Gary L. McDowell Professor, Tyler Haynes Interdisciplinary Professorship in Leadership Studies, Political Science and Law Curriculum Vitae Richmond Research Institute Profile University Communications Experts Guide Profile

Gary L. McDowell is a leading constitutional scholar who joined the Jepson faculty in 2003 after a distinguished career in public life and the academy.

For 11 years, McDowell directed the Institute of United States Studies and taught American studies at the University of London. He also served as a member of the United States-United Kingdom Educational Commission (The Fulbright Commission). Prior to his work in London, he directed the Office of the Bicentennial of the Constitution at the National Endowment for the Humanities, served as chief speechwriter for Attorney General Edwin Meese and held various positions at Tulane, Harvard, Harvard Law School and Dickinson.

He was a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution and Bradley Resident Scholar at the Center for Judicial Studies in Washington, D.C.

He is the author or editor of 10 books on subjects ranging from privacy to juvenile delinquency, politics, judicial power and the Constitution.

He has appeared on NBC's "Today Show," CBS's "Nightwatch," ABC's "Nightline," BBC and C-SPAN and was a commentator on the PBS special reports "The Kennedy Confirmation Hearings" and "The Bork Confirmation Hearings."

Dr. McDowell frequently lectures and participates in public events on and off-campus. In 2004, he served as a panelist for a University Reunion Weekend discussion on "The American Presidency." He also served as a discussant and moderator for a half-day session on the hot-button topic of federal judicial selection sponsored by the Richmond Law School and the Jepson School.

Courses and Syllabi

• Foundations of Leadership Studies [Syllabus]
• Creation of the American Republic [Syllabus]
• Tocqueville and the Problems of Democracy [Syllabus]
• The Politics of Law [Syllabus]
• Reason, Rhetoric and Leadership [Syllabus]

News

• Wall Street Journal: McDowell Reflects on Impact of Bork Nomination Process [Article]
• Student Field Trip to Supreme Court Includes Private Session with Justice Scalia [Article]
• Richmond Reels in Star Professors [Article]
• Constitutional Scholar Named to Professorship at University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies [Article]
• Text of McDowell's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Hearing on the Background and History of Impeachment, Nov. 9, 1998 [Transcript]

Projects

• The Politics of God and Man: The Higher Law Background of the American Constitution, book-length manuscript in progress.

Publications

Recent Books

• Juvenile Delinquency in the United States and the United Kingdom, co-edited with Jinney S. Smith. London: Macmillan, 1999.
• Friends of the Constitution: Writings of the "Other" Federalists, 1787-1788, co-edited with Colleen Sheehan. Indianapolis, Indiana: Liberty Press, 1998.
• Reason and Republicanism: Thomas Jefferson's Legacy of Liberty, co-edited with Sharon Noble. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997.

Recent Articles

• "The Politics of Meaning: Law Dictionaries and the Liberal Tradition of Interpretation," American Journal of Legal History (July, 2000): 257-283.
• "In Defense of the Electoral College." The Wall Street Journal Europe (November 10-11, 2001).
• "Clinton’s Other Perjury." The Wall Street Journal (August 30, 1999).
• "High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Recovering the Intentions of the Founders." George Washington Law Review (March 1999).
• "Censure -- the Non-Solution." Washington Times (January 11, 1999).
• "Here is How the President Could be Fired." Daily Telegraph (January 12, 1999).
• "The True History of High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Wall Street Journal (January 25, 1999).

Reviews

• "Old-timers Get a New Lease of Life." (Review of Bill C. Malone, Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’: Country Music and the Southern Working Class; Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg, Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music; and Carl Fleischauer and Neil Rosenberg, Bluegrass Odyssey: A Documentary in Pictures and Words, 1966-1986). Times Higher Education Supplement (July 11, 2003).
• "Weasel Words, Cowboy Deeds." (Review of Robert Kagan, Paradise & Power: America and Europe in the New World Order). Times Higher Education Supplement (June 6, 2003).
• "Sacrificing for Better Angels." (Review of Walter Berns, Making Patriots). Times Higher Education Supplement (May 3, 2002).
• "From the Ground Up." (Review of Paul S. Boyer, ed., The Oxford Companion to United States History). Times Literary Supplement (February 15, 2002).
• "Blessings of Liberty." (Review of Joseph M. Lynch, Negotiating theConstitution;Keith E. Whittington, Constitutional Interpretation; Keith E. Whittington, Constitutional Construction). Times Literary Supplement (August 31, 2001).
• "Hamilton, Jefferson and Hillary." (Review of Forrest McDonald, States Rights and the Union: Imperium in imperio, 1776-1876; Saul Cornell, The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America; Peter S. Onuf, Jefferson’s Empire: The Language of American Nationhood; and Karl-Friedrich Walling, Republican Empire: Alexander Hamilton on War and Free Government). Times Literary Supplement (November 24, 2000).
• "The Bill of Rights Proscribed." (Review of Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, The Bill of Rights: Government Proscribed). William and Mary Quarterly (April 1999).
• "Liberty’s Vestal Flame: Human Nature and the Constitution: What the Founders Thought." (Review of C. Bradley Thompson, John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty; Peter McNamara, Political Economy and Statesmanship; Jean M. Yarbrough, American Virtues; and Mark David Hall, The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798). Times Literary Supplement (April 30, 1999).
• "Judicial Activism Masquerading as Minimalism." (Review of Cass Sunstein, One Case at a Time: Judicial Minimalism on the Supreme Court). Washington Times (April 11, 1999).
• "Lacking Conviction." (Review of Richard A. Posner, An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton). Times Literary Supplement (November 19, 1999).

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