Dr. Betty Glad, 82, died August 2, 2010. She enjoyed a truly distinguished career as a scholar of American politics and foreign policy. Betty was the Olin D. Johnston Professor of Political Science and Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of South Carolina. She was an exemplary scholar and an expert on the American presidency, U.S. foreign policy, and political leadership. She was the author of Jimmy Carter: In Search of the Great White House; Charles Evans Hughes and the Illusions of Innocence; Key Pittman: The Tragedy of a Senate Insider; and, most recently, An Outsider in the White House: Jimmy Carter, His Advisors, and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Cornell University Press, 2009). Betty was also editor or co-editor of The Psychological Dimensions of War, The Russian Transformation, and other books. In addition, she published dozens of articles, book chapters, and commentary. Her first book, Charles Evans Hughes, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Betty earned her BS degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Utah. She received her doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1962. Afterwards, she taught at Mt. Holyoke College and Brooklyn College and then taught for many years at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign. She also served as a visiting professor at New York University during the years 1986–88. Betty was one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. in political science and then teach at a Ph.D.-granting institution. She served as the first woman chair of the University of Illinois's department of political science. In 1989, she moved from Illinois to the University of South Carolina.
Betty was a dedicated teacher and an exemplary mentor to untold numbers of graduate students whose careers were enhanced with her care and guidance. As a pioneer and role model for women throughout the political science profession, she also was one of the first women to challenge prevailing conventions and gender discrimination in the discipline, and one of the first to attain national and international stature. As a result, she won many awards for both scholarship and leadership throughout her long career, including the Frank D. Goodnow Award from the APSA for a lifetime of contributions and service to the discipline and the Harold Lasswell Award from the International Society for Political Psychology for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to political psychology. In 2007, she received a distinguished alumna award from the University of Utah. She served in many posts and positions, including as president of the International Society for Political Psychology, president of the Presidency Research Section of the APSA, and vice-president of the APSA.
Betty's interests and scholarly contributions were wide-ranging, but she was particularly interested in the social psychology of political leadership. Her books and articles include analyses of the leadership styles of six recent American presidents, as well as Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Wilhelm deKlerk, Nelson Mandela, and many others. She was always fascinated by and attracted to and yet wary of both politics and political leadership. This was due mainly to her deep knowledge of many political leaders and the triumphs and tragedies of political history in which they played a part, but it was due also to her own experiences as an academic leader, political activist, and reflective citizen. Betty was a committed democrat, and also a committed Democrat, but her love of justice far transcended her other political commitments and fascinations. She enjoyed music and ballroom dancing, and, of course, reading and good conversation.
Intellectually vigorous to the end, Betty's successful career as a scholar and teacher, mentor and leader, was aided in no small measure by her personal courage, strength, and tenacity. These virtues also served her well in the last few years of her life, when she continued her work while combating a great many physical challenges. Betty is now buried next to her parents in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Jay and Edris Glad, and by her great-nephew and -niece, Christine and Jason Stout, and many close cousins. She also leaves behind many friends, colleagues, and former students in the United States and many other nations. A memorial service was held in the Rutledge College Chapel on the historic Horseshoe of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, on Sunday, August 8, 2010.
