WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Living Educators of the United States. Edited by Robert 
C. Cook. -Seventh Edition - 1935-36.
Publishers: The Robert C. Cook Company 277 Broadway, New York City (Page) xxvi:

     MCVICKER, James Rufus, Acting Professor of Law, University of Kentucky, College of 
Law, Lexington, Kentucky; born July 6, 1876, Wilton Junction, Muscatine Co., Iowa; son of 
Norvel Wilson and Margaret Emma (Hill) McVicker; married Virginia Matilda Constant of Lone 
Tree, Iowa, Mar. 12, 1905; children: Bernadine Constant (McVicker) Norman; Mildred Hill 
(McVicker) Kelso; Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Edison; and Patricia Virginia.  Education: B.S., 
Valparaiso University, 1902; A.B., 1911, A.M., 1912, LL.B., 1913, PH.D., 1925, J.D., 1925, 
State University of Iowa; LL.M., 1931, S.J.D., 1932, Law School of Harvard University 
Experience: Clerk of the District Court, Keokuk Co., Iowa, 1903-07; Principal, Fremont, Iowa, 
Schools, January-June, 1907; Superintendent, Keota, Iowa Schools, 1907-10; Superintendent, 
Hortonville, Wisconsin, Schools, 1917-18; Superintendent, Dow City, Iowa, Consolidated Schools, 
1918-19; Superintendent, Belle Plaine, Iowa, Schools, 1919-23; Graduate Assistant, Political 
Science, University of Iowa, Jan.-June, 1924; Acting professor of Political Science, University of 
Kansas, summers 1925-28; Practiced Law individually at Sigourney, Iowa, 1913-15, in 
partnership with Honorable W.H. Hamilton at Sigourney, Iowa, in practice of law, 1915-17, he 
being now a Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa; member of practicing law firm, Watsabaugh 
& McVicker, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1925-26; Practiced law individually at Iowa City, Iowa, 1933-
35; Professor of Law, University of Detroit Law School,1926-28; Professor of Law, Chicago-
Kent. College Of Law (Chicago, Illinois), 1929-30; Acting Professor of Law, University of 
Kentucky, College of Law, 1935-36. Honorable Position: Chairman, Hortonville (Wisconsin) 
Four Minute Men, 1917-18; Outagamie County Council of Defense, Wisconsin, 1917-18, 
Member and special committeeman. Member: Phi Delta Kappa; life member The State Historical 
Society of Iowa; A.F. & A.M., Webb Lodge No. 182, Sigourney, Iowa (1900-36); The 
University of Kentucky Club (Lexington, Kentucky); National Defense Organizations; Major 
Officers' Reserve corps; member Reserve Officers' Association of the U.S. Ph.D. dissertation: 
Studies in the Administration of Justice in the Iowa County. S.J.D. dissertation: The 
Organization of Administrative Work in Courts.  Author: The Administration of Justice in the 
County, The Clerk of the District Court, The County Attorney, being Chapters VI, VII & XI in 
Volume entitled "County Government and Administration in Iowa," 1925 (published by the 
State Historical Society of Iowa); History of the Iowa State Bar Association and Law Reform, 
published in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics, April, 1926.  Contributor: Iowa Journal of 
History and Politics; Law Reviews.  Researcher: Local Government: The Organization and 
Administrative Work of the Courts; The Seventeenth Century Justice of the Peace in England; 
The Arbitration of International Investment Controversies; The Development of the Law of 
Arrest; Fair Comment and Defense to Libel in Illinois.  War record: Corporal, Company "F" 51st 
Iowa Infantry Volunteers in the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, in the 
Philippines, 1898-99. Travel: As an American Soldier in the Orient, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine 
Islands, China, Japan, 1898-99. Special Interest: Judicial Administration.  Achievements of 
general interest: A clearing up of the delinquent probate administration in old executorships, 
administration-ships and guardianships while serving as Clerk of the District Court of Keokuk 
County, Iowa, 1903-07; A published study on the status, functions, duties and influences of the 
Prosecuting Attorney in the preponderantly rural county as distinguished from the Prosecuting 
Attorney in urban communities.

[A00528	Transcribed from JRM notes by Romona McVicker	5/26/2005]