James V. Young

James Van Young, J.D., Ph.D., is professor emeritus of political science at Central Missouri University and a policy advisor for legal affairs and government at The Heartland Institute. He taught political science and law classes for three decades at the University of Iowa, St. Olaf College, and the University of Central Missouri. His classes included: Introduction to Political Science, American Government, State Government, Public Law and the Judicial Process, American Constitutional Law, International Law, and American Foreign Policy. 

Born in Waterloo, Iowa in 1936, Young attended elementary and secondary schools there. He graduated from Waterloo West High School in 1954 as co-valedictorian. He was selected the Most Valuable Athlete of his class in 1953, winning four Class AA (largest schools) state high school championships in track and field (discus in 1953 and 1954 and indoor shotput, 1953 and 1954).  Held set the Class AA state record in discus. Young also won the state indoor AAU championship in track and field (shotput) and broke the indoor record in 1954.

Young was named Second Team All-State in high school football by the Iowa Daily Press Association and Des Moines Register in 1953; Third Team All-State in basketball by the Des Moines Register in 1954. Other high school honors included: Superior in State Speech Contest, Interpretive Reading, 1952; Excellent in State Speech Contest, Oratorical Declamation, 1953; Governor of American Legion-sponsored Hawkeye Boys State, 1953; One of two Iowa delegates to American Legion-sponsored Boys Nation, 1953; Member of Waterloo West High School Athletic Hall of Fame by virtue of state championships, 1953-54. Young was elected to the Waterloo West High School Academic Hall of Fame in 2011.

Young graduated from the University of Iowa in 1958 with a B.A. in Political Science with Highest Distinction; a J.D. in Law with High Distinction in 1960; and a Ph.D. in Political Science in 1964. Other high education honors at the University of Iowa: Nile Kinnick Scholarship 1954-58; Phi Beta Kappa, 1958; Three-year track letterman, 1956-58; Big Ten Medal of Honor (for Scholarship and Athletics), 1959. Young was admitted to the bar of the Iowa Supreme Court in 1960 and was a University Fellow from 1963 to 64.

Young taught political science for one year at the University of Iowa, 1964, teaching the courses offered by Professor John Schmidhauser, who took leave to run for Congress. He earlier taught courses as a graduate student. Young was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota from 1964 to 68, including serving as Chair of the Department of Political Science from 1965 to 1968. For 30 years, 1968-1998, Young taught political science at the University of Central Missouri, holding the titles of Assistant Professor (1968-71), Associate Professor (1971-75), Professor (1975-98), Chair of the Department of Political Science, (1971-82). He earned the Byler Distinguished Faculty Award in 1998, and has since been Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the university. 

Books:

Co-author (with Arthur F. McClure) of Remembering Their Glory:  Sports Heroes of the 1940’s (Cranbury, New Jersey:  A. S. Barnes, 1977), 257 pages.  See short biography and photo on Amazon.com web site for books, under above title.

Judges and Science:  The Case Law on Atomic Energy (New York: Arno Press, 1979), 445 pages.  Originally presented as the author’s doctoral dissertation, Copyright, 1964.  Arno Press, a New York Times company, first published it in book form in 1979 as part of its “Energy in the American Economy Collection,” editorial supervisor, Dietrich Snell, Columbia University.  

Landmark Supreme Court Law Decisions: Briefs and Analyses (Lanham, MD:  University Press of America, 1993), 457 pages.

The Young Coal Company:  Research and Reminiscences (AlphaGraphics:  Kansas City, 2016), 128 pages.

Chapter in book:  Chapter entitled “Types of Law in Missouri,” pages 96-104, in Revised and Enlarged Edition of Missouri Government and Politics, eds. Richard J. Hardy, Richard R. Dohm, and David A. Leuthold (Columbia, Missouri:  University of Missouri Press, 1995).

Articles include:  Case Comment, Iowa Law Review, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Spring, 1959), “Venue-Transfer of Case Laying Venue in Wrong Federal District Court,” pages. 630-36.

“Freedom of the Press in the Public Schools:  A Legal-Political Analysis,” pages 45-65 in Perspectives in School Censorship, Norman E. Stafford and Norman J. Betz (eds.).  Prepared for a project supported by Central Missouri State University and the Missouri Committee for the Humanities, April 19, 1977.

“Tough baseball manager was a hero to many Iowans,” Iowa History Journal, Vol. 4, Issue 5 (September/October 2012), pages 18-19, 32.  

Hobbies:  writing, sports history, physical fitness, senior track and field:  twelve-time All-American Masters Track and Field – shotput in 1981; discus in 1991-98, 2002, 2006, and 2007. 

Past Associations: 

Missouri Political Science Association (Secretary Treasurer, 1968-71).

Midwest Political Science Association.

American Political Science Association.

Supreme Court Historical Society.

Heritage Foundation:  U.S. Policy Expert.

Missouri Boys State Staff.

Volunteer Track and Field Official.

Current Associations:

Woods Chapel United Methodist Church (MO).

United Methodist Church of Blue Springs (MO).

Heartland Institute:  Policy Advisor

National Association of Scholars.

National Iowa Varsity (letter winners) Club.

• 312-377-4000
• [email protected]