Dr. Jay Steinmetz
Dr. John (Jay) Steinmetz
Rarick Hall 315
(785) 628-4757
About Jay
Jay Steinmetz is an Assistant Professor at Fort Hays specializing in political theory, American politics, and public law. His research interests include liberal theory in American political culture, presidential memory in popular culture, the legal development of free speech in the 20th century, film and philosophy, and the political development of the American motion picture industry. His book, Beyond Free Speech and Propaganda: The Political Development of Hollywood, 1907–1927 (Lexington Books, 2018), details the political and legal forces that shaped the development of classic Hollywood and a producer-dominated film industry of narrative-based film entertainment.
Jay has two active research projects: a political biography of Will H. Hays, President of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, and a monograph on Abraham Lincoln's cultural influence in the Progressive Era, particularly pertaining to liquor, the saloon, and the lead-up to Prohibition. When not pursuing his passion of being a teacher-scholar, Jay enjoys amateur astronomy, reading and writing poetry, watching classic Hollywood film, and spending time with his two children, Giovanna and Jonathan.