Ralph Louis Ketcham (October 29, 1927 – April 26, 2017) was an American academic. For almost 60 years, he served as a professor of

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. Ketcham's academic focus was on political theory and the American founding with an emphasis on

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

Early life and education

Born on October 28, 1927, in

Berea, Ohio Berea ( ) is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,545 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A western suburb of Cleveland, it is a part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. Berea is home ...

, Ketcham was raised in

New Hartford, New York New Hartford is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 21,874. The name of New Hartford was provided by a settler family from Hartford, Connecticut. The Town of New Hartford contains a ...

. His parents were Sherman and Laura Murphy Ketcham. In 1959, he married Julia Stillwell. The couple had two children: Benjamin and Laura Lee. Ketcham attended the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), located in New London, Connecticut, is the United States service academies, U.S. service academy specifically for the United States Coast Guard. Founded in 1876, the academy provides education t ...

Allegheny College Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1815, Allegheny is the oldest college in continuous existence under the same name west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is a member of the G ...

, and

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

and earned his PhD in

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

in 1956.

Career

After obtaining his PhD, Ketcham taught briefly at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

. In 1963, he joined Syracuse's

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 1 ...

, which specializes in the

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

, and

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

. Though he retired in 1997, Ketcham continued to write and to teach an annual graduate symposium on the foundations of American thought.

Bibliography

He was the author of a dozen books, including: * Ketcham, Ralph. ''From Colony to Country: The Revolution in American Thought, 1750-1820''. New York: Macmillan, 1974. * Ketcham, Ralph, and Sean Runnette. ''The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates.'' Old Saybrook, Conn: Tantor Media, 2019 ** translated into Spanish as ''Escritos antifederalistas y debates de la convención constitucional de EE.UU.'' Barcelona: Hacer, 1996.
Presidents Above Party: The First American Presidency, 1789-1829
(1984) * Ketcham, Ralph Louis. ''Individualism and Public Life: A Modern Dilemma''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1987
Framed for Posterity: The Enduring Philosophy of the Constitution
(1993)
The Idea of Democracy in the Modern Era
(2004) * Ketcham, R. (2011). ''Madisons at Montpelier: Reflections on the founding couple'' University of Virginia Press, 2011.
Public-Spirited Citizenship: Leadership and Good Government in the United States
* Ketcham, Ralph. ''Benjamin Franklin''. New York: Washington Square Press, 1966.Benjamin Franklin
(1966) * Ketcham, Ralph Louis. ''The Idea of Democracy in the Modern Era''. Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas, 2004.
James Madison: A Biography
(1971) Ketcham also edited books of selected writings by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

and

Honors

* 1979 – Inaugural recipient of the Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Academic Achievement * 1987 – Selected as national professor of the year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education * 1999 – Honorary degree from Syracuse University * 2003 – George Arents Medal for career achievement

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ketcham, Ralph 1927 births 2017 deaths American writers Syracuse University alumni University of Chicago faculty Yale University faculty People from Berea, Ohio Colgate University people