Vernon Floyd Cook (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 1987) is a former member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

. and former faculty member of the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Department. Cook was the first Director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. He was a cousin of former U.S. Representative

Robert E. Cook Robert Eugene Cook (May 19, 1920 – November 28, 1988) was an American attorney, politician, and judge. A Democrat, he is most notable for his service as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1963 and a judge o ...

Early life and military service

Cook was born in

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 Census. The city is counted as pa ...

. He left high school in 1944 to enlist in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

, and served as a cryptographer for the 231st AAF BU. He was stationed in

Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo () is the seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. The population was ...

, England, and Germany as part of

Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World Wa ...

. After his discharge from active duty, Cook served in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

and obtained the rank of captain. His reserve duties included teaching cryptographic and interrogation techniques at

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

. He married Sharen Louise Mills from

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

Education

Cook graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1951. He also attended

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

and completed the classwork required for a doctorate, but never his dissertation. He was posthumously awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the

in 1988.

Career

Teaching

Cook was an assistant professor of political science at

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

and

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

before becoming an associate professor at the University of Akron in 1965. He continued in that position after being elected to public office, until his death in 1987.

Politics

Cook was first elected to the

in 1972. In 1979, he was made Assistant Majority Floor Leader. He served on the Finance and Appropriations committee, the Ethics and Standards committee, the Rules committee and was chair of the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review.

Bliss Institute

In 1987, Cook was made the first director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the

. Although Cook had been Ray C. Bliss's choice, Cook's appointment was controversial. Despite some partisan wrangling, Cook was eventually given the post. An internship named for Cook provides students with the practical experience in politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Vernon Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Ohio State University alumni University of Akron alumni 1927 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American politicians