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Richard Montgomery Scammon (July 17, 1915 – April 27, 2001) was an American author, political scientist and elections scholar. He served as Director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 1961 to 1965. Afterwards, he worked for decades directing election analysis for NBC News.
Scammon was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1935. He later earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan, also in political science.[1]
Scammon enlisted in the Army during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. He served in occupied Germany after the war, rising to head the military government's office of elections and political parties. After his discharge, he served as chief of the research division in Western Europe for the U.S. Department of State from 1948 to 1955.[1]
After leaving government service, Scammon founded the Elections Research Center in 1955. Its enduring contribution was the long-running series of volumes, America Votes, which for the first time provided standard and reliable statistics for the results of major elections in all 50 states. (The biennial compilations, published by Congressional Quarterly's imprint, CQ Books, were later co-produced with Scammon associate Alice McGillivray. After Scammon closed the Center in 1995, Rhodes Cook has continued to oversee production of America Votes. Scammon also served as a consultant to NBC News in the 1960 general election, working with the RCA computers and methods to call state-by-state totals for the Presidential race. He was briefly introduced to the audience on the air on election night.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Scammon as Census Director, which he continued until 1965, during the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson. Indeed, on November 13, 1963, Scammon was at the table for the 1st Planning Meeting of JFK's 1964 Campaign To Re-elect The President; a campaign which never occurred. According to the Washington Post, while serving as Director of the Census, Scammon was "a personal adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson on public opinion and political trends."[2]
投票に関する研究に戻ったスカモンは、1968年11月にNBCニュースに雇われ、選挙当夜の大規模な報道を指揮した。彼は1988年までNBCのコンサルタントとして仕事を続けた。[ 3 ] 1976年にはアメリカ統計学会のフェローに選出された。[ 4 ]
作家として、スカモンの最も有名な作品は、ベン・J・ワッテンバーグと共著した『真の多数派：アメリカの有権者に関する並外れた考察』（1970年）[ 5 ]である。ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙は、この作品を「民主党が生き残るためには、20世紀前半のアメリカの選挙を支配していた経済問題を超えて、アメリカ中西部の有権者を深く悩ませている社会問題に目を向ける必要がある」と主張していると評した。スカモンの言葉を借りれば、典型的な有権者は「若くなく、貧しくなく、黒人でもない」。彼の率直な表現は「多くの民主党員を驚かせたが、他の人々には真実として響いた」[ 3 ] 。
ある意味では、『真の多数派』はケビン・フィリップスの1969年の著書『共和党の台頭する多数派』への回答として機能した。[ 6 ]また、ニューディールの政治から、特に大統領レベルでのよりイデオロギー的な政治への移行を予見しており、これは1972年、1980年、1984年、1988年の共和党にとって大きな利益となった。[ 7 ]
スカモンはメアリー・アレン・スカモンと結婚し、メリーランド州チェビー・チェイスに50年間住んでいた。彼はゲイザースバーグの老人ホームでアルツハイマー病で亡くなった。[ 2 ]