Description
The materials in this collection document the professional role of Charles R. Nixon, a Professor Emeritus of Political Science
at UCLA, as a scholar of political theory, African politics, and American Politics. The bulk of the collection consists of
articles, correspondence, clippings, data, notes, research materials, and miscellaneous printed matter.
Background
Charles R. Nixon was born in Rochester, New York, the son of a Presbyterian
minister. Nixon pursued his Ph.D. in political theory and philosophy at Cornell
University under the direction of Professors George Sabine/Philosophy and Robert
Cushman/Political Science. Nixon began his teaching career in Political Science
at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts from 1944-1947. He later joined
the faculty of the Political Science Department at the University of California,
Los Angeles in 1947. Nixon's intellectual interests evolved throughout his
professional tenure at UCLA. From 1947 to 1953 Nixon directed his teaching and
research to topics of political theory and the American political process. The
articles Nixon wrote during this period and political campaigns in which he
participated reflect these dual, yet overlapping interests. As an Associate
Professor in 1954, Nixon received a one-year appointment at the University of
Natal in Durban, Union of South Africa. Financed by a grant from the Carnegie
Corporation, Professor Nixon assisted in the formation of a program in advanced
training in social science research. Nixon's desire to teach and live in South
Africa was spurred by a belief that experiencing a non-Western culture was
necessary to sharpen his "fundamental knowledge of the underlying premises and
thought patterns of Western society." Nixon's immersion in the tumultuous racial
politics of apartheid South Africa became the topic of his seminal publication
"The Conflict of Nationalisms in South Africa," and marked the beginning of his
lifetime interest in African politics. Upon returning home from South Africa,
Nixon redirected the nature of his previously philosophical research toward a
more empirical approach (1955-1959). Drawing upon his previous experience as a
campaign worker, Nixon joined Professor Dwayne Marvick in a study of the
political behavior of active campaign workers in Los Angeles. This study of
political behavior examined the personal background, social context, and
motivational actors related to active participation in political campaigns.
Nixon also infused empirical methods into his teaching during this period by
incorporating survey research methods into the class "Public Opinion and
Propaganda" and addressing the relationship between empirical and theoretical
concepts in his course "Nature of Political Inquiry." From 1959 to 1969, Nixon
conducted several field research trips to Nigeria, Rhodesia, and Nyasaland. For
two years, 1959-1961, he was member of an M.I.T sponsored research team
examining the relationship between economic development and political change.
Nixon explored this research question by investigating political value trends
among Nigerian government expenditures. Nixon gathered copious quantitative data
on his project; returning to Nigeria on three occasions 1963, 1966, & 1969
to further update his data on government expenditures. In 1962, Nixon served as
Visiting Lecturer at the University of Rhodesia, Salisbury, organizing their
curriculum in political philosophy. In 1972, Nixon was appointed Chair of the
UCLA Political Science Department. While Chair of the Department Nixon was
responsible for recruiting several notable faculty members in addition to
improving departmental policies and resources. He resigned his chairmanship in
1976 in order to pursue his research project on "Power and Responsibility." This
project explored philosophic controversies about human responsibility, human
action, and causality. Prof. Nixon believed these concepts were critical to "our
understanding of some broader problems of political and social theory." He
continued to work on this project after his retirement in 1995.
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.