Alex Gottfried Obituary

Alex Gottfried

Alex Gottfried, professor of political science and progressive political activist, died March 18, 2014. He was 94 and lived in Seattle. Dr. Gottfried was a leader in the local antiwar movement and an active member of many organizations, including Group Health Cooperative and the American Political Science Association. But his central passion was civil liberties. He often said, "Civil liberties is my religion, and the American Civil Liberties Union is my church." He was the first member of the national ACLU "Charter Life Member" program. On the Board of Directors for the ACLU's Washington affiliate from 1961 to 1988, he was a gadfly who pushed the organization to broaden its definition of civil liberties; he was in large measure responsible for the Washington ACLU opposing the military draft and marijuana prohibition. In 1988, he received its highest honor, the William O. Douglas award.

Dr. Gottfried was born in Hungary, on October 23, 1919; at age nine he immigrated with his family to Chicago. From an early age he worked to support his family, often several jobs at once. Working nights, he attended Chicago Teachers College where he attained a B.A. in education in 1941. In 1942 he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, rising to the rank of major in the Civil Affairs Division in occupied Germany, where he was responsible for "de-Nazification" of all schools, hospitals, churches, and voluntary organizations in Bavaria. Before going overseas, he met 16-year-old Betty Sue Davidson, on the first day of spring in 1942; they were married on May 9, 1943. After the war, he entered the University of Chicago, earned a Master's degree in 1948, and received a PhD in Political Science in 1952. Dr. Gottfried joined the political science faculty of the University of Washington in 1950, where he taught until he retired in 1982. He had a profound influence on generations of students attending his classes on American politics and Constitutional law. His favorite quotation was John Dewey's: "Education is not preparation for life; it is life itself." He spoke frequently about politics and civil liberties to community groups and on local television and radio.

Dr. Gottfried was the author of Boss Cermak of Chicago: A Study of Political Leadership, a primary text on American "machine politics"; he also published articles in magazines such as The Nation, co-authoring several with his wife, a writer and political activist.

A talented athlete and amateur actor, he played basketball and tennis on high school, college, and U.S. military teams; in the 1950s he acted in plays performed at Seattle's Cirque Theater.

Dr. Gottfried is survived by his wife of 70 years, Sue Davidson Gottfried; his daughter, Erika Gottfried; granddaughter, Sophia

Fischler-Gottfried, and son-in-law, Steven Fischler.