IN MEMORIAM: CHARLES H. BACKSTROM

Abstract

With Ronald Stinnett, Charles wrote the definitive work- Recount- on the contested Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1962. [...] 2008, this was the closest statewide election in Minnesota history, and after recounts and court challenges, Democrat Karl Rolvaag defeated incumbent Republican Elmer Andersen by 91 votes. According to the Urban & Regional Planning Economic Development Handbook, Minneapolis and St. Paul represent the only metropolitan area in the U.S. that has such a tax-base sharing policy.

As a 19-year-old 2nd lieutenant in the 6850 Internal Security Detachment, Charles Backstrom was assigned to the Nazi War Crimes trials in Nürnberg, Germany. At times, he was put in charge of the entire prison: 21 major war criminals and hundreds of other lesser officials. Charles came into contact with people such as Hermann Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, General Alfred Jodl, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Julius Streicher, Fritz Saukel, Albert Speer, and more than two dozen other Nazi officers. Writing home about Hermann Goering's suicide, he offered his parents a first-hand explanation of events that night:

I had been making the rounds with the German doctor. We just got as far as [Arthur] Seyss-Inquart, so I did not visit Goring, but Lt. MacLinden went with the doctor the rest of the way. I went on guard. Pretty soon Lt. Roska the doctor came rushing in, and then Col. Andrus, so when Lt. Pace came down ... I asked him what was the matter. He really looked excited. He says, "Goring committed suicide." . . . As far as we can figure, this is what happened. He must have put the vial into his mouth when the guard changed, because, although there isn't supposed to be one, there probably was a second or so when no one was looking in. The guard changed at 22:30. Then [Goring] just lay there, and about 22:45 crushed the vial. The guard saw him stiffen a little, then make a choking sound. He yelled for the corporal of the guard, who called the prison office. Lt. Croner and MacLinden rushed down with the Chaplain . . . Croner went for the German doctor, but Goring died a few seconds later. The chaplain grabbed his wrist and said, "My God, this man's dead." And he was. His face was twisted in agony as only a violent poison death can do.1

After his military service ended, Charles Backstrom began his civilian career in 1949 as a high school social science and journalism teacher in Morehead, Minnesota. In 1956, he received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin, where he won the Genevieve Gorst Herfurth Award- still given today- for the best social studies dissertation. His first position as a political scientist was at Eastern Michigan University from 1955-59. He then taught American politics and research methods at the University of Minnesota from 1959 until his retirement in 1996, attaining the rank of full professor in 1970. Throughout this time, Charles continuously promoted professionalism, excellence, and mature scholarship, all the while imparting a steady flow of wisdom and insight to his younger colleagues. He embodied excellence with a humane face, at all times. That is just part of his continuing legacy in the University of Minnesota political science department.

When Charles did his graduate work in political science, the discipline was experiencing the behavioral revolution, a major challenge to traditional modes of research that had dominated the field. He was among the earliest scholars in the broad area of electoral behavior, and he developed impressive competencies in statistical analysis and computer programming. Along with Gerald Hursh-Cesar he published Survey Research, an impressive and very early tour de force introducing systematic data collection and analysis methods to an emergent cohort of behavioral political scientists. Published by Northwestern University Press in 1961, it set high standards of rigor and professionalism for this new field of scholarship during the 19605 and 19705. It stood the test of time by being rewritten, more than doubled in size, and re-published by John Wiley & Sons in 1981. This entirely revised and expanded second edition continued to be influential through the 1980s and 1990s.

With Ronald Stinnett, Charles wrote the definitive work- Recount- on the contested Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1962. Until 2008, this was the closest statewide election in Minnesota history, and after recounts and court challenges, Democrat Karl Rolvaag defeated incumbent Republican Elmer Andersen by 91 votes. As we write this today, an equally close statewide election is being decided in essentially the same way. It is ironic that Charles Backstrom passed away in the summer of 2008 because he would have reveled in the Coleman-Franken election and subsequent recount. Charles would have been the resident expert and could have provided wise counsel to those overseeing and re-creating the process. Health permitting, he would have studied every twist and turn that this 2008-09 recount took in preparation for an article or a follow-up book. (The Minnesota secretary of state noted how helpful Recount was in preparing for and conducting the recount of 2008-09.)

In the mid and later 19605, while working under a grant from the National Science Foundation, Charles developed RAFT (Rapid Analysis Fiscal Tool), a method for evaluating the geographically differential effects of changes in state public policies. This study was quite farsighted and was akin to the types of things done today to estimate the budgetary implications of policy change. His study was read and used by state legislators and legislative staff when they enacted the state of Minnesota's pioneering Fiscal Disparities Act of 1971, an attempt to address increasing disparities in property tax rates. According to the Urban & Regional Planning Economic Development Handbook, Minneapolis and St. Paul represent the only metropolitan area in the U.S. that has such a tax-base sharing policy.

Charles Backstrom was also one of the world's experts on redistricting and gerrymandering. His most important work on this subject is undoubtedly "Issues in Gerrymandering: An Explanatory Measure of Partisan Gerrymandering Applied to Minnesota," published in July 1978 in the Minnesota Law Review. (This article was co-authored by Leonard Robins and Scott Eller, reflecting Backstrom's characteristic generosity toward research assistants.) The specific measure of partisan gerrymandering presented in this article published some 30 years ago has been superseded by subsequent work, as predicted and indeed welcomed by the authors themselves. Its contribution to how we think about partisan gerrymandering has, however, endured. Prior to this article the dominant narrative concerning partisan gerrymandering focused on the geographic shape of districts and the remedy prescribed to preclude it was a requirement that districts be compact. In this article, Backstrom and his colleagues demonstrated that plans with nearly identical degrees of compactness could have widely differing partisan effects. They argued that we needed a political measure for a political problem and to this day, that has remained the predominant frame for partisan gerrymandering research.

In the last years of his academic life, Backs trom's major scholarly work was with Robins on the politics of AIDS. It did not receive the degree of attention or obtain the influence he and Robins would have liked, but it was important for Backstrom to show that even (or perhaps especially) the study of the most explosively emotional subjects could benefit from an honest and objective perspective. And no matter his personal beliefs, he always exhibited honesty and objectivity.

Charles Backstrom was passionate about practical politics and he brought his careful, scholarly analysis to bear on the political process throughout his lifealthough his professionalism put strict limits on how he did this. Along with John Turner, in 1961 Charles helped his colleague Art Naftalin become elected mayor of Minneapolis by creating a quantitative measure of precincts' "Naftalin potential." They served as Naftalin's consultants and helped him win the primary election. They then conducted an entirely new statistical analysis to re-rate Minneapolis's precincts, creating a new general-election strategy, also successfully. This solidified a reputation as a remarkably successful, data-driven campaign consultant. Charles also developed a very successful set of 100 bellweather precincts for Minnesota elections that was used successfully by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and others to avoid significant errors in "calling" elections based on early returns. Shortly thereafter, Charles took over and professionalized what became a model internship program in the political science department (see below), and because of these new obligations, he curtailed his partisan activities and consulting because he knew he would have to work intimately and successfully with politicians and students from all across the partisan spectrum.

At the start of his academic career, Charles received an APSA Congressional Fellowship, working for Congressman Carl Elliott of Alabama. A racial and economic progressive, he sacrificed his career to promote racial equality. Years later, when the Kennedy Library Foundation's Profiles in Courage Awards were created, Charles and Elliott's administrative assistant, Mary Ellen Jolley, nominated Elliott and he became the very first recipient in 1990. One of Charles's particularly prominent characteristics was his ability to recognize and appreciate the good work and excellent qualities of others, and to promote them accordingly. We saw him do this on several occasions where his own self-interest was sacrificed in order to reward more extensively the extraordinary achievements of others. He was not self-effacing but he was overwhelmingly committed to quality and he was totally devoted to rewarding it.

In addition to his scholarship, Charles Backstrom helped create and run a remarkable student internship program. At a time when many such programs lacked a scholarly emphasis and were largely applied internships, Charles insisted that all students who participated be trained to understand and apply analytic scholarly perspectives about their applied experiences. His unwavering commitment to the disciplined scholarship of political science was never compromised whether dealing with undergraduates or colleagues.2 Even today, the University of Minnesota's undergraduate internship program is a testimony to the direction set by Charles Backstrom. It bears his imprint more than anyone else's, and that imprint is remarkably positive. Today's students may not know it, but the high quality of their internship experience owes much to Charles's vision and dedication.

A few additional words are required about Backstrom the man. The extent of his kindness and generosity to colleagues, students, friends, and even strangers was remarkable, but others of course also share these qualities. His combination of deep religiosity and complete tolerance and nonjudgmentalism was, however, in this age of culture wars, extremely rare.

Complementing his extraordinary compassion, empathy and generosity was an almost stereotypical professorial disorganization. The wonderful, warm stories about all of his characteristics are legion. One of the authors of this in memoriam piece was an undergraduate of Backstrom's in the 19605 who left Minnesota to obtain a Ph.D. and then taught for a few years at various universities elsewhere. He returned to Minnesota as a professor eight years after leaving it with a BA in hand, and he swears that some of the messy piles on Charles's desk that were present when he left in 1967 were still there when he returned in 1975. Perhaps his memory is faulty and perhaps he has created an apocryphal story, but when told to Charles's friends and colleagues, it seems so likely to be true that it doesn't matter. As related by Charles's longtime friend and colleague, professor emeritus Robert Agranoff of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Charles once said, "I have 16 file drawers in my office and they are all labeled miscellaneous."3 He is greatly missed.

Footnote

NOTES

An abbreviated version of this in memoriam was written for the Election Law Journal.

1. "Making History: The Life and Times of Charles H. Backstrom," http://charlesbackstrom.com/ lifestory.html.

2. Largely due to these successful efforts, Charles became the first faculty member to win the College of Liberal Art's John Tate Award for academic advising.

3. Robert Agranoff, "A Tribute to Charles Backstrom."