NELSON E. TAYLOR, JR. (continued)
Federal-College Internship Program.
More recently, Ned edited a book on American parties and
politics, entitled "Know Your Candidates." This was an
analysis in their own words of the positions of Vice-
President Nixon and Senator Kennedy on major policy issues.
In addition, he had been asked to contribute a chapter
to a commemorative volume in honor of Eric Voegelin, an
outstanding contemporary political theorist and Ned's
colleague on the faculty at Louisiana State University.
During the recent political campaign, Ned worked as
director of research and as writer for Gore Vidal, the
unsuccessful candidate for Congress in New York's 29th
District.
At the time of his death, Ned was revising his doctoral
dissertation with a view to publication. This was a
study of the American Association of Railroads as a pres-
sure group. In fact, Ned made a hobby of railroads; he
was what is called a true railroad buff.
In his years at Vassar, Ned developed into a fine teacher.
There was nothing of the pedant or the antiquarian about
him and his classes were alive with stimulating presenta-
tion and exciting response. Ned had no file of last year's
notes, no yellowed sheets of ancient lectures. Like a
good teacher, he strove to make his students think; in the
process of doing so, he sometimes exaggerated, he sometimes
needled, he sometimes assumed the role of the devil's
advocate. But there was point to all that he did in the
classroom. In time, the facts might be forgotten, the
theories dim recollections, but the students would never
forget the intellectual experience that comes of the
challenged mind, of new and unexpected ways of looking at
social problems, of driving the student back upon the truth
or falsity of her basic assumptions.
Not only did his students hold him in high esteem as a
teacher; their regard for him was genuinely affectionate.
Ned's scholarship was acknowledged by students, faculty
colleagues at Vassar and in the profession, to be of the
highest calibre. His opinions and judgments-—sometimes
tenaciously held and vigorously expressed--derived from
painstaking research and wide reading, both in his chosen
field and in related fields. His own depth of knowledge
in his field and other fields that interested him, such
NELSON E. TAYLOR, JR. 
1921 - 1960
Nelson E. Taylor, Je., died suddenly in the early morning of
November 12, 1960. He was a young man, he anticipated 
with assurance a promotion to the associate professorship, 
he was within sight of a major scholarly publication, he
had developed into an able and stimulating teacher, and he felt that at last he had found a place in which to sink
his roots. There was, so it would seem, a long, happy and
fruitful life ahead. But this was not to be.
If it may be said, as it can be said, that the College 
feels deeply the loss of one who served so well, we in
the Department of Political Science feel his loss doubly. 
To say that we shall never find another like him is merely
to say that we are none of us alike. But to say that the 
department needed a man of Ned's particular individuality, 
and that because of his particular individuality the depart-
ment was a better department, brings home to us the nature 
of our loss. 
Ned was born in Baltimore on May 24, 1921, the only son of Mrs. Nelson E. Taylor and the late Mr. Taylor. He grad-
uated and went on to take the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard.
Ned was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Political Science Association, the American Society for Public Admin-
istration, and the Southern Political Science Association. 
Ned Taylor joined the Vassar faculty in 1954. Earlier, he
had taught at Tufts College, Louisiana State University, 
and the University of Vermont.
In the summer of 1957, Ned worked on two studies for the 
New York State Temporary Commission on the Constitutional 
Convention, which was established by the legislature in 
preparation for a forthcoming constitutional convention. 
One of these was in the nature of a report on the needs
to the office of governor and the structure of the STate's 
administrative organization. 
In the summer of 1958, Ned directed the joint Wellesley-
Vassar Summer Intern Program in Washington. In 1959, he
was elected secretary of the Vassar faculty. In the same 
year, he was appointed coordinator for Vassar of the
NELSON E. TAYLOR, JR. (continued)
as theology, served as a model to the students in his
ceaseless efforts to bring them up to the highest scholarly
level of which they were capable.
Ned was fundamentally a conservative with a liberal bent.
The day before he died he expressed a deep suspicion of
reformers and their ways. His thought was always in the
realm of the possible; his interest was in reasonable and
sensible steps forward within the context of the American
constitutional system unhampered by the claims of special
groups or the concepts of doctrinaire theorists. He was
very much the descendant of both Jefferson and Hamilton.
Behind a facade, reminiscent of one of Ned's favorite
writers, H.L.Mencken, there was a very thoughtful and
kindly person. He was a loyal and devoted friend who did
not give his friendship lightly, but once given it could
be depended upon. He was an extremely courteous person to
whom the amenities were important.
He had a nice quality of quietly doing little kindnesses
and of making the recipient feel that the pleasure was
really his. His elderly landlady, in whom Ned inspired
both affection and admiration, had this to say: "I have
never met a young man who was so considerate and who
appealed to me so much. I cannot begin to tell you the
kind and thoughtful things he has done for my sister and
myself. The whole place is different and better since he
came here to live."
Not only was he a kindly person, he was a lonely person.
There often appeared to be a defensive facade, but this
was a bulwark of an extremely sensitive person who was
easily hurt. On two or three occasions we had discussed
the insensitivity of sensitive people to the sensitivities
of others. Ned knew his own faults and sought to correct
them and to a great extent he succeeded; but he never over-
came a loneliness which was more extreme than the loneliness
most of us experience.
At the end of his life, however, he had two associations
which were constant sources of strength. One was the church
the other the department.
Ned was a deeply religious man. Raised a Methodist, he
became greatly interested in the Episcopal Church. He was
confirmed and became a member of Christ Church in Pough-
keepsie. Not only was he a regular attendant at this church
4
NELSON E. TAYLOR, JR. (continued)
and a full participant in its activities, he was a lay
reader and assumed his obligations very seriously.
Along with deep involvement in the activities of the
church, Ned had wide—ranging cultural interests. He loved
good music and derived intense pleasure from his large
record collection and the numerous musical performances
he attended on the campus and in New York City. He was
no less interested in drama, expressing this interest both
by participating from time to time in campus dramatic
productions and by going to the theater frequently. He
also attended a great many lectures, symposia, and con-
ferences on the campus and elsewhere, and he was heard
to comment frequently about how these experiences had
broadened his horizons. These varied cultural activities
greatly enriched his teaching and made Ned a stimulating
conversationalist.
In every sense, Ned was a full and complete member of the
Department of Political Science. He was a responsible
person upon whom we could rely with utmost confidence; his
counsel was welcome and of value. Among us all, there
was a mutual trust, respect, and liking; but through long
years of association, both Mr. Crabb and the chairman can testify
to Ned's great contribution to the affairs of the depart-
ment, and we particularly will note his absence.
And so we say good bye to Ned Taylor: a fine teacher, a
good friend, a respected and valued member of the Vassar
community.
In view of Ned's profound interest in the classics, it is
appropriate that we should end this memorial with a quota-
tion from Plato:
"Certainly not," said Socrates. "The soul of a
philosopher will reason in quite another way; she
will not ask philosophy to release her in order
that when released she may deliver herself up again
to the thralldom of pleasures and pains, doing a
work only to be outdone again, weaving instead of
unweaving Penelope's web. But she will calm passion,
and follow reason, and dwell in contemplation of her,
beholding the true and divine (which is not a matter
of opinion), and thence deriving nourishment. Thus
NELSON E. TAYLOR, JR. (continued)
she seeks to live while she lives, and after
death she hopes to go to her own kindred and
to that which is like her, and to be freed
from human ills. Never_ fear, Simias and
Cobes, that a soul which has thus been nur-
tured and has had these pursuits, will at
her departure from the body be scattered and
blown away by the winds and be nowhere and
nothing."
Martha McChesney Wyman
Cecil V. Crabb, Jr.
C. Gordon Post
XV - 207-299