John Charles McAdams (October 26, 1945 – April 15, 2021) was an American associate professor of political science at

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

. McAdams taught courses on American politics and public policy, voter behavior, and the

John F. Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle w ...

; he ran a website on the assassination and has published a book on the subject, ''JFK Assassination Logic: How to Think about Claims of Conspiracy'' (2011). He described himself as "a debunker by temperament". McAdams was suspended by Marquette in 2014 for publicly criticizing a graduate student. McAdams filed suit for breach of contract and in 2018 the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin. Location The Wi ...

ordered the university to reinstate him.

Biography

Early life and education

McAdams attended Kennedy High School in

Kennedy, Alabama Kennedy is a town in Lamar County, Alabama, United States. It was incorporated by an act of the legislature on February 18, 1895. At the 2010 census the population was 447, down from 541 in 2000. Geography Kennedy is located at (33.580683, -87. ...

. He gained an undergraduate degree from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

and a masters from

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties a ...

.John C. McAdams,
JFK Assassination Logic: How to Think about Claims of Conspiracy
',

Potomac Books The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Unive ...

, 2011. p307 He earned his PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1981.

Career

McAdams taught courses on American politics and public policy and the

and has been published in the ''

American Journal of Political Science The ''American Journal of Political Science'' is a journal published by the Midwest Political Science Association. It was formerly known as the ''Midwest Journal of Political Science''. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal ...

'', ''

Journal of Politics ''The Journal of Politics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of political science established in 1939 and published quarterly (February, May, August and November) by University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science Assoc ...

'', ''

Sociological Quarterly ''The Sociological Quarterly'' (''TSQ'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Taylor and Francis for the Midwest Sociological Society. It covers all areas of sociology and publishes both quantitative and qualitative research. ...

'', and ''

Law and Contemporary Problems Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke Law) is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit ...

''. McAdams maintained The Kennedy Assassination Home Page, a web page of articles, resources, and links devoted to debunking various conspiracies regarding the assassination. The site has been called "impressively comprehensive", "the best gateway to serious and reliable materials" and "the best collection of Kennedy assassination-related information." He was also the moderator of the

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

group alt.assassination.jfk. He is the author of the book ''JFK Assassination Logic: How to Think about Claims of Conspiracy'' (2011).

Controversy

On December 12, 2014, McAdams was placed on indefinite academic leave from Marquette University and was suspended from all teaching and faculty duties, banned from campus but retaining pay and benefits. This indefinite suspension came about after McAdams publicly called out a graduate student and instructor by name, in a post on his private blog. He said the instructor had refused to allow a student in an ethics class to talk about

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

in class. A letter from Marquette University indicated that the firing was the result of his thrice violating student privacy and deliberately publishing students' names and information to target them for harassment, and because he had done so in the third instance, despite previously acknowledging that posting student names was a matter of concern. On March 24, 2016, Marquette released an announcement detailing the decision of University President Michael Lovell, formally implementing the unanimous recommendation contained in a 123-page report composed by the Faculty Hearing Committee after a 4-day investigation. McAdams' suspension was extended until January 2017 without pay but with benefits, and any return was conditioned on his writing a full letter of apology by April 4, 2016. McAdams told local news media that the requirement to write an apology was "a deal killer. No, I`m not going to do that." The announcement triggered a barrage of hateful and threatening messages and emails directed at the graduate student and at Marquette University officials. The graduate student later transferred to another university, saying she feared for her safety. On April 4, 2016, McAdams issued a 4-page letter to President Lovell, formally rejecting his demands, and calling them "compelled speech." McAdams filed a lawsuit against Marquette, alleging that the suspension and pending dismissal amounted to a breach of contract. In response the university released the 123-page Faculty Hearing Committee report, which alleged a pattern of bullying and reckless behavior by McAdams, including at least three previous attempts to intimidate fellow faculty members by threatening to publish their names to his blog. In July 2018, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered the university to reinstate him.McAdams v. Marquette University, Wisconsin Supreme Court No. 2017AP001240, https://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=215236 (July 6, 2018) Following a sabbatical, McAdams returned to the university in 2019.

Death

McAdams died on April 15, 2021.

Politics

McAdams has been described as a "vocal conservative" and was a proponent of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. In 2006, he testified before the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Subcommittee of the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nomination ...

as an expert on capital punishment. McAdams ran the blog ''Marquette Warrior'' which was linked, along with several other blogs, to a pro-Walmart PR effort.

Books

* ''JFK Assassination Logic: How to Think about Claims of Conspiracy'',

, 2011 * ''The New Class in Post-Industrial Society''
Palgrave Macmillan
2015

References

External links

Marquette faculty page

The Kennedy Assassination Home Page

Marquette Warrior blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McAdams, John C. 1945 births 2021 deaths American male non-fiction writers American political writers Critics of conspiracy theories Marquette University faculty University of Alabama alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Harvard University alumni People from Lamar County, Alabama Political science educators Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy Writers from Alabama American bloggers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male bloggers