Alfred de Grazia
Alfred de Grazia (December 29, 1919 – July 13, 2014), born in Chicago, Illinois, was a political scientist and author.
His father, Joseph Alfred de Grazia, was born in Licodia, province of Catania, in Sicily and was politically active in a troubled period in the history of the island.
When reviewed by The New York Times it was called "A thoroughgoing examination of the meaning of representation, the fundamental element in any definition of republic.
"[14] In World War II, de Grazia served in the United States Army, rising from private to captain.
[17] De Grazia co-authored a report on psychological warfare for the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
[citation needed] On December 31, 2013, he was awarded the highest French distinction, being made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by decree of President François Hollande.
[11] In 1952, he was appointed director of the Committee for Research in the Social Sciences at Stanford University, supported by a Ford Foundation grant.
[28] De Grazia was a staunch supporter of the power of Congress against the encroachments of the presidency, which he called the "Executive Force"[29][30] According to Raymond Tatalovich and Steven Schier: The thesis developed by Alfred de Grazia, coming in 1965 at the high-water mark of the Great Society, is that "the executive of the national government represents and leads the national movement towards a society of order.
He is not troubled ... about "oligarchy and seniority" wielding disproportionate influence within the legislative process, because Congress operates principally through "the decision system of successive majorities."
[33]In a review of the second book, Henry Bauer suggests that de Grazia's efforts may be responsible for Velikovsky's continuing notability.
[35] In both books de Grazia subscribes to the thesis that, in the words of Henry Bauer, "the affair revealed something seriously rotten in the state of science".
"[35] In the second book, de Grazia upholds Velikovsky's most general claim, that geologically recent (in the last 15,000 years) extraterrestrially-caused catastrophes occurred, and had a significant impact on the Earth and its inhabitants.
In his biography of Burroughs, Ted Morgan described the students that it attracted as "drifters and dropouts on the international hippie circuit"; he suggested that this resulted in a culture clash with the "prim Swiss", and that the university lacked adequate facilities or a sound business model.
[36] In 2002, de Grazia was appointed visiting professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, Computing and Applications of the University of Bergamo in Italy.
One of his daughters, Victoria de Grazia, a Professor of Contemporary History at Columbia University, is a member of the American Academy.
