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With the surprising, if probably brief, rise of Newt Gingrich in the polls comes a renewed interest in his career, or careers, particularly the one he had in higher education.
As John Pitney writes for the Washington Post’s Five Myths section, one of the myths appears to be that Gingrich is an academic. He really isn’t. As Pitney explains:
He earned a Ph.D. in history and taught college before winning a seat in Congress. He has often spoken of himself as an historian. In 1995, he told CNN’s Bob Franken: “I am the most seriously professorial politician since Woodrow Wilson.”
But whereas Wilson spent years publishing scholarly works, Gingrich was more like the professor who wins popularity awards with undergraduates but fails to get tenure because he hasn’t published anything significant. He even told a college paper in 1977 that “I made the decision two or three years ago that I’d rather run for Congress than publish the papers or academic books necessary to get promoted.”
But it’s not just that Gingrich doesn’t publish much, it’s that most of the things he does publish are pretty bad. He’s written more than 20 books—titles include gems such as To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine and To Try Men’s Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom—but he’s never really done any significant scholarship.
As Pitney writes,
A typical Gingrich work is full of aphorisms and historical references — and devoid of the hallmarks of academic research: rigor, nuance and consideration of alternative views. Conservative political scientist James Q. Wilson once assessed materials for a televised history course Gingrich was teaching as a “mishmash of undefined terms … misleading claims … and unclear distinctions.”
He may be “the most seriously professorial politician since Woodrow Wilson,” but he’s no Woodrow Wilson.
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Burr Deming on November 23, 2011 5:58 PM:
Newt's reputation as an intellectual powerhouse does not come from what he believes are his academic credentials. It comes from his vocabulary. Specifically, from one Toffleresque word he learned in college.
mr. irony on November 23, 2011 6:12 PM:
"There is no Supreme Court in the American Constitution." - Newt Gingrich 7/11/11
Article III of the US Constitution:
“The judicial power of the United States...shall be vested in one Supreme Court.”
ComradeAnon on November 23, 2011 6:46 PM:
He was an Assistant Professor at a 4th tier college who left after he couldn't get tenure.
Daniel Buck on November 23, 2011 9:04 PM:
Woodrow Wilson was not exactly one of America's first tier presidents. Combined the worst of two worlds, die hard segregationist and wooly-headed professor.
I'm surprised Gingrich didn't say that he's won more Nobel Prizes that Lyndon LaRouche; caught more Road Runners than Wile E. Coyote; held more jobs than Major Hoople.
All one needs to know about Newt Ginrich, the prince of grandiosity, is this quote from early in his career: "I represent real power," Gingrich said. "I can hold a press conference and that's a form of real power."
--Washington Post, 3 January 1985
Dan
RepubAnon on November 23, 2011 9:51 PM:
Well, Newt's halfway to a wit
Jonathan Zasloff on November 23, 2011 11:51 PM:
Gingrich isn't even CLOSE to the most professorial politician since Wilson. Ever heard of Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Senator Paul Douglas, war hero and progressive champion, was a genuinely great economist (he taught at U Chicago before its economics department became intellectually decadent): the "Cobb-Douglas" production function is still used by a lot of neo-Keynesian economists. Both of them were actually scholars. Gingrich is self-aggradizing charlatan -- and that's his good side.
chuck dc on November 24, 2011 12:36 PM:
add Rush Holt, Steve Horn and David Price tot he list of recent/current Members of Congress who are actual scholars as well as politicos.... Newt isn't half as thoughtful as any of those guys....
Darsan54 on November 25, 2011 8:57 AM:
Gingrich is what an ignorant, aggressively stupid person thinks a smart person sounds like. Newt's a mile wide and an inch deep intellectually. It's hard to hear when former congressman Vern Elhers, a nuclear physicist with decades of teaching experience, said publicly Newt is smarter than he sounds.
The sad thing is people just don't see thru his act.
POed Lib on November 26, 2011 3:50 PM:
Another actual historian and scholar is George McGovern. He was a tenured professor of history and politics at Dakota Wesleyan University, a small 3rd tier university in South Dakota. He writes well-researched books. He published a Lincoln biography last year, and now has a book about what liberals believe.
nk007 on November 26, 2011 7:34 PM:
I just wanted to second you, POed Lib, for your shout out about George McGovern. Whenever Newt promotes himself as the only historian to run for President, reporters should ask him about George McGovern who is both a scholar and a genuine war hero. Very few people in America know this aspect of George McGovern, one of the most highly educated candidate, and a genuine war hero, to run for president.
H.Finn on November 27, 2011 6:41 PM:
nk007...Exactly right, and these guys (like McGovern) don't blow their own horn all that much...all the while a vacuous press run after fakers like Gingrich and strutting fools like Perry all day long, and then some. At least Newt is getting called out in a few venues this round, but not nearly enough...this guy should be shunned on his hypocrisy alone.
yellowdog on November 27, 2011 6:54 PM:
@Jonathan Zasloff on Wed 23 Nov 2011 11:51 PM
Great call on Paul Douglas and Moynihan.
JON on November 30, 2011 7:24 AM:
HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE 'YOU' WRITTEN?
I'M NOT A GREAT FAN OF NEWT BUT YOUR CRITICISM OF HIM
AS NOT MEETING YOUR 'ACADEMIC STANDARDS' IS LAUGHABLE
IF SUCH CRITICISM OF NEWT TYPIFIES THE LEFT'S APPROACH TO HIM IF HE IS THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE, NEWT WINS EASILY
AND I'M NOT SURE IF I WILL VOTE FOR HIM -- BUT I'LL DEFINITELY 'NOT' VOTE FOR OBAMA
WORST PRESIDENT WE'VE EVER HAD (AND I THOUGHT GEORGE W. WAS THE WORST!)
emjayay on December 03, 2011 10:44 AM:
At the risk of dignifying JON's comment with a reply:
I haven't written any books either, but I too can make judgements about Gingrich's frequent self-descriptions as a historian and professor. There are objective standards for who is a historian and a professor and how qualified and good at it they are. Writing a bunch of unreferenced fact-challenged screeds does not an academic make.
Newt falls far, far short of his self-descriptions. When confronted, he even lied about his extremely lucrative role at Freddie Mac. His record is as primarily a disgraced politician and grifter, not an academic.
jlt on December 03, 2011 1:44 PM:
He submitted his own name for tenure at a backwater Georgia college and they turned him down...
a subscription to Readers Digest in the 1950-60's is the origin of newts vocab....he has not evolved since then...still a neanderthal...!
signalfire on December 04, 2011 3:29 PM:
At the risk of a visit from the Secret Service, FBI or CIA, how come people like Newt never have run-ins with 'lone assassins', small plane engine trouble/pilot error, or commit obvious suicide by way of two gunshot wounds in the head from four feet away?
Charles Giacometti on December 07, 2011 4:25 PM:
See Robert Drinan, SJ, who had his law degree from Georgetown and a Ph.D. in Theology, and taught law for nearly three decades.
I could do about 7 minutes of research and come up with more proof of FatBoy's lie.
Brad on December 15, 2011 9:40 PM:
I think what you're confusing there, jlt, is that Newt "submitted his own name" for consideration as Department Head during his second year on the job (as an untenured Assistant Professor). He has always had hubris.