Everett Carll Ladd

Everett Carll Ladd, Jr.
Born	(1937-09-24)September 24, 1937 Saco, Maine
Died	Willimantic, Connecticut
Nationality	American
Occupation	American Political Scientist and professor

Everett Carll Ladd, Jr. (September 24, 1937– December 8, 1999) was an American political scientist based at the University of Connecticut. He was best known for his analysis and collection of public opinion polls. He directed the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut; the Center's mission is to collect and preserve the reports and the original raw computerized data (on IBM cards and tapes) of polls and surveys since the 1930s. At his death, he had amassed 14,000 surveys from many countries. He was also an expert on the opinions and careers of social scientists.

Biography

Ladd was born on September 24, 1937, in Saco, Maine. He graduated from Bates College, and earned a PhD in political science from Cornell University. He was appointed professor of political science at the University Connecticut in 1964, and retired in 1999.

He wrote more than twenty books, including a widely-used university textbook on American government (The American Polity: The People and Their Government). He taught at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He was awarded fellowships by the Ford, Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations; the Center for International Studies at Harvard University; and the Hoover Institution and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, both at Stanford University. He has been called, "One of the leading realignment theorists."

Ladd was critical of grand models of realignment, and focused instead on highly specific details in major presidential elections.

He reached out to the public through a column in The Christian Science Monitor (1987–1995) and op-ed essays in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and elsewhere. The media often interviewed him regarding new polling results. He was a senior editor of Public Opinion magazine and an editor at The American Enterprise magazine.

He died of heart failure on December 8, 1999 in hospital at Willimantic, Connecticut.

Selected publications

• Reprinted with new introduction 1986 by University Press of America.
• Review in JSTOR.
• Review in JSTOR.
• Review in JSTOR.
• Review in JSTOR.
• Review in JSTOR.
• Textbook: 5th edition 1993.

External links

• Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
• Appearances on C-SPAN