Dixy Lee Ray
Dixy Lee Ray | |
---|---|
17th Governor of Washington | |
In office January 12, 1977 – January 14, 1981 | |
Lieutenant | John Cherberg |
Preceded by | Daniel J. Evans |
Succeeded by | John Spellman |
Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs | |
In office January 19, 1975 – June 20, 1975 | |
President | Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Frederick Irving |
Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission | |
In office February 6, 1973 – January 18, 1975 | |
President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | James Schlesinger |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Marguerite Ray September 3, 1914 |
Signature | |
Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American academic, scientist, and politician who served as the 17th governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981. Variously described as idiosyncratic and "ridiculously smart," she was the state's first female governor and was in office during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. She was a supporter of atomic energy.
A graduate of
In 1973, Ray was appointed chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) by President Richard Nixon. Under her leadership, research and development were separated from safety programs, and Milton Shaw, the head of the powerful reactor development division, was removed. She was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs by President Gerald Ford in 1975, but resigned six months later, complaining about lack of input into department decision making.
Ray ran for election as
Early life and education
Ray was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma, Washington, to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray, the second in a family of five girls. She joined the Girl Scouts and, at the age of 12, became the youngest girl, up to that time, to summit Mount Rainier.[1][2] In 1930, at age 16, she legally changed her name to "Dixy Lee"; as a child she had been referred to by family members as "little Dickens" (an idiom for "devil") and Dixy was a shortened form of the nickname.[3] She chose "Lee" because of a family connection to Robert E. Lee.[3]
Ray attended Tacoma's
Scientific career
University of Washington
In 1945, Ray returned to Washington to accept a position as an instructor in the
KCTS-TV and Pacific Science Center
Intrigued by her reputation as a person who could "make science interesting," producers at KCTS-TV, Seattle's PBS member station, approached Ray about hosting a weekly television program on marine biology. The show, Animals of the Seashore, was a hit and helped propel her into the public eye beyond campus. Her growing popularity led the Pacific Science Center to invite Ray to take over the nearly-bankrupt science museum for an annual salary of $20,000. Ray jumped at the opportunity and immediately began a top-to-bottom overhaul of the center, declaring "I'll be damned if I'm going to become a landlady to a hoary old museum." Under Ray's guidance, the Pacific Science Center was converted from a traditional, exhibit-oriented museum to an interactive learning center.[8]
Ray's hands-on approach to running the Pacific Science Center reflected at every level. She kept a police whistle in her desk that she would use to run off loitering hippies.[9] Jim Anderson, who would eventually teach fisheries science at the University of Washington, recalled a typical encounter with Ray, for whom he worked at the Pacific Science Center in 1968:[10]
Her driving was infamous and my one ride with her, in a three-quarter-ton flatbed truck, was wholly memorable. Admittedly, it was an early Sunday morning, but sliding through stop signs, a few crosswise, was disconcerting at best. The ride went over the top when we reached the Science Center. The lot was full of cars without permits. Trying to fit in a very small space with a large flatbed truck, she dented two cars, broke the taillight off a third, and finally vaporized the rear window of a fourth.
Ray led the Pacific Science Center back into financial solvency. Her aggressive fundraising for the center also helped introduce her to many of the city's most influential citizens, including Senator Warren Magnuson.[3]
Government
Atomic Energy Commission
An advocate of nuclear power, in 1973 Ray was appointed by Richard Nixon to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on the recommendation of Senator Warren Magnuson. The offer of appointment came via a telephone call after she was paged in an airport. After being told she would have to relocate to Washington, D.C., Ray declined the offer, saying "I'm living where I like to live." Nonetheless, she ultimately relented after being persuaded by her longtime friend Lou Guzzo.[9][11]
Following her appointment to the commission, news of her personal eccentricities began to emerge after reporters discovered she was living out of a 28-foot
Her personal quirks were widely perceived as a weakness by tenured bureaucrats. A profile by Graham Chedd in New Scientist explained that,
Almost everyone found the eccentricities delightful, and preserved their
joint committee on atomic energy.[13]
However, less than a year after taking over, Ray had forced Shaw out, ordering that research and development be separated from safety programs as some environmental groups had demanded.[13] In addition to its research responsibilities, the AEC was charged with the manufacture of nuclear weapons for the U.S. military. Ray would later fondly recall the first time she saw a nuclear warhead, describing it "like a piece of beautiful sculpture, a work of the highest level of technological skill."[2]
During her time as commission chair, which lasted until the AEC was abolished in 1975,[14] Ray presented a 17-year-old Eric Lander with first place in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search.[15]
U.S. State Department
In 1975, Ray was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs by Gerald Ford, but resigned five months later, complaining about lack of input into department decision making. She subsequently told a United States Senate committee that she "saw Secretary of State Henry Kissinger only once – the day she was sworn in as an assistant secretary of state."[3][16] In a parting shot as she left D.C., Ray declared that "anything the private sector can do, the government can do it worse."[9]
Governor of Washington (1977–1981)
Campaign and election
To the surprise of many, Ray announced in 1975 she would seek election as
Ray displayed a blunt, sometimes confrontational, style on the campaign trail, for which she would later become known. During a visit with the Dorian Society, a Seattle
Ray narrowly won the Democratic nomination over
"the best governor ... or the worst"
After assuming office, Ray tightened Washington state spending and began an audit of state salaries and programs. She balanced the state budget and during her tenure as Governor oversaw the state's first full funding for basic public education. As the first resident of the Governor's Mansion without a First Lady, Ray hired her elder sister Marion R. Reid to serve as her official hostess.[3]
Nonetheless, she quickly alienated fellow Democrats with her conservative views on energy and the environment. She approved allowing
Ray's uncompromising belief in the correctness of her views occasionally spilled over state lines. During what was supposed to be a routine joint press conference in Boise, Idaho, by the governors of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in which the three touted the benefits of energy conservation, Ray reacted with barely concealed disdain to Oregon governor Robert W. Straub's call for legislation to encourage the installation of home insulation. "I don't believe our citizens are lax, or lazy, or indifferent," Ray fired. "In Washington we have a strong voluntary energy conservation program. We don't need legislative incentives."[20]
Back in Washington, Ray sometimes engaged in elaborate ceremony; on her inauguration she hosted not just one but nine inaugural balls.[9] To promulgate House Bill 491, a relatively minor $13 million appropriations measure, she had nearly 1,000 people assembled in the rotunda of the Legislative Building (the Associated Press noted, at the time, that it was ordinarily "unusual for more than a dozen people to show up" to bill signings, which would customarily be held in the governor's office).[21]
Press and political opposition solidified in the face of her unyielding style of governance. In a critical 1977 article in Mother Jones, Ray Mungo labeled Ray as a "slightly wacky Miss Marple" and described the increasingly madcap atmosphere in Washington:
For the first time in the four years that I've lived in Seattle, the political climate is volatile, exciting, terrifying. Each day's newspapers bring fresh atrocities from Olympia, the state capital. The opposition is mounting with volcanic pressure, and the press is almost universally merciless with Dixy. But she plows forward with a stamina that could belong only to someone who, when not living in the governor's mansion, lives on an island, in a mobile home, with five dogs.
Ralph Nader, during a visit to the state, called Ray's administration "gubernatorial lunacy."[9] Ray's own campaign manager, Blair Butterworth, vaguely quipped, "we thought she would be the best governor Washington ever had, or the worst, and we were right."[22] Support from her fellow scientists, however, was often positive; Edward Teller called Ray "a very wonderful lady" and said he would support her if she ran for President of the United States in the 1980 election.[23]
State of emergency
On April 3, 1980, Ray declared a
The emergency decree was followed, on April 30, by the declaration of a "red zone" in southwestern Washington where public access would be banned and relocation of the population would be compelled by state troops, if necessary. Ray ordered the Washington National Guard mobilized and the deployment of the Washington State Patrol to reinforce the sheriffs of Cowlitz County and Skamania County in carrying out her declaration, with violation punishable by six months imprisonment. The U.S. Forest Service later credited the red zone restrictions with saving 5,000 to 30,000 people from certain death.[25] At the same time, however, Ray was criticized for establishing a parallel "blue zone" where the public was generally banned, but Weyerhaeuser loggers were permitted. (When the mountain finally erupted, 11 of those killed were loggers operating in the blue zone. A subsequent lawsuit by families of the deceased, alleging negligence against the state, would be summarily dismissed in court for lack of evidence.)[26] After the eruption, Ray would falsely claim that all killed were near the mountain illegally while it was found all but one individual was allowed to be there. On the day of the eruption a request to expand the blue zone sat on Ray's desk unsigned.[27]
As a scientist, Ray was fascinated by the possibility of an eruption. In the weeks leading up to the fateful event, Ray flew to the mountain in the governor's plane, circling the peak and remarking, "I've always said I wanted to live long enough to see one of our volcanoes erupt."[28] The cataclysmic eruption of the mountain, which occurred on May 18, 1980, killed 57 people. The level of devastation caused by the ensuing ash cloud, earthquakes, electrical storms, and flooding was unprecedented and, the following day, Ray invoked her emergency powers to postpone local elections, which had been scheduled for May 20.[29]
Ray ran for reelection in 1980, enlisting
Later life and death
After politics
External videos | |
---|---|
Booknotes interview with Ray on Trashing the Planet, June 16, 1991, C-SPAN |
After leaving office, Ray retired to her farm on Fox Island. She was frequently in the news giving her opinion of current events. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer quoted her as saying she favored "abolishing political parties and taking away voting rights from anyone who fails to vote in two consecutive elections."[3] During her retirement she co-authored two books with Lou Guzzo critical of the environmentalist movement. In one of those books, Trashing the Planet, she described environmentalists as "mostly white, middle to upper income and predominantly college educated ... they are distinguished by a vocal do-good mentality that sometimes cloaks a strong streak of elitism that is often coupled with a belief that the end justifies the means."
Death and legacy
Dixy Lee Ray died on January 2, 1994, at her home. Shortly before her death, it was reported that she had had a bronchial infection, which led to pneumonia, as the cause of her death.[30] Later, controversy erupted after it emerged that employees of the Pierce County medical examiner's office had kept autopsy photos of Ray as souvenirs.[31]
Ray's death was met with opinionated reflections on her life by her many friends and enemies. She was eulogized by her successor as governor, John Spellman, as "one of a kind." "She had a brilliant mind," Spellman said. "Her strength was as a teacher and a lecturer. She had this really bubbling personality. People weren't quite used to anybody that outspoken. But whatever she said, people still loved her."[19]
Former state senator Gordon Walgren, who had been indicted on federal racketeering charges based on evidence collected by the State Patrol during Ray's term, recalled her in different tones. "I'm sure she made valuable contributions as an educator," Walgren noted. "I can't remember any as governor."[19]
Ray's friend and a co-author in two of her books, Lou Guzzo, concluded that "she should have never gone into politics." "We thought it was time for someone in politics who tells the truth all the time," Guzzo recalled. "It didn't work."[19]
In 2014, veteran Seattle journalist Knute Berger opined that Ray was ahead of her time. "It's interesting to note that many of her views are either mainstream or are creeping back into acceptability," Berger wrote.[32]
After her death, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) established an award in Dixy Lee Ray's honor for engineering contributions to the field of environmental protection. The award, which consists of a bronze medal with the governor's likeness and a cash grant, was first given to Clyde W. Frank in 1999 and has been made annually since.[33]
Ray's papers, totaling 190 boxes of records and memorabilia spanning her career, are in deposit at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University.
Honors
- 1958: Clapp Award in Marine Biology[3]
- 1973: Frances K. Hutchinson Medal for Service in Conservation[3]
- 1973: United Nations Peace Medal[3]
- 1974: Francis Boyer Science Award[3]
- 1979: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Edward Teller at the Achievement Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah[34][35]
Ray was the recipient of twenty honorary doctorates from U.S. and foreign universities.[1]
Sexual orientation
The subject of Dixy Lee Ray's sexual orientation was carefully avoided in public discussion both during, and after, her life. While there were many rumors regarding her sexuality, the specific word "lesbian" was never used to describe her and many people have dismissed those rumors as speculation born of Ray's tomboy characteristics and unmarried status, rather than informed assessment.[18][36]
Electoral history
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Dixy Lee Ray | 205,232 | 35.1 | |
Democratic | Wes Uhlman | 198,336 | 33.9 | |
Democratic | Marvin Durning | 136,290 | 23.3 | |
Democratic | Duke Stockton | 5,588 | 1.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Dixy Lee Ray | 821,797 | 53.14 | |
Republican | John Spellman | 689,039 | 44.43 | |
American | Art Manning | 12,406 | 0.80 | |
OWL | Red Kelly | 12,400 | 0.80 | |
Socialist Labor
|
Henry Killman | 4,137 | 0.27 | |
Libertarian | Maurice W. Willey | 4,133 | 0.27 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Jim McDermott | 321,256 | 56.37 | |
Democratic | Dixy Lee Ray (incumbent) | 234,252 | 41.10 | |
Democratic | Caroline (Hope) Diamond | 4,184 | 0.73 | |
Democratic | Robert L. Baldwin | 3,578 | 0.63 | |
Democratic | Lloyd G. Isley | 2,723 | 0.48 | |
Democratic | Douglas P. Bestle | 2,481 | 0.44 | |
Democratic | Jef Jaisun | 1,476 | 0.26 |
See also
References
- ^ a b c "From Mt. Rainier to the Governorship of Washington, Dixy Lee Ray Was a Climber". aauw.org. American Association of University Women. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ a b c "Dixy Lee Ray: Tough-minded Woman Who Calls Herself 'Chairman' of the AEC". People. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Becker, Paula (2004). "Ray, Dixy Lee (1914–1994)". historylink.org. HistoryInk. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4381-0792-9.
- Wikidata Q113392958
- ^ reference
- ^ "Dixy Lee Ray". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-926613-28-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mungo, Raymond (May 1977). "Dixy Lee Ray – How Madame Nuke Took Over Washington". Mother Jones.
- ^ "35 Year Club". washington.edu. University of Washington. 18 May 2006. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
- ^ a b Booknotes: Dixy Lee Ray (video). C-SPAN. 1991. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01567-7.
- ^ a b Chedd, Graham (5 July 1973). "The lady gets her way". New Scientist.
- ^ Buck, Alice. "The Atomic Energy Commission" (PDF). U.S. Department of Energy.
- ^ "American Academy of Achievement". achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ "Dixy Lee Ray - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ISBN 978-0-295-98298-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7391-1199-4.
- ^ Seattle Times. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- Eugene Register-Guard. 28 August 1977. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- Spokesman-Review. 10 May 1979.
- ^ "Blair Butterworth, top political adviser, is dead". seattlepi.com. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- University of Texas. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2014-09-24.
- ^ "Mount St. Helens Tremors Prompt State of Emergency". Boca Raton News. Boca Raton, Florida. 4 April 1980.
- ISBN 9780873959155.
- Eugene Register-Guard. 8 February 1987.
- ^ "Explosive Truths". 21 February 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-312-28668-2.
- ^ "EXECUTIVE ORDER 80-07". governor.wa.gov. State of Washington, Office of the Governor. 1980. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ "Former Gov. Dixy Lee Ray Dead at 79". Associated Press.
- ^ "Ray's Family: Autopsy Photos 'Denigrating' Polaroids Of Corpses Discovered In Desk Of Ex-County Employee". Spokesman Review. 4 June 1996. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ Berger, Knute (5 August 2014). "A water taxi named 'Dixy'?". Crosscut. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014.
- ^ "Dixy Lee Ray Award". asme.org. ASME. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ "Awards Banquet Draws 'Giants of Endeavor'" (PDF). The Salt Lake Tribune.
- ^ Ellis, Erik (2006). Dixy Lee Ray. Marine Biology, and the Public Understanding of Science in the United States (1930–1970) (Ph.D. Thesis). Oregon State University.
- ^ "Election Abstract" (PDF). Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
- ^ "Elections Search Results: November 1976 General". Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ "1980 Gubernatorial Democratic Primary Election Results – Washington". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
Further reading
- Ware, Susan; Braukman, Lorraine; Braukman, Stacy (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University Press. pp. 538–539. ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6.
- Grinstein, Louise S; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 424–432. ISBN 978-0-313-29180-7.
- Ray, Dixy Lee; Guzzo, Louis R. (1994). Environmental Overkill. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-097598-2.
- Ray, Dixy Lee; Guzzo, Louis R. (1992). ISBN 978-0-06-097490-9.
- Ray, Dixy Lee (1973). The Nation's Energy Future: A Report to Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.).
- Ray, Dixy Lee (1959). Marine Boring and Fouling Organisms. Seattle WA: University of Washington Press.
- Ray, Dixy Lee (1950). The peripheral nervous system of lampanyctus leucopsarus. Vol. 87. Wiley Interscience. pp. 61–178. )
- Ray, Dixy Lee (1945). The peripheral nervous system of lampanyctus leucopsarus. Vol. 87. Pacific Grove, CA: Hopkins Marine Station. pp. 61–178. )
- Ray, Dixy Lee (1938). A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca. Oakland, CA: Mills College.
External links
- Ray, Dixy Lee at HistoryLink
- Register of the Dixy Lee Ray Papers, 1937–1982
- Appearances on C-SPAN