Ray Lyman Wilbur

Ray Lyman Wilbur
Third President
In office January 1, 1916 – 1943
Preceded by	John C. Branner
Succeeded by	Donald B. Tresidder
31st United States Secretary of the Interior
In office March 5, 1929 – March 4, 1933
President	Herbert Hoover
Preceded by	Roy O. West
Succeeded by	Harold L. Ickes
Personal details
Born	Ray Lyman Wilbur (1875-04-13)April 13, 1875 Boonesboro, Iowa, U.S.
Died	June 26, 1949(1949-06-26) (aged 74) Stanford, California, U.S.
Resting place	Alta Mesa Memorial Park Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Marguerite May Blake Wilbur (1898 - 1946, her death)
Children	Jessica Ely Wilbur Blake Colburn Wilbur Dwight Locke Wilbur Los Proctor Hopper (Wilbur) Ray Lyman Wilbur II
Residence(s)	Riverside, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Stanford University
Profession	Medical Doctor

Ray Lyman Wilbur (April 13, 1875 – June 26, 1949) was an American medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University and the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior.

Early life

Wilbur was born in Boonesboro, Iowa, the son of attorney and businessman D.L. Wilbur, and Edna Maria (Lyman) Wilbur. He was raised with a brother, Curtis Dwight Wilbur, who served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy under President Calvin Coolidge, and as a judge of the Supreme Court of California. The Wilbur family moved to Riverside, California, when Ray Lyman was twelve.

Wilbur graduated from Riverside High School, then 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. In 1898, Wilbur married the former Marguerite May Blake who was a college friend of Hoover's wife. Marguerite Wilbur was severely injured when she fell from a horse in 1922, breaking several vertebrae in her spine and becoming permanently incapacitated. The couple produced five children: Jessica Wilbur Ely, Blake Colburn Wilbur, Dwight Locke Wilbur, Lois Wilbur Hopper, and Ray Lyman Wilbur II. Marguerite B. Wilbur died on December 24, 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.

Stanford

Wilbur first became a member of Stanford's faculty in 1896 as an instructor in physiology. In 1900 he was made an assistant professor while carrying on a busy medical practice; he was the only physician in the university community. From 1903 to 1909 he practiced medicine full-time. In 1909 he became a professor of medicine and in 1911 he was named dean of the new Stanford University School of Medicine, located at the former Cooper Medical College where Wilbur had received his M.D. degree. He served as dean until 1916. In 1916 he was elected to serve as president of Stanford, continuing in that position until 1943, including during his period as Secretary of the Interior. Upon his inauguration as president he said that he intended to devote the rest of his life to Stanford, and he did. From his retirement as president in 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. He reorganized graduate education, established the Lower Division, introduced Independent Study, and grouped academic departments within the Schools of the university. He launched the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Food Research Institute.

Wilbur served as President of the American Medical Association from 1923 to 1924. His son, Dwight Locke Wilbur, followed in his footsteps as President of the AMA during 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.

Secretary of the Interior

President Hoover nominated Wilbur as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior on March 5, 1929. Wilbur assumed the office the same day. His tenure ended on March 4, 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.

Wilbur visits Boulder Dam (c. 1930)

Wilbur was criticized by political opponents for his allocation of power from Boulder Dam to private utilities. Opponents also criticized him for renaming the dam Hoover Dam.

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.

New Deal critic

After leaving the Department of the Interior Wilbur became a vocal critic of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal 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 Stanford campus home on June 26, 1949, at the age of 74. He is buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, California. 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."

Legacy

Wilbur Hall, a student residence on the Stanford University campus.

A dormitory complex at Stanford University is named after Wilbur.

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
• Human Hopes: Addresses & Papers on Education, Citizenship, & Social Problems, Stanford University Press, 1940