James Madison University's William Richard Nelson was such a well-known teacher and researcher on terrorism that when he visited the Soviet Union before the Iron Curtain fell, airport security detained him for six hours and assigned an agent to watch him.

Dr. Nelson, who served as chairman of the school's political science department from 1977 until he retired in 1992, died of heart failure Monday at a Harrisonburg hospital. He was 84.

The professor emeritus, who taught political science and law classes, also developed and taught a course on terrorism at JMU and at other places based on extensive personal research that took him to venues around the world.

"He had a unique approach," said Eileen Schmitt Nelson, his wife since 1976. "He'd have teams of students -- with names like 'Alpha' and 'Beta' -- with a mission to carry out. The other team would try to thwart them. Because he knew a good deal, it was disconcerting when some of the scenarios he was creating actually happened."

When Dr. Nelson came to Madison College in Harrisonburg in 1973, he brought experience as a World War II Army Air Forces navigator, an instructor at two military academies and head of the political science department at Memphis State University.

Recruited by Dr. Ronald E. Carrier, who left Memphis State to become president of Madison College during the early 1980s, Dr. Nelson "provided the kind of leadership that helped transform Madison College into James Madison University," Carrier said.

"He gave us the broad view of an institution that we needed as we made the transformation from a teachers college to a regional university with multiple degrees."

The William R. Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at JMU was created in his honor.

A Colton, Calif., native, he grew up in Idaho and Salt Lake City.

During World War II, he served as an Army Air Forces navigator in Southeast Asia, flying 427 combat hours in a total of 35 bombing missions en route from India or Burma and later Tinian Island to China. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Eileen Nelson described her husband as a gentle soul.

"In his letters home to his mother, he talked only about [how] he hoped the war would be over soon. Post-traumatic stress began to bother him the older he got and he would volunteer less [about his war years] and just close off," she said. "But he was extremely proud of his service citation."

He left service after the war but returned to teach at the U.S. Military Academy and the Air Force Academy. He had done a top-secret stint flying into hurricanes near Guam to collect air samples to detect whether the Soviet Union was detonating nuclear devices, his wife said. After 27 years with the Air Force, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1969.

Dr. Nelson earned degrees in accounting, law, political science and American studies.

Survivors, besides his wife, include four sons, R. Ryan Nelson of Charlottesville, Carleton Nelson of Baltimore, Stuart Nelson of Salt Lake City and Edward R. Farnen of Cumming, Ga.; six daughters, Pamela S. Nelson of Richmond, Nancy Sarco of Harrisonburg, Tina Hair of Murray, Utah, Camille Strasters and St. Claire Nelson, both of Salt Lake City, and Sarah Stokke-Johnson of Oslo, Norway; a sister, Joy Ungar of Ventura, Calif.; and 25 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held Thursday at JMU. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery.