Westel Woodbury Willoughby - Calcutta Review 1923 9(3)

Westel Woodbury Willoughby (20 July 1867 – 25 March 1945) was an American

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. He and his twin brother to

William F. Willoughby William Franklin Willoughby (born 1867 in Alexandria, Virginia – died 1960) was an author of public administration texts including works on budgeting. He often worked with his twin brother, Westel W. Willoughby. He graduated from Johns Hopkins ...

were the sons of

Westel Willoughby Westel Willoughby (April 3, 1830 – December 21, 1897) was an American lawyer and soldier, who briefly served on the Virginia Supreme Court during Congressional Reconstruction, and unsuccessfully ran for statewide office several times. Early an ...

and Jennie Rebecca (Woodbury) Willoughby. Their lawyer father had been

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

with the

New York Volunteers The New York Volunteers, also known as the New York Companies and 1st Dutchess County Company, was a British Loyalist Provincial regiment, which served with the British Army, during American Revolutionary War. Eventually, the New York Volunteer ...

, and after retiring due to injuries incurred at the

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

, served as a local prosecutor, then briefly as a trial judge and on the Supreme Court of Appeals for Virginia. Westel Woodbury Willoughby graduated with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

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 ...

in the class of 1888, continued with graduate work and received his

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

from Hopkins in 1891 at a time when political science was not yet recognized as a separate discipline. His degree was awarded by the combined departments of history and economics. On 27 June 1893, he married Grace Robinson, daughter of Franklin Marvin Robinson, a prominent lawyer in

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Il ...

. After practicing law for a few years with his father in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, Westel W. Willoughby joined the faculty at Hopkins. He moved to Maryland, and with his wife Grace and their two young children Westel Robinson Willoughby (Robinson) and Laura Robinson Willoughby in Baltimore's

Roland Park Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. History J ...

neighborhood in Maryland. At Professor Willoughby's urging, Johns Hopkins created the first department of

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 ...

, with him as the only professor. He continued to lead this department until retiring at the age of 65 in 1932. He helped to found 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, ...

and served as its 10th President. Some have referred to him as the "father of modern political science" due to his prolific publications. His first book, ''The Nature of the State'' was published in 1898. He went on to establish himself as one of the foremost authorities on Constitutional Law and the workings of the Supreme Court of the United States. Willoughby was invited as a guest lecturer to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

when he responded to a request from the Chinese Government in 1917 to assist as a Constitutional and Legal advisor for a period of one year. As a result of this work, he became a frequent advisor to the Chinese Government, including the

Washington Naval Conference The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, DC from November 12, 1921 to February 6, 1922. It was conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations. It was attended by nine ...

in 1921 and the two Opium Conferences in Geneva in 1924–1925 and again in 1931 where Willoughby also served as advisor to the Chinese delegation to the League of Nations. His numerous writings on China and Japan and their relationships prior to World War II are classics that are still used in education to this day. The Chinese Government awarded him the Order of Merit and the

Order of the Golden Grain The Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain (Order of Chia-Ho ()), more simply the Order of the Golden Grain, was an award of the Republic of China. The award consists of nine classes. Recipients * Francis Aglen * Albert I of Belgium * W ...

in appreciation for his contribution. His wife Grace, predeceased him by nearly 30 years, dying in 1907 at the age of just 36, and was buried at Linwood Cemetery in her hometown of Dubuque. Thus, the widower raised his two young children alone and never remarried. Along with his twin brother William Franklin Willoughby, an accomplished economist and political scientist, he bought a small island called Endiang on

Stoney Lake Stony Lake (also called Stoney Lake) is a lake in Peterborough County in central Ontario, Canada. There are three interconnected lakes (Upper Stony Lake to the northeast, Stony Lake in the centre, and Clear Lake to the southwest) which together ar ...

north of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1908 where both families spent their summers. Dr. Willoughby continued to live in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

until his death on 25 March 1945.

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby, Westel W. American political scientists 1867 births 1945 deaths American twins Johns Hopkins University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Alexandria, Virginia