Amos Yoder, Borah Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Idaho since 1974, was born In Falls City, Nebraska, March 2, 1921. After receiving his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1942, he was an intern at the National Institute of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. for one year. From 1943 to 1944 he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the U.S. and England, and then spent two years as an analyst with the U.S. strategic bombing survey in Germany and Japan. Following the war he completed his education, receiving his Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Chicago in 1949.
He then began a 25 year career with the U.S. State Department where he served on both the German and China desks, and with embassies in Israel and Thailand, as well as in political and policy planning. During this time he also lectured part-time for one year at George Washington University, and from 1964-1965 was a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Davis.
In 1974 he was hired as Borah Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Idaho, a position he held for 17 years, until his retirement in 1991. During the 1986-1987 school year he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, China, where he taught American Foreign Policy, American history, Comparative government, and Diplomatic conversation. His wife, Janet, taught English to mid-career officials and employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among his teaching methods was the holding of a mock UN Security Council Meeting in which his students represented ambassadors from the various countries on the council.
Yoder was active in university governance and in civic affairs. He is a member of the American Political Science Association, Amnesty International, Idaho Political Science Association, and Pacific Northwest Political Science Association. He has written or contributed to five books and has published several scholarly papers in professional publications, as well as giving presentations at many scholarly meetings. Among his honors are his selection as a Fulbright Scholar to the Foreign Affairs College, the Robson Prize, membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, the Merit Honor Award of the Department of State, a Meritorious Civilian Service Award, War Department Commendation Ribbon for work in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, and a Certificate of Excellence from the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.
Amos Yoder died on February 9, 1997 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The papers of Amos Yoder span the years 1950 to 1991, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1976-1991. Included are class lecture notes and related material, and an alphabetical file containing articles, news clippings, correspondence, and similar material, which is arranged by subject.
The papers of Amos Yoder are divided into two series. The first contains lectures for his political science courses and related articles. The lectures for each course were arranged chronologically and placed in one folder, with the related material in subsequent folders. These sets are arranged numerically by course number.
The remaining papers were of such a diverse nature that it was decided to arrange them alphabetically using Yoder's folder headings. Included are class papers, government news releases, articles, newspaper clippings, correspondence, reserve reading material, comments on theses, Kiwanis programs for community theater productions, notes on the speeches of others, and typescripts of his articles and speeches. Originally the final four folders were in one fat folder labeled "Important Papers." These were separated by type of material, e.g. correspondence, talks, articles, and filed at the end of the series.
The papers of political science professor, Amos Yoder, were originally donated to the University of Idaho Library in 1991. Two more donations of his papers came in 1999 and again in 2000.
Collection is open for research.
Author, Description or "Title" of item, date. Collection name, collection number, box, folder. University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives, Moscow, ID.
The accessions MA 1999-16 and MA 2000-31 were added to the processed collection (MG 339) in 2023 by Sara Szobody. They were arranged in the order in which the original processor established.