Robert Klotz, PhD
Portland Campus, Payson Smith 100E
Spring 2025 Office Hours:Â Mon 2-3; Wed 2-3 & 5-6
Education
- PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, 1998
- MA, Washington University in St. Louis, 1994
- BA, Indiana University, 1990
In the Media
His article using Thomas Brackett Reed to illuminate modern electoral politics was published on November 1, 2022, in the Made by History section of The Washington Post.
Robert Klotz is an Associate Professor of Political Science. He joined the ÐÓ°É´«Ã½ in 2001.
He is the author of the biography Thomas Brackett Reed: The Gilded Age Speaker Who Made the Rules for American Politics (, 2022). Famous for epigrams such as defining a statesman as a successful politician who is dead, Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902) transformed parliamentary procedure through the Reed Rules and established the institutional foundation of the modern Congress. A statue of Reed on the Western Promenade is part of the Political History Trail in Portland.
Professor Klotz’s broader research focus is on political communication in the Gilded Age and modern times. His article, “The 1891 McKinley-Campbell Ohio Gubernatorial Debate and the Draw that Still Splits America,” was published in the fall 2020 issue of Ohio History (available by going to pages 32-46). His first book The Politics of Internet Communication (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003) explored the historical intersection between politics and the World Wide Web. In addition to articles in Political Communication, PS: Political Science & Politics, Information Technology & Politics, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and other journals, he has a chapter on Super PACs in Fixing American Politics: Solutions for the Media Age (, November 2021),
Portland Campus, Payson Smith 100E
Spring 2025 Office Hours:Â Mon 2-3; Wed 2-3 & 5-6
Education
- PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, 1998
- MA, Washington University in St. Louis, 1994
- BA, Indiana University, 1990
In the Media
His article using Thomas Brackett Reed to illuminate modern electoral politics was published on November 1, 2022, in the Made by History section of The Washington Post.