Charles O. Jones, expert on Congress and the presidency, dies at 92

Charles O. Jones, an American political scientist who was a leading authority on Congress and the presidency of the United States, died on January 3 in Fishersville, Virginia. He was 92 years old.

His death, in a hospice, was confirmed by his son Daniel.

Through decades of teaching at various universities, as well as some 18 books he wrote or edited and dozens of review articles and oral history projects, Mr. Jones, a former president of the American Political Science Association, has demonstrated of a distinctive gift for simplifying the complexities of the American political system.

The American method of government “is the most complicated ever devised,” Mr. Jones wrote in “The Presidency in a Separated System.” (1994). But while he respected that complexity, he was not impressed by it. As a working-class Midwesterner, he felt it was his mission to demystify the complex.

Mr. Jones went to great lengths to demonstrate in a simple, down-to-earth manner that, while the American system of checks and balances and separation of powers was unique, it was the product of flesh-and-blood people interacting with each other . another.

He wrote in “The American Presidency: A Very Short Introduction” (2007) that from the nation's founding, “presidents would live and work within a constitutional construct that divided powers to promote and preserve unity.”

Then he warned the reader:

“Think about it: separate to unite. As you reflect on that aphorism, you will come away with a greater admiration for what was accomplished in Philadelphia, not to mention providing a basis for understanding American government and politics.”

Mr. Jones was “an astonishingly productive and meticulous researcher,” Ross K. Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University, said in a telephone interview.

“Especially in his investigation of Congress, he wanted to touch the bones,” Mr. Baker said. “He felt he had to talk to them. Political scientists rarely do that. He thought the human side was so important.”

That grounding in the earthly realities of politics made Mr. Jones a favorite of journalists, who over the years called on him to deliver the quote that would neatly sum up a complicated situation.

Although he was an expert on the presidency — he spent hours interviewing former White House officials for an oral history project at the University of Virginia — he insisted that American presidents were just part of a system of American government. They should not be the focus, he emphasized.

“Focusing exclusively on the presidency can lead to a seriously distorted view of how the national government does its work,” Mr. Jones wrote in “The Presidency in a Separated System.” “The simple fact is that the United States does not have a presidential system. It has a divorced system.”

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Mr. Jones taught from 1988 to 1997 and was professor emeritus, he was part of “one of the nation's leading political science departments,” Mr. Baker said. He also taught at the University of Pittsburgh and was affiliated with the Brookings Institution.

Mr. Jones' other books included “The Trusteeship Presidency: Jimmy Carter and the United States Congress” (1988), “The Reagan Legacy: Promise and Performance” (1988), “Separate but Equal Branches: Congress and the Presidency” (1995) , “Passages to the Presidency: From Campaigning to Governing” (1998), “Clinton & Congress, 1993-1996: Risk, Recovery, and Reelection” (1999); and “Preparing to Become President: The Memos of Richard E. Neustadt” (2000).

Mr. Jones was what Mr. Baker called “an Eisenhower Republican,” distrustful of Democrats, whom he found “a little too eager to expand the reach of the federal government.” His son Daniel said in a telephone interview that he had a “real approach to life.”

That approach was most likely influenced by the unusual circumstances of Mr. Jones's difficult beginnings in the Midwest.

Charles Oscar Jones was born on October 28, 1931 in Worthing, SD, the eldest son of Llewellyn and Marjorie Jones. His father was an impoverished Congregationalist minister.

Both parents were abusive, Daniel Jones said, and at age 12, Charles decided he had had enough. With the money he had saved through a paper route, he bought a bus ticket and ran away from home (which was in Davenport, Iowa at the time) with his belongings in a pillowcase.

He reached Dallas, where he lived on the streets and was arrested and jailed for vagrancy, Daniel Jones said. When authorities called his parents, he said, they responded, “Hold him.” Mr. Jones eventually reached his paternal grandparents in Canton, SD; they had previously cared for him and arranged his travel home. The rest of what turned out to be a happy childhood was spent with his grandfather, a grain elevator manager he called “Pa,” and his grandmother.

Mr. Jones went on to earn a BA in political science from the University of South Dakota in 1953, and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin in 1956 and 1960.

In addition to his son Daniel, he is survived by his wife Vera (Mire) Jones; another son, Joe; two brothers; a sister; and three grandchildren.

Daniel Jones said the trials of the presidency, an institution his father revered, were “difficult for him in the last twenty years of his life” and left him “disillusioned.” But he added: “He was still very patriotic. He would always cherish this country as a beacon.”