{"id":427532,"date":"2020-04-24T14:37:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T18:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=427532"},"modified":"2023-05-22T10:55:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T14:55:12","slug":"remembering-pioneering-rochester-political-scientist-richard-fenno-427532","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/remembering-pioneering-rochester-political-scientist-richard-fenno-427532\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A giant in the field of American Politics\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Remembering pioneering Rochester political scientist Richard Fenno.<\/div>\n

Richard (Dick) Fenno Jr.<\/a>, considered a giant among 20th-century scholars of American politics, is being remembered by colleagues, former students, and friends as a trailblazing political scientist whose 19 books on Congress and its members set a standard for the field.<\/p>\n

Fenno, who last held the title of Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>, died on April 21 at the age of 93 from complications associated with presumed COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\n

Tribute to a pioneering colleague<\/h2>\n

Rochester\u2019s Department of Political Science<\/a> remembers Richard Fenno.<\/p>\n

Share your tributes, condolences, or memories of Fenno via email<\/a>. Tell us your name, your affiliation with the University, and your public message, which will appear on the messages and condolences page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Memory of Richard Fenno<\/h2>\n

Contributions in Fenno\u2019s memory can be made to the Department of Political Science\u2019s
\n Richard and Nancy Fenno Summer Fellowships in American Politics and Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more about Fenno<\/h2>\n

Visit the official Richard Fenno website<\/a>, assembled by his former students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cDick and Woodrow Wilson were probably the two greatest scholars of Congress in the 20th century,\u201d says former colleague Lawrence Rothenberg<\/a>, the Corrigan-Minehan Professor of Political Science at the URochester, who saw Fenno and his wife, Nancy, in many ways as surrogate parents.<\/p>\n

The Fennos were a team\u2014childhood sweethearts married for 71 years\u2014who grew up together and \u201cfit like a glove,\u201d says Rothenberg, who used to spend countless hours at the couple\u2019s former home in Penfield, a Rochester suburb.<\/p>\n

What set Fenno apart early on in his career was his headlong approach to research\u2014preferring to dive right in alongside his study subjects, such as senators (and later vice president) Dan Quayle, Ohio\u2019s John Glenn, New Mexico\u2019s Pete Domenici, Pennsylvania\u2019s Arlen Specter, and North Dakota\u2019s Mark Andrews \u2014looking right over their shoulders to observe their often messy political deal-making in real time, rather than taking a broad, institutional view.<\/p>\n

\u201cFenno created the modern study of Congress with his pathbreaking scholarship on House and Senate members, legislating in the halls of Congress and campaigning on the streets of their districts,\u201d says Wendy Schiller \u201994 (PhD), a professor and the chair of political science at Brown University, herself a Fenno student. \u201cHe thought like a political scientist and wrote like a novelist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The invention of \u2018soaking and poking\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI began with a study of the power of the purse, how politics plays out as Congress goes about appropriating funds,” Fenno told Thomas Fitzpatrick for a 1991 Rochester Review<\/em> story. \u201cThat led me to realize that the real work and real life of these politicians goes on not on the floor but in committees and subcommittees.\u201d A book followed. \u201cIt gradually came to me that what they do in these committees is vitally connected to how they perceive their home districts and states,\u201d Fenno said. \u201cThat’s when I started hanging around with politicians in earnest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo
Fenno enjoyed talking with elected officials\u2014he’s shown here with his wife, Nancy, meeting Jimmy Carter\u2014and discussing their work, their constituencies, and how deals were made in Congress. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Archives photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mind you, not just hanging out. \u201cSoaking and poking\u201d is how Fenno described his method, which has since become accepted political science terminology. For decades he had been both soaking up the details of governing and poking into the minutiae of campaigning.<\/p>\n

He applied that same principle to his students. In 1968, when Rochester undergraduate Robert Sachs \u201970 approached the political science department with the idea of becoming an intern for New York Senator Charles Goodell for course credit, an idea was born. Fenno, along with student charter member Sachs, started the University\u2019s Washington Semester Program<\/a>, which endures today. The program annually selects several political science students to work as full-time interns in Congress, the executive branch, and party campaign committees, as well as with lobbying, advocacy, and policy groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe theory is that the way to learn about the congressional system is to go down there and work for a semester,” Fenno told Rochester Review<\/em> in 1999. The students may start out opening mail and doing other clerical chores, but over time, he said, \u201cthey become an integral member of the staff\u2014and that\u2019s the way they learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

And learn they did. Heather Higginbottom \u201994 says the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill \u201cday in and day out and to have a front-row seat for how legislation was made\u201d\u2014cemented her commitment to pursue a career in government and politics. She made good on that promise and went on to become the first woman to serve as Deputy Secretary of State in the administration of President Barack Obama. She remembers Fenno most for his kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was iconic in his field and at the University, yet he was completely approachable and accessible to us. He was committed to our success during the program and afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decades after her Washington internship, Higginbottom continued to receive handwritten letters from him, supporting her roles in government. \u201cThey moved me, and I continue to cherish them.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the \u2018Fenno paradox\u2019?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As a scholar, Fenno focused on Congress. He was the first to point out the apparent disconnect between low congressional approval and high incumbency in his 1978 book Home Style: House Members in Their Districts<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"photo
For a 1997 conference at Rochester devoted to Fenno’s work, colleagues and former students captured Fenno’s methodology, an approach he called “Soaking and Poking,” with keepsake pins. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Archives photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was this observation\u2014that people generally disapprove of the US Congress as a whole, but support the representatives from their own congressional districts\u2014which became known as\u00a0Fenno\u2019s paradox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Home Style<\/em>, meanwhile,\u00a0would go on to win the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for best book in political science. Setting the gold standard for congressional scholarship, the American Political Science Association eventually named an award after him\u2014the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize<\/a> for the best book in legislative studies.<\/p>\n

Fellow political scientists and peers\u2014the late Nelson Polsby<\/a> and Eric Schickler<\/a> at the University of California, Berkeley\u2014wrote about Fenno that \u201cin the nearly 200 years since the founding of the American nation, no scholar has contributed more to the understanding of its legislative branch, the US Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born on December 12, 1926, in Winchester, Massachusetts, Fenno served in the Navy during World War II. In 1948 he received his bachelor\u2019s degree from Amherst College and then married Nancy. After earning a PhD in political science from Harvard University in 1956, Fenno joined the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½\u2019s Department of Political Science<\/a> barely a year later.<\/p>\n

\"photo
Married for more than 70 years, childhood sweethearts Nancy and Dick Fenno were always a team, colleagues say. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Archives photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By all accounts, Fenno was a curious mind, genuinely interested in others, with strong people skills to boot. Throughout his long life, he kept in touch with scores of former students, politicians, journalists, collaborators, and colleagues. Those character traits helped him gain access and build the kind of relationships he enjoyed with legislators and their staffs. As Fenno\u2019s reputation grew in tandem with his impressive body of work, prestigious job offers from elite schools came his way\u2014including from his alma mater Harvard.<\/p>\n

Yet, he seemed little interested in status and turned them down.<\/p>\n

Instead, during his nearly 50 years at the University, he, together with William Riker<\/a>, put the Rochester political science department on the academic map, building its lasting national reputation and educating generations of scholars who continue to shape the discipline of political science today. The two men, it seemed, proved a natural yin and yang.<\/p>\n

Putting the \u2018Rochester school\u2019 on the map<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Riker relished being chair, colleagues attest. For his part, Fenno made it clear that the only way to persuade him to leave was to force him to helm his own department. \u201cBill Riker happily lived his life mainly in Harkness Hall, while Dick was well connected to the outside world academically and in terms of politics and just needed to be out there,\u201d Rothenberg recalls.<\/p>\n

Their mutual respect and friendship went so far, according to several colleagues who tell the same story, that Fenno refused to be considered for the presidency of the American Political Science Association<\/a> (APSA) until Riker had been elected to the post first. In the end, Riker served as president for the 1982\u201383 term, and Fenno followed for 1984\u201385.<\/p>\n

James Johnson<\/a>, a professor of political science, arrived at Rochester about three decades after Fenno. Johnson\u2019s initial job interview proved somewhat unusual.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went into his office, Dick leaned back in his chair, as he often did, and we talked about the Boston Celtics. He had a large Celtics poster in the corner of the office,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cWe might\u2019ve talked about my work a bit, too. But we bonded as Celtics fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Johnson, Fenno was an equal partner with Riker when it came to the intellectual success of the department. \u201cBill pushed the discipline in methodological terms to integrate statistical methods and formal models. Dick provided considerable substantive ballast\u2014his early work on congressional committees laid the groundwork on which the techniques could be used.\u201d Fenno would prove a consistent advocate for qualitative methodological approaches.<\/p>\n

\"photo
Fenno’s legacy as a teacher was recognized in 1997 when many of his students took part in a conference at Rochester devoted to his work, a tribute memorialized in a photo at the time. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Archives photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Fenno\u2019s star rose, he was eager to ensure others got a fair chance, too. During his tenure as APSA president, his main goal was to increase the participation of minorities and underrepresented groups in the field. The result was the Association\u2019s Jewel L. Prestage and Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Endowment for Minority Opportunities<\/a>, which promotes and supports opportunities for minority students contemplating advanced training in political science.<\/p>\n

Diversifying political science<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Back home in Rochester he pushed the department to diversify its faculty. Fredrick Harris<\/a> started in 1994 as an assistant professor of political science, the department\u2019s first African American tenure-track hire.<\/p>\n

\u201cDick was a giant in the field of American politics, the most important political scientist studying the US Congress in the latter half of the twentieth century,\u201d says Harris who left Rochester as a full professor at the end of 2006 to become a professor of political science at Columbia University, where he also serves as dean of faculty in the social sciences.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the reason I decided to take the job at Rochester even though I had verbally agreed to take another job in my hometown,\u201d Harris remembers. He changed his mind because \u201cDick saw the value of my scholarship more than other mainstream political scientists and what I had dedicated my life to studying\u2014black politics.\u201d Ultimately, Harris says, it came down to three words Fenno wrote in a note to him in 1993: \u201cWe need you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fenno had persistently pushed the department to look for minority faculty members \u201cin part because he rightly believed that American politics is thoroughly inflected by race,\u201d his former colleague Johnson says. \u201cHe understood that the underrepresentation of African Americans in the profession required institutional remedy\u201d\u2014be it at the departmental or national level.<\/p>\n

Despite his many accolades and accomplishments, it never seemed to be about him. Unpretentious and modest, he was immensely proud of his graduate students and their work, recalls former colleague Gerald Gamm<\/a>, a Rochester professor of political science who served as chair of the department for a total of 13 years.<\/p>\n

But Fenno\u2019s modesty knew one exception.<\/p>\n

According to Kenneth Shepsle<\/a> \u201970 (PhD), the George D. Markham Professor of Government at Harvard, Fenno loved his wife and sons, Mark and Craig, most. After his family, in no particular order, he loved the University and the department. He loved being able to pursue his scholarly curiosity without constraint, and he loved keeping in close touch with his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut somewhere pretty high up on the list,\u201d says Shepsle, who earned his PhD under Fenno and Riker, \u201cwas the pride he took in the colorful annuals he planted each summer along the walkway of his Cape Cod home in Truro. Dick was never a man to brag, never someone to swell with pride, except on the subject of his flower garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

What struck students and colleagues alike was his approachability and genuine warmth. Fenno\u2019s office door in the department usually stood wide open. He would call out to passing colleagues and invite them in to talk about their research, ask about them. He usually whistled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was just the musical manifestation of Dick\u2019s inner joy,\u201d muses Gamm.<\/p>\n

In 1997 at the annual APSA conference, a panel of political scientists were eulogizing a fellow congressional scholar, Harvard\u2019s late Douglas Price<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As is frequently the case, the speakers\u2019 memories were as much about themselves as they were about the dead man. Then it was Fenno\u2019s turn. His remarks were carefully written out. \u201cHe told stories about Doug, he told stories about Doug\u2019s work, and he told stories about Doug\u2019s influence on people,\u201d says Gamm, deeply moved. \u201cDick made it through all his remarks without mentioning himself once.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Duggan<\/a>, a professor of political science and economics and the current chair of the Rochester political science department, was a junior faculty member when Fenno was still active in the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would often drop by my office or stop me in the parking lot to offer encouragement. He sincerely wanted to know how I was doing, and he never seemed too short on time to have a meaningful conversation. As a young scholar, I was struck that a giant of the political science discipline had the generosity to spend his time and attention on me, but that was very much typical of Dick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor did that empathy stop at the hallways of power. Riding the elevator with Fenno one day in the Capitol building in Washington, DC, a congressman joined them, Gamm remembers. Although Fenno had already abandoned research on him, the congressman greeted the Rochesterian like an old friend: \u201cWhere have you been, Dick? Why don\u2019t you come and visit me more often?\u201d he implored.<\/p>\n

Not many researchers get that kind of enthusiastic response in Washington, notes Gamm dryly, whose work shares a focus on Congress.<\/p>\n

Giving back to Rochester\u2019s students<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2011, the Fennos talked to the department about their desire to give back in a meaningful way, pledging the initial seed money for an undergraduate fellowship program. Other donors quickly followed suit and the Richard and Nancy Fenno Summer Fellowships in American Politics and Policy<\/a> was born.<\/p>\n

When Fenno officially retired in 2003, he had bequeathed to the University his trove of papers, interviews with congressional leaders, manuscripts, and talks. All of these materials were made accessible online<\/a> by his former students\u2014Sachs being one of them\u2014together with the help of staff at Rush Rhees Library.<\/p>\n

Sachs, who went on to become a successful attorney and business executive in the cable TV and telecommunications industries, first got to know Fenno in 1968. He calls Fenno a \u201cteacher, mentor, and friend\u2014all in one. His infectious curiosity, positive attitude about life, and genuine good nature made him a joy to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fenno remained enthusiastic about his research, students, and colleagues right up to his last academic days. While he had officially retired a decade earlier, he published his last book, The Challenges of Congressional Representation<\/a><\/em> in 2013. Until a few years ago, Fenno\u2014already in his late 80s\u2014could still be seen most days on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never stopped going until he couldn\u2019t any longer,\u201d says Shepsle.<\/p>\n

Serious about his work, which he insisted on doing in silence, he kept returning to one of the small library carrels on campus, the last space Fenno gave up at the University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there were many students and academics who felt that Dick had a special interest in them,\u201d Rothenberg says. \u201cThe truth was that he had a special interest in everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fenno is survived by his wife, Nancy, of Rye, New York; his son, Craig Fenno, of Armonk, New York; daughter-in-law, Sharon Fenno, of Albany; sister, Elizabeth Blucke, of Hingham, Massachusetts; and grandchildren Zachary Fenno, of New York City, and Sarah Fenno, of Armonk. Mark Fenno, the couple\u2019s oldest child, and Amy Fenno, their daughter-in-law and Craig\u2019s wife, predeceased him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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