Wallace Stanley Sayre (June 24, 1905 – May 18, 1972) was an American political scientist who taught at Columbia University and was considered a leading authority on New York City politics by '' The New York Times''. He is most famous for being the namesake of

Sayre's law Sayre's law states, in a formulation quoted by Charles Philip Issawi: "In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake." By way of corollary, it adds: "That is why academic politics are so bitt ...

Biography

Sayre was born in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, on June 24, 1905. He received his B.A. from Marshall University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University, where he wrote his dissertation on the

La Follette family The La Follette family is a prominent family in the United States, especially in Wisconsin. Many of the family members have pursued political office. Members * Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (1855–1925), District Attorney of Dane County, Wisconsi ...

of Wisconsin. From 1938 to 1942, he was a member of the New York City Civil Service Commission. He was ousted by Fiorello La Guardia after criticizing the political motivations of the mayor's appointments. From 1942 to 1946, he held posts in the Office of Price Administration becoming director of personnel. He subsequently taught at New York University, Cornell University and

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, before moving to Columbia University in 1954, where he was the Eaton Professor of Public Administration until his death. At Columbia, Sayre wrote the 815-page book ''Governing New York City'' with

Herbert Kaufman Herbert Kaufman (March 6, 1878 – September 6, 1947) was an American writer and newspaperman whose editorials were widely syndicated in both the United States and Canada. During World War I, Kaufman regularly contributed articles and editorials ...

that discussed the stakeholders and dynamics of New York City's political system.{{Cite web, title=Governing New York City {{! RSF, url=https://www.russellsage.org/publications/governing-new-york-city, access-date=2022-01-26, website=www.russellsage.org Sayre suffered a heart attack when he was in private conversation with mayor John Lindsay on May 18, 1972. He was pronounced dead at

Beekman Downtown Hospital NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital is a nonprofit, acute care, teaching hospital in New York City and is the only hospital in Lower Manhattan south of Greenwich Village. It is part of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and one ...

that morning.

References

1905 births 1972 deaths People from Point Pleasant, West Virginia Marshall University alumni New York University alumni New York University faculty Cornell University faculty City College of New York faculty Columbia University faculty