Charles O. Jones (1931 – 2024) ,

  (October 28, 1931 – January 3, 2024)

Scholarly focus[edit]

Jones wrote broadly on American politics, but his primary focus was on the relationship between Congress and the President. He wrote a number of influential books, including The Presidency in a Separated System^[5] and An Introduction to Public Policy.^[6]

Charles O. Jones, Expert on Congress and the Presidency, Dies at 92

As a professor of political science and an author, he displayed a distinctive gift for simplifying the complexities of the American political system.

Charles O. Jones, a political scientist who wrote widely on the Congress and the presidency, in an undated photo.Credit...Phoebe Jones

By Adam Nossiter

The American way of governing “is the most intricate ever devised,” Mr. Jones wrote in “The Presidency in a Separated System” (1994). But though he was respectful of that intricacy, he wasn’t awed by it. As a Midwesterner of working-class origins, he felt his mission was to demystify the complex.

“Focusing exclusively on the presidency can lead to a seriously distorted picture of how the national government does its work,” Mr. Jones wrote in “The Presidency in a Separated System.” “The plain fact is that the United States does not have a presidential system. It has a separated system.”

Mr. Jones was what Mr. Baker called “an Eisenhower Republican,” mistrustful of Democrats, whom he considered “a bit too eager to expand the scope of the federal government.” 

Daniel Jones said the travails of the presidency, an institution his father revered, were “hard for him in the last 20 years of his life” and left him “disillusioned.” But, he added: “He was still very patriotic. He would always treasure this country as a beacon.”