| |
| |
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient James Q. Wilson
Professor James Q. Wilson
James Q. Wilson has written influential works on the nature of human morality, government, and criminal justice issues. A noted social commentator and professor at both Harvard and UCLA, his books include Varieties of Police Behavior: The Management of Law and Order in Eight Communities, The Moral Sense, and The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families.
On first contact about being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom this is what Professor Wilson had to say...
What did you think about being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
I was overwhelmed -- I had no idea that it was about to happen. When the Deputy Chief of Staff of the White House called me at home, she asked, “Is this James Wilson?”
I said “Yes.”
There was a long pause, and then she asked, “How do I know that this is the James Wilson I want to talk to?”
And I said, “Well, my middle initial is ‘Q,’ does that help?”
And she said, “A bit. What have you written?” So I began reciting some titles of books, and she said, “Well, you sound like the one I want to talk to. The President is going to award you the Medal of Freedom,” at which point I nearly fell off my chair. But I got her phone number, in order to call her back, to make sure it wasn’t one of my friends producing a hoax. It was a great experience. You walk on air for a week before it happens, and two weeks after it does happen. As near as I can tell, there’s no way of planning to win the medal -- it’s not like the Nobel Prize for Peace, in which you get interest groups to write off to the Swedes or the Norwegians telling everybody what a great person you are. Suddenly it just happens. It’s something that the president, on the advice of the committee he appoints, simply decides to do.
But it’s nice to sit there with (basketball coach) John Wooden and (Czech playwright) Vachlav Havel and family members from (atomic scientist) Edward Teller and (historian)Jaques Barzun and the other winners -- Van Cliburn . You felt like you were in pretty distinguished company. And President and Mrs. Bush couldn’t have been nicer.
Education
Ph.D., 1959, A.M., 1957, University of Chicago;
A.B., 1952, University of Redlands
Since beginning his distinguished career as a professor of government at Harvard University in the 1960's, James Q. Wilson has earned a reputation as a criminologist, economist and political analyst. From 1961 to 1986 James Q. Wilson was a professor of government at Harvard and from 1986 until 1997 the James Collins Professor of Management at UCLA. He is the author or coauthor of twelve books, including American Government, Thinking About Crime, Varieties of Police Behavior, Political Organizations, Crime and Human Nature, Bureaucracy, and his most recent, The Moral Sense.
He has edited or contributed to books on urban problems, government regulation of business, and the prevention of delinquency among children, including Crime and Public Policy, From Children to Citizens: Families, Schools, and Delinquency Prevention, Understanding and Controlling Crime, and Drugs and Crime. Professor Wilson has served on a number of national commissions concerned with public policy. He was chairman of the White House Task Force on Crime in 1966, chairman of the National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention in 1972-1973, a member of the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime in 1981, a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1985 to 1990, and he now serves on the board of directors of the New England Electric System, Protection One, the RAND Corporation, and State Farm Mutual Insurance. He is also Chairman of the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute. He has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Philosophical Society. In 1990 he received the James Madison award for distinguished scholarship from the American Political Science Association and served as that organization's president. In 1994 the APSA presented him with the John Gaus Award for exemplary scholarship in public administration. The American Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences presented him with the Bruce Smith Award for "outstanding contributions to criminal justice."
Educated at the University of Redlands (AB, 1952) and the University of Chicago (PhD, 1959), he has received honorary degrees from six universities (most recently, Harvard University). From 1952-1955, he served in the United States Navy. He is married to the former Roberta Evans.
Crime
Public Policies for Crime Control
James Q. Wilson and Joan Petersilia (Editor)
Crime combines the facts and perspectives of the nation's top experts on crime and criminal justice. It tells the readers in clear prose what we know - and just as important, what we don't know. Because there is little knowledge about crime, and the moral basis of crime control is contested, these authors do not always agree, but their lucid and research-driven arguments will improve public discussion of the issues and approaches. What causes crime and can it be prevented? What is the impact of guns, drugs, police, prison, schools, families, genetics? Read this book for in-depth answers.
|
|
|
|
|
Medal History
