Ray Lyman Wilbur
Encyclopedia
Ray Lyman Wilbur was an American
medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University
and the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior
.
, to Dwight Locke Wilbur and Edna Maria Lyman. A brother, Curtis Dwight Wilbur, became United States Secretary of the Navy
under President Calvin Coolidge
and a Judge of the Supreme Court of California
. The Wilbur family moved to Riverside, California
when Ray Lyman was twelve.
Wilbur studied at Stanford University
, receiving a (B.A.
degree in 1896 and an M.A.
degree in 1897. He then studied at Cooper Medical College, receiving a Doctor of Medicine
degree in 1899. While a freshman at Stanford, he met future US President Herbert Hoover
, who was drumming up campus business for a local laundry. The two men became lifelong friends. Wilbur's wife, the former Marguerite May Blake, was a college friend of Hoover's wife, and was one of Lou Hoover's closest friends in Washington during Mrs. Hoover's years as First Lady. Mrs. Wilbur was severely injured when she fell from a horse in 1922, breaking several vertebrae in her spine and becoming permanently incapacitated. She died in 1946.
During World War I
, Wilbur served as chief of the conservation division of the United States Food Administration
. While at the USFA, he coined the slogan "Food Will Win the War." He later became US President Warren Harding's personal physician and was present at Harding's deathbed.
of the Stanford University School of Medicine
from 1911 to 1916, Wilbur served as president of Stanford from January 1, 1916 until 1943, including during his period as Secretary of the Interior. In his most memorable address to the Stanford community, he told his students: "If you know a better place to live right now [1940] than this country, get a ticket and try to get there." From 1943 until his death in 1949 he served as the university's chancellor
. Among his most notable stances while at Stanford were his opposition to fraternities and to automobiles on campus.
Wilbur served as President of the American Medical Association
from 1923-1924. His son, Dwight Locke Wilbur
, followed in his footsteps as President of the AMA in 1968-1969. Wilbur belonged to several private men's clubs, including the Bohemian Club
, the Pacific-Union Club
, the Commonwealth Club
and the University Club in San Francisco.
When the California Legislature established the State Park Commission in 1927, Wilbur was named to the original commission, along with Major Frederick Russell Burnham
, W. F. Chandler, William Edward Colby
, and Henry W. O'Melveny.
on 5 March 1929; Wilbur assumed that office the same day. His tenure ended on 5 March 1933, as Hoover left office.
As Interior Secretary, Wilbur addressed corruption in granting contracts for naval oil reserves
, which had caused controversy during the Harding Administration's Teapot Dome scandal. Wilbur promulgated a policy that no new oil leases would be granted to private individuals except when mandated by law.
Secretary Wilbur was criticized by political opponents for his allocation of power from the Boulder Dam to private utilities. Opponents also criticized him for renaming the Boulder Dam after President Hoover.
Wilbur took a particular interest in Native Americans
while in office and reorganized the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs
. He assisted Native Americans
in working to become more self-reliant.
and a leading champion of "rugged individualism." He wrote: "It is common talk that every individual is entitled to economic security. The only animals and birds I know that have economic security are those that have been domesticated--and the economic security they have is controlled by the barbed-wire fence, the butcher's knife and the desire of others. They are milked, skinned, egged or eaten up by their protectors."
on June 26, 1949. Herbert Hoover eulogized him as "my devoted friend and constant friend since boyhood." He said of Wilbur: "During all his years, including his later chancellorship of Stanford, he has given a multitude of services to the people. Public health and education have been enriched over all these years from his sane statesmanship and rugged intellectual honesty. America is a better place for his having lived in it."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
.
Early life
Wilbur was born in Boone County, IowaBoone County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 26,306 in the county, with a population density of . There were 11,756 housing units, of which 10,728 were occupied.-2000 census:...
, to Dwight Locke Wilbur and Edna Maria Lyman. A brother, Curtis Dwight Wilbur, became United States Secretary of the Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
under President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
and a Judge of the Supreme Court of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The Wilbur family moved to Riverside, California
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
when Ray Lyman was twelve.
Wilbur studied at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, receiving a (B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1896 and an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree in 1897. He then studied at Cooper Medical College, receiving a Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
degree in 1899. While a freshman at Stanford, he met future US President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, who was drumming up campus business for a local laundry. The two men became lifelong friends. Wilbur's wife, the former Marguerite May Blake, was a college friend of Hoover's wife, and was one of Lou Hoover's closest friends in Washington during Mrs. Hoover's years as First Lady. Mrs. Wilbur was severely injured when she fell from a horse in 1922, breaking several vertebrae in her spine and becoming permanently incapacitated. She died in 1946.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Wilbur served as chief of the conservation division of the United States Food Administration
United States Food Administration
During the United States participation in World War I the U. S. Food Administration was the responsible agency for the administration of the allies' food reserves. One of its important tasks was the stabilization of the price of wheat on the U. S. market. It was established by of August 10, 1917...
. While at the USFA, he coined the slogan "Food Will Win the War." He later became US President Warren Harding's personal physician and was present at Harding's deathbed.
Stanford
DeanDean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine is a leading medical school located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California. Originally based in San Francisco, California as Cooper Medical College, it is the oldest continuously running medical school in the western United States...
from 1911 to 1916, Wilbur served as president of Stanford from January 1, 1916 until 1943, including during his period as Secretary of the Interior. In his most memorable address to the Stanford community, he told his students: "If you know a better place to live right now [1940] than this country, get a ticket and try to get there." From 1943 until his death in 1949 he served as the university's chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
. Among his most notable stances while at Stanford were his opposition to fraternities and to automobiles on campus.
Wilbur served as President of the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
from 1923-1924. His son, Dwight Locke Wilbur
Dwight Locke Wilbur
Dwight Locke Wilbur was a medical doctor and president of the American Medical Association. During his 1968-69 tenure, he was instrumental in convincing that organization to accept Medicare after many years of opposition....
, followed in his footsteps as President of the AMA in 1968-1969. Wilbur belonged to several private men's clubs, including the Bohemian Club
Bohemian Club
The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
, the Pacific-Union Club
Pacific-Union Club
The Pacific-Union Club is a private social club located at 1000 California Street in San Francisco, California, at the top of Nob Hill. It was founded in 1889 as a merger of two earlier clubs: the Pacific Club and the Union Club ....
, the Commonwealth Club
Commonwealth Club of California
The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States...
and the University Club in San Francisco.
When the California Legislature established the State Park Commission in 1927, Wilbur was named to the original commission, along with Major Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO was an American scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement.Burnham...
, W. F. Chandler, William Edward Colby
William Edward Colby
right|225pxWilliam Edward Colby was an American lawyer, conservationist, and first Secretary of the Sierra Club.-Early life and education:...
, and Henry W. O'Melveny.
Secretary of the Interior
President Hoover nominated Wilbur as United States Secretary of the InteriorUnited States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
on 5 March 1929; Wilbur assumed that office the same day. His tenure ended on 5 March 1933, as Hoover left office.
As Interior Secretary, Wilbur addressed corruption in granting contracts for naval oil reserves
Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves
The United States Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves is part of the US Department of Energy. It was established in 1912 to monitor and analyse the US's oil shale reserves....
, which had caused controversy during the Harding Administration's Teapot Dome scandal. Wilbur promulgated a policy that no new oil leases would be granted to private individuals except when mandated by law.
Secretary Wilbur was criticized by political opponents for his allocation of power from the Boulder Dam to private utilities. Opponents also criticized him for renaming the Boulder Dam after President Hoover.
Wilbur took a particular interest in Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
while in office and reorganized the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
. He assisted Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
in working to become more self-reliant.
New Deal critic
After leaving the Department of the Interior Wilbur became a vocal critic of Franklin Roosevelt's New DealNew Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
and a leading champion of "rugged individualism." He wrote: "It is common talk that every individual is entitled to economic security. The only animals and birds I know that have economic security are those that have been domesticated--and the economic security they have is controlled by the barbed-wire fence, the butcher's knife and the desire of others. They are milked, skinned, egged or eaten up by their protectors."
Death
Wilbur died of heart disease at his home in Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
on June 26, 1949. Herbert Hoover eulogized him as "my devoted friend and constant friend since boyhood." He said of Wilbur: "During all his years, including his later chancellorship of Stanford, he has given a multitude of services to the people. Public health and education have been enriched over all these years from his sane statesmanship and rugged intellectual honesty. America is a better place for his having lived in it."
Further reading
- The Memoirs of Ray Lyman Wilbur 1875-1940, Stanford University Press, 1960
- Ely, Northcutt. (1994-12-16). "Doctor Ray Lyman Wilbur: Third President of Stanford & Secretary of the Interior." Paper presented at the Fortnightly Club of Redlands, California, meeting #1530