Ray Lyman Wilbur

Ray Lyman Wilbur

Ray Lyman Wilbur (* 13. April 1875 in Boone , Iowa ; †  26. June 1949 in Palo Alto , California ) was an American physician and politician ( Republican Party ), of the Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover as interior minister belonged .

Life

Ray Wilbur was the younger brother of Curtis D. Wilbur , who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1924 to 1929 . He grew up in Iowa, the Dakota Territory, and Riverside, California. At Stanford University he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1896 and a Master of Arts in 1897 ; there he also met Herbert Hoover, with whom he became a close friend for the rest of his life. In 1899 he graduated from Cooper Medical College in San Francisco . In this city he also practiced initially as a doctor.

After traveling through Europe and the eastern United States, Wilbur returned to Stanford in 1908, where he became a lecturer at the medical school. The following year, he was appointed chairman ( chairman ) of the Stanford Medical School ; In 1911 he became their dean . Finally, in January 1916, he was promoted to president of the university. He was present at President Warren G. Harding's deathbed in 1923 as the personal physician to President Warren G. Harding . From 1923 to 1924 he was before the American Medical Association ; In 1927 he also became a member of the newly formed State Park Commission of California.

politics

When Herbert Hoover offered him the office of Home Secretary in his cabinet after his election to president , Wilbur hesitated because he did not want to give up his post at Stanford. However, the board of trustees there assured him of the possibility of returning, whereupon he accepted the offer. During his four-year tenure, Wilbur oversaw the initial plans for the construction of the Boulder Dam. His renaming goes back to " Hoover Dam "; later efforts to change this name again were unsuccessful.

Ray Wilbur also enforced the change of the Home Office seal. This had previously shown an eagle with outspread wings, which has now been replaced by a standing bison . For him, this animal better characterized the tasks of the authority.

After Herbert Hoover lost the election to Franklin D. Roosevelt , Ray Wilbur resigned from the government in March 1933. He returned to Stanford and held the office of President there until 1943; thereafter he was chancellor of the university until 1949 . A student residence in Stanford now bears his name.

Web links

Commons : Ray Lyman Wilbur  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ray Lyman Wilbur in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Ray Lyman Wilbur at the University of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs (English)