Nimmo, Dan (1933–2004)

Dan Nimmo was one of the most productive and influential scholars to write and teach about political communication. To his work, he brought a broadly educated mind, a profound knowledge of political science, and a great respect for the role that communication plays in politics. In this latter conviction, he was, in the 1960s and 1970s, one of the few voices from his native discipline of political science who thought that the subject matter of this volume was worthy of scholarly attention. He produced, with several coauthors and coeditors, more than 35 volumes, as well as countless book chapters and convention papers. These works provided some of the most substantive, intellectually honest, theoretically sophisticated, and well-written scholarship in the field.

Nimmo's first major book, Political Persuaders, was published in 1970, and again in 2001 with a new introduction by the author. These books covered such topics as a paradigm for political campaigns, profiling the electorate, and the effects and consequences of professionally mediated campaigns. To all of this, Nimmo brought a concern about the potential unintended consequences of the “new politics.”

In 1976, Nimmo, with Robert Savage, published Candidates and Their Images. This was one of the first books on this topic that was heavily based upon empirical research. It relied on the results of the Q-Sort procedure and methodology as a means of measuring candidate image, and it proposed an early model explaining how images are formed in the minds of voters.

Still convinced that political communication as a field of inquiry needed further definition and elaboration, Nimmo in 1981 coedited with Keith R. Sanders The Handbook of Political Communication. The first single-volume reference work in the field, it was pluralistic, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive. In 2007, some chapters are still being used in reprint form.

One book, more than any other, represents one of the enduring themes of Nimmo's thinking. In Mediated Political Realities, published in 1983 with James E. Combs, the authors contend that

Dan Nimmo was also a consummate teacher. He received his doctorate in political science from Vanderbilt University, and during his academic career included service on the faculties of the University of Missouri, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Oklahoma. His many coauthors and coeditors learned more than they taught during their collaborations with him. Several of his students became major contributors to the field that he (and they) helped create.

Nimmo gave unselfishly of his time editing the works of others. He was provocative, witty, and persistent. His work habits and his qualities of mind and character inspired everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He was, mediated or unmediated, a great force for good throughout his career.