HOXIE, R(alph) Gordon 1919-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born March 18, 1919, in Waterloo, IA; died October 23, 2002, in Oyster Bay Cove, NY. University administrator, educator, and author. Hoxie was a well-known expert on the history of the American presidency. He earned his bachelor's degree from Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) and his master's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison before joining the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942. He fought in the Pacific theater during World War II, earning the rank of captain and a Legion of Merit honor by war's end. Returning to his schooling, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1950. Meanwhile, he also continued to serve in the Air Force reserve and eventually rose to the rank of brigadier general. During the late 1940s Hoxie was a fellow and then provost assistant at Columbia University. His relatively brief teaching career involved a stint as an assistant history professor at the University of Denver from 1950 to 1953. Most of his university career, however, was spent in administrative positions at Long Island University, where he was a dean, chancellor, and provost. Hoxie rather infamously suffered through a controversial period in the university's history during the turbulent 1960s when he served as president. Hoxie and the provost, William M. Birnbaum, disputed issues regarding raising tuition and student dress codes, both of which Hoxie favored and Birnbaum opposed. When Hoxie forced his opponent to resign, students protested violently and he had to be rescued by campus police. Following this protest Hoxie resigned from his office and founded the Center for the Study of the Presidency, which he led for the next three decades. His interest in the subjects of government and the American presidency also led to a number of books, including Command Decision and the Presidency: A Study in National Security Policy and Organization (1977), The Center at Mid-Passage: The Quest for Good Government (1992), The Dictionary of American History (1996), and The Moral Authority of Government (1999).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

books

Directory of American Scholars, tenth edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

periodicals

New York Times, October 30, 2002, p. A24.