Rozell, Mark J. 1959–

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Rozell, Mark J. 1959–

PERSONAL:

Born October 26, 1959, in Paterson, NJ. Education: Eisenhower College, B.A., 1982; University of Virginia, M.A., 1983, Ph.D., 1987.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Public Policy, George Mason University, 3401 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22201. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA, associate professor of political science, 1986-95; American University, Washington, DC, associate professor of political science, beginning 1996; Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, professor and chair of the department of politics, until 2004; George Mason University, Washington, DC, professor of political science, 2004—.

MEMBER:

American Political Science Association, Academy of Political Science, Southern Political Science Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fellow of National Endowment for the Humanities and American Political Science Association; Dirksen Center grant, Gerald Ford Foundation.

WRITINGS:

The Press and the Carter Presidency, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1989.

(Editor, with James F. Pontuso) American Conservative Opinion Leaders, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1990.

The Press and the Ford Presidency, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1992.

Executive Privilege: The Dilemma of Secrecy and Democratic Accountability, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1994, revised edition published as Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy, and Accountability, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2002.

(Coeditor) God at the Grass Roots: The Christian Right in the 1994 Elections, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 1995.

The Press and the Bush Presidency, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1996.

In Contempt of Congress, Praeger, 1996.

Second Coming: The New Christian Right in Virginia Politics, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1996.

(Editor, with William D. Pederson) FDR and the Modern Presidency: Leadership and Legacy, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1997.

(Editor, with Clyde Wilcox) God at the Grass Roots, 1996: The Christian Right in the American Elections, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 1997.

(Editor, with Charles S. Bullock III) The New Politics of the Old South: An Introduction to Southern Politics, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 1998, 2nd edition, 2003, 3rd edition, 2007.

(With Clyde Wilcox) Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering, CQ Press (Washington, DC), 1999, 2nd edition, 2006, 3rd edition, 2007.

(Contributor) Gary L. Gregg II and Matthew Spalding, editors, Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition, ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 1999.

(Editor, with Clyde Wilcox) The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2000.

(Editor, with John C. Green and Clyde Wilcox) Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Elections, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2000.

(Editor, with William D. Pederson and Frank J. Williams) George Washington and the Origins of the American Presidency, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2000.

(Editor, with Ethan Fishman and William D. Pederson) George Washington: Foundation of Presidential Leadership and Character, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2001.

(Editor, with John Kenneth White) Contemporary Readings in American History, Prentice Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ), 2002.

(Editor) Media Power, Media Politics, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2003.

(Editor, with John C. Green and Clyde Wilcox) The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2003.

(With Ryan J. Barilleaux) Power and Prudence: The Presidency of George H.W. Bush, Texas A&M University Press (College Station, TX), 2004.

(Editor, with Gary L. Gregg) Considering the Bush Presidency, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

The Values Campaign? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2006.

(Editor, with Gleaves Whitney) Religion and the Bush Presidency, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2007.

Religion and the American Presidency, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2007.

(Editor, with Kristin E. Heyer and Michael A. Genovese) Catholics and Politics: The Dynamic Tension between Religion and Politics, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mark J. Rozell is among the "most prolific and well-regarded academic observers of the Religious Right," Kimberly H. Conger noted in a Christian Century review of The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium, which Rozell edited with John Green and Clyde Wilcox. The book, in Conger's estimation, "gives both an excellent overview of the current activities and strategies of the movement and a solid explanation of the nuances in each state's political environment." Covering the development of the Religious Right from its inception in 1976, the essays in the book provide analyses of the movement's strategies and influence in several states, including South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon, and Maine. Countering the opposition of many analysts to the Religious Right's involvement in American political life, Rozell and his coeditors conclude the volume by inviting readers to reexamine entrenched beliefs about the place of religion in politics. Conger hailed this stance as "an important scholarly step" within this subject.

More specific cases of the Religious Right's political agenda are explored in several books, including Second Coming: The New Christian Right in Virginia Politics; God at the Grass Roots, 1996: The Christian Right in the American Elections, edited with Wilcox; and Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Elections, edited with Green and Wilcox. In Second Coming Rozell shows how the Christian Right became increasingly sophisticated in Virginia—for example, by making abortion a major campaign issue. The religious coalition launched an effective anti-abortion strategy, forcing moderate Republicans to endorse this platform or risk having to run against more extreme candidates backed by the Religious Right. Hailing the book as an impressive case study, Sociology of Religion critic H. Wesley Perkins concluded that Second Coming provides "a rich and fascinating portrait of how religious activists can infuse their interest into the life of a political party bringing both resources and constraints in the process."

In The Values Campaign? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections, Rozell and coeditors Green and Wilcox show that, although the Christian Right did succeed in making the 2004 election a campaign of "values," some interesting developments emerged. Though the Christian Right's support for George W. Bush provided some impetus for his campaign, Bush actually garnered more support from religious people in general, including Jews and white Roman Catholics. And while such voters may have agreed with the Christian Right's stand against same-sex marriage—one of the hot issues of the campaign—they could also have been motivated to vote Republican because of concerns about national security or Other matters.

Rozell has also examined various aspects of the presidency, including the relationship between the president and the media. His three books The Press and the Carter Presidency, The Press and the Ford Presidency, and The Press and the Bush Presidency analyze press clippings to identify when and how certain media images about each chief executive were introduced into public discourse. Reviewing the latter title, which focuses on the administration of George H.W. Bush, Frank Kessler wrote in Perspectives on Political Science that Rozell "does a masterly job of pointing up how perception shapes reality: How the press perceives that the president should lead and how the president perceives public expectations and press relations feed on one another." As Presidential Studies Quarterly contributor Robert A. Strong put it, this book—like the ones on Carter and Ford—"gives us the media's first draft of history in systematic and summary form." In addition, Strong noted, Rozell "also explains what may be wrong with that first draft."

In The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government, Rozell and coeditor Wilcox present the first scholarly work focusing on the effects of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal. While the articles provide diverse points of view about the topic, the suggestion in most chapters is that Bill Clinton, in the words of Presidential Studies Quarterly reviewer Russell Renka, "was the principal agent of his own historical black marks." Summarizing the book's insights about scandals in the oval office, Renka identified two lessons that emerge from the book: "One is that a careful distinction of a president's public conduct from private is essential yet still not close to firm resolution. Another is that this cannot be accomplished successfully in a heated partisan atmosphere reinforced by the scandal industry."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Political Science Review, March, 1997, Lyman A. Kellstedt, review of God at the Grass Roots: The Christian Right in the 1994 Elections, p. 197; June, 1997, Duane Oldfield, review of Second Coming: The New Christian Right in Virginia Politics, p. 467; June, 1998, M. Stephen Weatherford, review of FDR and the Modern Presidency: Leadership and Legacy, p. 467; September, 1998, Stuart A. Lilie, review of God at the Grass Roots, p. 714; September, 2000, Stephen J. Stambough, review of Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering, p. 730.

Campaigns & Elections, July, 2006, review of The Values Campaign? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections, p. 58.

Christian Century, April 20, 2004, Kimberly H. Conger, "Movement on the Right," p. 36.

Christianity Today, May 22, 2000, Mark Galli, review of Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Elections, p. 89.

Church History, September, 2002, Susie C. Stanley, review of Prayers in the Precincts, p. 680.

Constitutional Commentary, winter, 1996, Viet Dinh, review of Executive Privilege: The Dilemma of Secrecy and Democratic Accountability, p. 346.

Journal of Church and State, winter, 2001, Richard B. Riley, review of Prayers in the Precincts, p. 163; summer, 2004, Richard V. Pierard, review of The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium, p. 669.

Journal of Southern History, August, 2005, LeRoy Ashby, review of Power and Prudence: The Presidency of George H.W. Bush, p. 751; November, 2007, James M. Penning, review of The New Politics of the Old South: An Introduction to Southern Politics, p. 959.

Perspectives on Political Science, summer, 1997, Frank Kessler, review of The Press and the Bush Presidency, p. 165; winter, 1999, Ted G. Jelen, review of God at the Grass Roots, 1996: The Christian Right in the American Elections, p. 37; fall, 2001, Dennis M. Anderson, review of Prayers in the Precincts, p. 237; fall, 2001, John C. Hughes, review of The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government, p. 238.

Political Science Quarterly, summer, 1999, Lawrence S. Rothenberg, review of Interest Groups in American Campaigns, p. 343; spring, 2000, Marjorie Randon Hershey, review of Interest Groups in American Campaigns, p. 151; winter, 2000, Anna Greenberg, review of Prayers in the Precincts, p. 660; summer, 2003, Louis Fisher, review of Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy, and Accountability, p. 346.

Presidential Studies Quarterly, spring, 1998, Robert A. Strong, review of The Press and the Bush Presidency, p. 446; March, 1999, Charles H. Zwicker, review of FDR and the Modern Presidency, p. 203; March, 2001, Russell Renka, review of The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government, p. 175; December, 2004, Daniel Levin, review of Executive Privilege, p. 893; March, 2005, Gregory Domin, "The George W. Bush Presidency: Initial Assessments," p. 197; March, 2006, Joseph K. Unekis, review of Power and Prudence, p. 132; December, 2007, Donald W. Beachler, review of The Values Campaign?, p. 774.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2006, review of Interest Groups in American Campaigns; August, 2006, review of The New Politics of the Old South.

Social Science Quarterly, December, 2000, David C. Kimball, review of Interest Groups in American Campaigns, p. 1101.

Sociology of Religion, spring, 1998, H. Wesley Perkins, review of Second Coming, p. 95.

Washington Monthly, May, 1996, Alan Greenblatt, review of Second Coming, p. 56.

White House Studies, winter, 2004, Gary Aguiar, review of Considering the Bush Presidency, p. 103; fall, 2005, Jeremy B. Johnson, review of Power and Prudence, p. 581.