{{other people|James Barber}} {{Infobox person | name = James David Barber | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|07|31}} | birth_place = Charleston, West Virginia, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|09|12|1930|07|31}} | death_place = Durham, North Carolina, US | other_names = | known_for = ''Presidential Character: Predicting Performance In The White House'' | occupation = Author, political scientist | spouse = {{plainlist| * Ann Goodridge Sale (1930-2015) * Amanda Mackay Smith (1972–2004) }} | children = 4 }} '''James David Barber''' (July 31, 1930 – September 12, 2004) was a political scientist whose book ''The Presidential Character'' made him famous for his classification of presidents through their worldviews. From 1977 to 1995, he taught political science at Duke University.
==Background== Barber was born on July 31, 1930, in Charleston, West Virginia, to a physician and a nurse.<ref name="wp_bernstein">Bernstein, Adam. (2004). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21922-2004Sep14.html "James Barber Dies; Studied Presidents' Psyches"], ''The Washington Post'', .</ref> In the 1950s he served in the United States Army as a counter-intelligence agent before attending the University of Chicago, where he earned a master's degree in political science. He earned a Ph.D. in the same field from Yale University.{{when|date=January 2022}}
He joined the faculty at Duke University in 1972, and became a full professor there in 1977. Before going to Duke he had taught at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.<ref name = "nyt_fox">Margalit Fox, [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/politics/15barber.html "James D. Barber, Expert on Presidents, Dies at 74"], ''The New York Times'', 15 September 2004.</ref>
Barber retired from teaching in 1995 and was active in St. Philip's Episcopal Church.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-09-14 |title=Presidential Scholar James David Barber Dies at Age 74 {{!}} Duke Today |url=https://today.duke.edu/2004/09/barber_0904.html |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=today.duke.edu |language=en}}</ref>
== Work == He is credited in the field of political science for being the first{{when|date=May 2023}} to examine presidents beyond case studies. He devised a system of organizing a president's character into either active-positive, passive-positive, active-negative, or passive-negative this system is laid out in his book ''Presidential Character: Predicting Performance In The White House''. * Traits of an active-positive president include: a readiness to act, high optimism, and an overall fondness of the presidency. Some examples of presidents Barber cites as active-positive include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford. * Traits of a passive-positive president include: a low self-esteem compensated by an ingratiating personality, superficially optimistic, and a desire to please. Examples of passive-positive presidents include William Howard Taft, Ronald Reagan, and Warren G. Harding. * Traits of an active-negative president include: lack of deriving joy after expending much effort on tasks, aggressive, highly rigid, and having a general view of power as a means to self-realization. Examples of active-negative presidents include Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, and Richard Nixon. * Traits of a passive-negative president include: a strong sense of duty, desire to avoid power, low self-esteem compensated by service towards others, and an overall aversion to intense political negotiation. Presidential examples include Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
==See also==
* James A. Russell is credited with developing a similar system now termed core affect, published in 1980,<ref name="Russell 1980">{{cite journal | last1 = Russell| first1 = J. A. | year = 1980| title = A circumplex model of affect| journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 39| issue = 6| pages = 1161–1178 | doi= 10.1037/h0077714| hdl = 10983/22919| hdl-access = free}}</ref> as part of their PAD emotional state model
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{C-SPAN|1576}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, James David}} Category:1930 births Category:2004 deaths Category:American political philosophers Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Duke University faculty Category:American political writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Richard Nixon Category:Writers from Charleston, West Virginia Category:Educators from Charleston, West Virginia Category:National Association of Scholars Category:Military personnel from Charleston, West Virginia