The Tulsa World
August 26, 1983
A Teacher Called Henry
By Nick Foltz
Of the World Staff
EDMOND – “I went to school in Stillwater and got a degree in agriculture. I didn’t take any political science courses, but I’ve had some on-the-job-training and I hope to give you some insights about how the system works.”
Henry Bellmon was wearing a blue, short-sleeved shirt, slacks and loafers, when he arrived Thursday at Central State University for his first teaching assignment, a class entitled “Political Science 393, the U.S. Congress,” a junior-senior-level course in room 116 of the Liberal Arts Building.
Within minutes, it became apparent that the former governor, former U.S. senator and former director of the huge Oklahoma Human Services (Welfare) Department was enjoying work as an educator, and that his 20 students were enjoying his brand of teaching.
Bellmon shook hands with each student and asked for first and last names. It was almost as if the Republican stalwart, who has said he is undecided about making a race for governor were on the campaign trail again.
“I find the term science as it is used in political science a misapplied term. Politics is an art, the rules are always changing, issues are changing and politicians have to be adaptable and use new techniques,” said the 61-year-old Billings’s farmer.
He encouraged his students, among them a sprinkling of middle-age women, to consider careers in government service. “There has been sever erosion of respect for officials,” Bellmon said, citing the state’s county commissioner scandal, the conviction of a judge at Oklahoma City recently and the conviction of “legislative leaders last week in Muskogee in the election scandal.”
When Bellmon asked how many students were considering careers in government, only five held up hands. “I’ll help you get started,” Bellmon said, and launched into a description of various government jobs. “A governor has to appoint hundreds of people to jobs, and I sometimes got desperate to find someone I thought would do a good job without embarrassing…
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