Walter Fairleigh Dodd (April 7, 1880 in

Hopkinsville, Kentucky Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2010 census was 31,577. History Early years The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 b ...

– April 14, 1960) was a professor in the

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 at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

who wrote "one of the most important books on the process of amending state constitutions."

Biography

He graduated from Florida State College in 1898, and received a Bachelors in Science from John B. Stetson University in 1901. At the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, he was a Fellow, 1902–1904, and received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1905. In 1904–1907, he was in charge of the section of foreign law in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. He held a research appointment at Johns Hopkins in 1908–1910, in 1910–1911 was associate in political science, in 1911–1914 assistant professor, and in 1914–1915 associate professor of political science in the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. After 1915, he was associate professor of political science in the

. He served as the second Secretary of the State of Illinois' Legislative Reference Bureau in 1917–1918. He was president of the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

from 1945–1946. In retirement, in 1946, Walter Dodd was retained to represent Vashti Cromwell McCollum in her landmark case challenging released time sectarian religious classes in the public schools of Champaign Illinois. The result was the 1948 decision, eight to one, in her favor (333 US 203).

Works

*''The Revision and Amendment of State Constitutions'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1910) *''Administration of workmen's compensation''. New York: The Commonwealth Fund; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1936. 845pp. ("This study has been conducted under the auspices of the legal research committee of the commonwealth fund. cf. Foreword.")

References

1880 births 1960 deaths People from Hopkinsville, Kentucky Stetson University alumni University of Illinois faculty University of Chicago faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty Political science writers {{polisci-bio-stub