“...since the founding of the American nation, no scholar has contributed more to the understanding of its legislative branch, the U.S. Congress, than Richard F. Fenno, Jr."
Nelson W. Polsby, Jr. (dec), Heller Professor of Political Science (1967-2007)
University of California, Berkeley
About Richard. F. Fenno, Jr.
Richard F. Fenno, Jr. was born on December 12, 1926 in Winchester, Massachusetts. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Fenno attended Amherst College, and in 1948 received his Bachelor’s degree. That same year he married Nancy Davidson. The couple had two children, Mark and Craig. Fenno pursued a PhD in Political Science from Harvard University and completed his degree in 1956. Two years before joining the University of Rochester’s Political Science Department, he taught at Wheaton College, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Amherst College. Fenno joined the University of Rochester’s Political Science Department in 1957. In 1959, Fenno’s PhD dissertation The President’s Cabinet was published by Harvard University Press. Fenno served from 1970-1978 as the Don Alonzo Watson Professor of History and Political Science. In 1978, he was named the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. In 1985, Fenno was named “Distinguished University Professor.” In honor of Fenno’s service to the University, in 2005, the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Seminar Room was dedicated in Harkness Hall. In 2007, Fenno celebrated his fiftieth year teaching at the University of Rochester. Fenno passed away on April 21, 2020.
The Richard F. Fenno Jr. Award for Political Inquiry
Established by grateful student Gail A. Lione ’71, the Richard F. Fenno, Jr., Award for Political Inquiry recognizes extraordinary contributions that have advanced the field of political science and/or the study of congressional representation. Recipients are widely admired in their fields of scholarship and showcase characteristics that Professor Fenno embodied, such as dedication to teaching, mentorship, and relationship building.
The Fenno Paradox
“We do, it appears, love our congressmen. On the other hand, it seems equally clear that we do not love our Congress.”
— Richard F. Fenno, Jr, in a 1975 essay entitled “If, as Ralph Nader says, Congress Is ‘The Broken Branch,’ How Come We Love Our Congressmen So Much?” For more on the now-famous “Fenno’s Paradox,” see Wikipedia, and Fenno’s landmark 1978 book Home Style: House Members in Their Districts, a study of eighteen representatives of Congress in their home districts.
Selected Works
“Richard Fenno's [total body of work] is the most important contribution to congressional scholarship during recent generations.”
David R. Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science
Yale University
Articles & Essays
“The Changing Senate in the Cannon Years,” Halcyon, 1989
“The Senate Through the Looking Glass: The Debate Over Television,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 14: 313-48 (March 1989)
“Observation, Context and Sequence in the Study of Politics,” American Political Science Review, 80, No. 1 (March 1986), pp. 3-15
Lectures
“The Changing Senate in the Cannon Years,” talk delivered at the University of Nevada, 1988
“American Election,” talk delivered at SUNY Brockport, 1995
Graduation talk delivered at the University of Rochester, 2006
Soak & Poke
“This is a kind of research — the study of people in their natural setting — that is not much written about by political scientists. Described … as ‘soaking and poking — or just hanging around,’ it is more formally known as field research, or qualitative research, or — our preference — participant observation.”
— Richard F. Fenno, Jr., "Notes on Method: Participant Observation," Appendix in Home Style: House Members in Their Districts. 1978. Reissued as part of the “Longman Classics in Political Science” series in 2003.
Internships & Fellowships
Washington Semester Program
The Washington Semester Program offers internships in Congress, the executive branch, party campaign committees, and lobbying, advocacy and policy groups. An internship provides a student the opportunity to learn experientially one or more of the following: how government functions; how public policies are created, adopted and implemented; and how political campaigns work.
Summer Fellowships
The Richard and Nancy Fenno Summer Fellowships are designed to support and encourage Rochester undergraduates to engage in activities that will stimulate their personal and intellectual growth and which will make them even more valuable members of the university community upon their return to campus. Click here to learn more about this and other Political Science Department internship programs.
Rush Rhees Library (credit: University of
Rochester Communications)
The Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Papers
The Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Papers are maintained and made accessible at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation (RBSCP) at Rush Rhees Library.
A tribute to Professor Fenno's life and contributions can be read here.