Charles McCarthy ( American football ) Charles McCarthy ( June 29 , 1873 – March 26 , 1921 ) was a political scientist , public administrator , Progressive reformer , and briefly , an American football coach . He is credited with founding the first legislative reference library in the United States . McCarthy was active in policy formation , with special interests in agricultural cooperatives and adult and vocational education . He authored " The Wisconsin Idea " , a summary of Progressive philosophy and thinking . Early years . McCarthy was born in Brockton , Massachusetts to a shoemaker and his wife , who kept a boarding house . He was the only one of their three children to survive childhood . After an education in the public schools in Brockton , he was apprenticed to a shoemaker . When this did not interest him , he ran away to become a cabin boy on a sailing schooner . While at sea , he read the books available in the ship ' s library , obtaining the equivalent of a high school education . Eager to obtain more education , he tried to enter Brown University , but was denied admission . After appealing directly to the president of the university , his entrance to the school was arranged . McCarthy lacked the funds to pay for school , so he financed his education by working as a scene shifter and painter in theaters in Providence . He also played for the Brown football team , earning All - America honors . He graduated from Brown in 1896 , with a bachelor of philosophy degree . When the Spanish – American War broke out , McCarthy tried to enlist , but was turned down for physical reasons . Despite this , he headed to Florida , and was aboard a troop transport , when he was discovered and put ashore . He became ill with malaria caught in camp , and by the time he recovered , the war was over . McCarthy then entered law school at the University of Georgia . To pay for school , he took a job as the school ' s football coach . During his two seasons , 1897 and 1898 , McCarthy ' s team compiled a record 6 – 3 . Interested in the economics of Richard T . Ely , McCarthy enrolled at the University of Wisconsin ( now University of Wisconsin – Madison ) , where he studied history , politics , and economics . He received a Ph . D . in 1901 . His thesis , which was on the Anti - Masonic Party , was awarded the Justin Winsor Prize by the American Historical Association . Career . Legislative Reference Library . In 1901 , McCarthy was appointed the chief document clerk for the Wisconsin Free Library Commission . Although the position was designed to provide legislators with reference materials , McCarthy ultimately expanded its scope to include researching legislation from around the world and drafting legislation . He was interested in improving lawmaking from what he saw as a chaotic process largely controlled by lobbyists to a systematic one that produced well - crafted legislation that could both survive court challenge and serve as a model for other states and the federal government . He formulated the concept of a legislative reference library — a place where legislators could take their ideas , learn about the experiences of other states and countries , cast their ideas in concrete terms , and then have the help of trained draftsmen to put their ideas into legal form . Initially spurned by the legislature , McCarthy was eventually given space for his project in the attic of the capitol . He ultimately built it into the first legislative reference library in the country , and was responsible for overhauling the way legislation was created in the state . " The Wisconsin Idea " . In 1912 , McCarthy published " The Wisconsin Idea " , a summary of the goals and ideals of the Progressive movement . In it , he decried the " corrupting influences of the concentrated wealth " and called for political and economic reforms that would facilitate " the betterment , the efficiency and the welfare of each individual . " To accomplish this , McCarthy advocated the development of a science of public administration so that governments could be run with the same efficiency as businesses . He recommended that public officials be educated specifically for administrative duties . Other ideas described in the book include the direct accountability of politicians and government administrators to the electorate ; the regulation of business , including railroads , utilities , stocks and bonds , insurance , and banking , for the public good ; and the provision of service by public universities to the state via university extensions and adult education . In his introduction to the book , Theodore Roosevelt wrote : As Professor Simon N . Patten says : " Without means of attainment and measures of result an ideal becomes meaningless . The real idealist is a pragmatist and an economist . He demands measurable results and reaches them by means made available by economic efficiency . Only in this way is social progress possible . " Mr . McCarthy ' s purpose is to impress not only every real reformer , but every capable politician , with the fact that the people are more concerned about " good works " than about " faith . " Progressivism . One of McCarthy ' s ideals was that the law should embody the public will . To accomplish this required not only the systematic formulation of legislation , but governmental reforms . Many of the reforms he advocated were embodied in the platform of Theodore Roosevelt ' s Bull Moose Party , which McCarthy helped draft . Focused on removing corruption from politics and waste and inefficiency from government , the platform advocated the recall of judicial decisions , easier amendment of the Constitution , and women ' s suffrage as means to accomplish this . It also called for improvements in social welfare , including social welfare legislation for women and children , workers ' compensation , farm relief , mandatory health insurance in industry , and new inheritance and income taxes . Other positions . In addition to his work with the Wisconsin legislature , McCarthy was an advisor to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt , William H . Taft , and Woodrow Wilson . In 1914 - 15 , he was Director of Research and Investigation for the U . S . Commission on Industrial Relations . During World War I , when Herbert Hoover became head of the U . S . Food Administration , McCarthy became his chief aide . In 1917 , he was offered the post of advisor to China within the State Department , but declined . He was sought after by corporations and other states , but always declined the offers in order to remain at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library . Legacy . McCarthy died March 26 , 1921 in Prescott , Arizona , where he had gone to seek relief from health problems . His remains lay in state at the state capitol , the first time anyone had been honored with that distinction since the Civil War . A bronze plaque of McCarthy was placed in the assembly chamber of the capitol .