I admire scholars who ask big, ambitious questions about why American politics are the way they are and bring many different kinds of data and methods to try and answer them.”
Jack McGovern (he/him)
PhD Candidate in Political Science
Jack McGovern is a PhD candidate in Political Science in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. His research examines the evolution of the Republican Party since the 1960s, with a special focus on immigration policy. Inspired by both personal experiences and a passion for understanding American political dynamics, Jack’s work seeks to shed light on one of the most consequential transformations in recent U.S. history. He was awarded the Robert and Elizabeth Dole Archive and Special Collections Research Fellowship and the Harry Middleton Fellowship in Presidential Studies from the LBJ Foundation.
How would you describe your research and/or work to a non-academic audience?
My research tries to make sense of the changes within the Republican Party since the 1960s, with a focus on the politics of immigration policymaking. I collect and analyze a wide range of data, from congressional voting and public opinion polls to newspaper editorials and in-depth interviews with current and former policymakers, to better understand how and why these changes happened.
Tell us what inspired your research and/or work.
My work is largely motivated by evidence that the Republican Party has changed in demonstrable and consequential ways. For example, as recently as the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Republican presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush generally expressed their support for immigration. Each even pursued a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants during their time in office. Today, few issues are more central to Republicans than opposition to immigration, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants is off the agenda. My research aims to explain the sources of these shifts.
I have also been motivated to study the Republicans by a few meaningful experiences, both academic and personal. As a first-year undergraduate at Williams College, I took an intensive tutorial-style course on American Political Thought with Professor Justin Crowe, for which I was tasked with comparing and contrasting the political thought of leading figures in the conservative movement like William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump for my final paper. The paper—and my broader experience in the class—continues to guide much of how I think, and it served as an inspiring example of what undergraduate education can be. It was one of the key classes that helped to convince me to go to graduate school.
More personally, my grandfather grew up in a heavily Democratic Irish Catholic community in New York City but gravitated toward the Republican Party and the conservative movement as a young man. He has talked to me about getting involved because he admired the principles of figures like Robert Taft, Buckley, and Goldwater, and he remained a loyal Republican throughout most of his adult life, voting for Richard Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes (though backing third party candidate Ross Perot in 1992). Since 2016, however, he has been opposed to the policies and rhetoric of Trump, and he registered as an independent for the first time shortly after the 2020 election. His story is just one of many stories nationwide of changing individual relationships to the Republican Party that have shaped and will continue to shape our political development and have made me curious to learn more.
Whom do you admire in your field and otherwise, and why?
I admire scholars who ask big, ambitious questions about why American politics are the way they are and bring many different kinds of data and methods to try and answer them. I particularly enjoy reading the work of scholars who incorporate their own original archival research and insights from ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, as well as researchers who have the versatility to seamlessly integrate the most cutting-edge quantitative approaches. My home is within the American political development (APD) tradition and political institutions research more generally, but I enjoy branching out whenever I can into the fields of political behavior, comparative politics, and political thought.
Outside of my field, I admire high school teachers who can foster a broad education for their students, encouraging them to make connections across disciplines, and help them link with relevant opportunities, in whatever field they might be interested in. I benefited from many dedicated educators who were committed to making me think and work hard but who were always lifting me up and providing encouragement along the way. I hope to be the same kind of professor.
Why Northwestern?
Northwestern had a really strong group of historically inclined American politics scholars and a methods track that would prepare me to use both quantitative and qualitative techniques in my research. The Political Science department also placed recent graduates in American politics at a number of excellent colleges and universities, which has only continued during my time here, and I was excited about the prospect of living in Chicago. I have lived with two of my closest friends from college in Lakeview, four blocks away from Wrigley Field, since I moved here. I love going to baseball games in the summer and running along the lakefront during all seasons of the year!
Tell us about a current achievement or something you're working on that excites you.
I am planning a cross-country road trip for archival research this coming winter. I will start at the Bob Dole Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, where I was named the 2024 Robert and Elizabeth Dole Archive and Special Collections Research Fellow and awarded $4,000. I plan to continue to the Bill Clinton presidential library in Arkansas and the newly donated Newt Gingrich congressional papers in New Orleans, followed by both Bush libraries and the LBJ library in Texas. Then I will head west toward the Barry Goldwater and John McCain archives in Arizona before finishing at the Richard Nixon and Reagan libraries in southern California. I was awarded the Harry Middleton Fellowship in Presidential Studies from the LBJ Foundation and granted $5,000 to support my work at the LBJ, Nixon, and Reagan libraries.
Publish Date: November 19, 2024
If you know a graduate student, postdoctoral scholar, graduate faculty member, staff member, or a member of our TGS alumni population who would make a great candidate for our TGS Spotlight Series, please complete this brief TGS Spotlight Series Nomination Form.