Background
Wilfred Binkley was born on July 29, 1883, in Lafayette, Ohio, United States, the son of George Washington Binkley, a carpenter who was active in local politics, and of Nancy Jane Desenberg.
Wilfred Binkley was born on July 29, 1883, in Lafayette, Ohio, United States, the son of George Washington Binkley, a carpenter who was active in local politics, and of Nancy Jane Desenberg.
Wilfred was educated in the Lafayette public schools, then entered Ohio Northern University. After graduating with the B. S. in 1907, Binkley took a B. A. degree at Antioch College, whereupon he was granted a university scholarship to attend Harvard for the academic year 1910-1911. While at Ohio Northern he earned the M. A. (1926) and the Ph. D. (1936) at Ohio State University.
In 1921 Binkley began his long career at Ohio Northern University as assistant professor of political science and history, remaining there until his death. His first scholarly book, Problems in American Government, appeared in 1926. He held visiting professorships at the American University Center at Biarritz, France (1945 - 1946), the University of Oxford (Fulbright lecturer, 1949-1950 and 1953), and Columbia University (summers, 1947 - 1952). Binkley's two most important books, President and Congress (1943) and American Political Parties (1949), were characterized by a consistent concern for analysis shaped by the force of historical events. A historian and political scientist, Binkley thus wed political analysis and historical causation. President and Congress was a revised and updated version of his The Powers of the President (1937).
Admitting that the president's relationship with the Congress was perplexing when viewed historically, Binkley insisted that the study of events, and not theory, was the only feasible approach to an understanding of the problem. He traced the concept of a chief executive back to the office of the colonial governor. By recounting the vicissitudes of the presidents from George Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Binkley intended to demonstrate that the relationship was largely experiential. If there was any theory to it, it was embedded in the history of the relationship. To those dissatisfied with the inefficiency of a government of divided and sometimes contending powers, Binkley pointed out that the American constitutional system was no less a product of the American society and environment than the parliamentary system was an outgrowth of English experience.
The same combination of analysis and history was evident in American Political Parties, subtitled Their Natural History. In attempting to ascertain and account for the social or group composition of American political parties and how these parties were galvanized to act by party leadership, Binkley tended to deemphasize explicit economic influences. Instead, he found that the "climate of opinion" and the "social environment" were major factors in bringing together effective political combinations. As for leadership, "expediency" had been the key to party leadership. For example, expediency rather than an adherence to strict (as distinguished from loose) construction of the Constitution was the better clue to why presidents acted as they had in the early years of the Republic. Practical judgments, not ideological commitments, explained Abraham Lincoln's conduct of the Civil War. Binkley followed in the tradition of Charles A. Beard because he was willing to take a hard look at the heroes of the past. Critics found American Political Parties both useful and sagacious. The book appeared in Spanish, German, and Russian translations. President and Congress was praised for insights and analytical worth.
His other books included The Man in the White House (1959) and A Grammar of American Politics (1949), a standard text in political science written with Malcolm Moos. Although Binkley received offers from larger and better-known institutions, he said he preferred the charm and quiet of rural Ohio. His attachment to Ada, Ohio, where the university was located, was very strong. He was on the town council from 1936 to 1949 and served a term as mayor(1952 - 1953). He was working on a new book, a study of the Republican presidency from Lincoln to Eisenhower, when he died at Ada.
Although Binkley was a lifelong Republican, bred in the heart of Taft country, in his writings Binkley showed a preference for presidential powers broadly interpreted, as required by the exigencies of history.
On August 14, 1911, Binkley married Dora Nancy Stotts; they had four sons.