, is published by Rutgers University Press.
• 1982: Retires from Rutgers faculty and from position of University Historian. Becomes Emeritus Professor of History.
• 1982: Receives honorary doctor of letters degree from Rutgers.
• 1982: The Presidential Game: The Origins of American Presidential Politics published by Oxford University Press.
• 1984: Political Parties and the Modern State, the proceedings of a conference marking RPM's retirement from the Rutgers faculty in 1982 and edited by Richard L. McCormick, is published by the Rutgers University Press.
• 1985: Resigns from the Board of the New Jersey Historical Society.
• 1988 - 1989 : Serves as President of the Historians of the Early American Republic.
• 1988: "A Historian's Education," appears in the William and Mary Quarterly.
• 1989: The Case of the Nazi Professor, coauthored with David M. Oshinsky and Daniel Horn, is published by Rutgers University Press.
• 1990: RPM is inducted into Rutgers' Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
• 1990: The Black Student Protest Movement at Rutgers is published by Rutgers University Press.
• 1994: Equality Deferred: Women Candidates for the New Jersey Assembly, 1920-1993, coauthored with Katheryne C. McCormick, is published by the Center for the American Woman and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
• 2001: Michael J's Birkner's book McCormick of Rutgers: Scholar, Teacher, Public Historian, is published by Greenwood Press. The book contains selections from eight oral history interviews conducted with RPM between 1995 and 2000.
• 2002, December: RPM's son, Richard L. McCormick, is selected as the nineteenth President of Rutgers University. During his career, Richard L. McCormick had held positions as a faculty member and Chair of the Rutgers History Department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, Provost at the University North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and President of the University of Washington.
• 2003, January: RPM receives the 2002 Award for Scholarly Distinction from the American Historical Association, the most prestigious award presented by the association, in recognition of his lifetime contribution to historical scholarship.
• 2006, January 16: Richard P. McCormick dies after an extended illness at the age of 89. He had served Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey with distinction for over six decades.

From the guide to the Guide to the Richard P. McCormick Papers, 1929-2006, (Rutgers University. Special Collections and University Archives)